About San Benedetto

San Benedetto is a defining name of the Italian drinks fridge, and its tea story is really about how Italy drinks tea: cold, sweet and out of a bottle in the sun. It is a major Italian beverage business founded in 1956, best known at home for mineral water and for the bottled iced tea, peach and lemon above all, that is a fixture of cafe coolers and beach bars the length of the country. For anyone who has spent a summer in Italy, the peach iced tea is an instantly recognisable taste.

The range is the recognisable Italian iced-tea spread, led by peach and lemon, made to the sweeter, properly tea-flavoured Italian convention rather than the thinner British style or the synthetic supermarket alternative. It is a finished drink rather than an ingredient, served cold as a treat. For our shelf San Benedetto is a deliberate summer indulgence rather than an everyday staple, and it is honest about that. It is sweeter than British iced-tea conventions on purpose, because it is faithfully reproducing the original holidaymakers actually remember, and it tastes genuinely of tea rather than generic fruit syrup. As the authentic version of a drink most British shelves only imitate, it does exactly what it sets out to do: it tastes like an Italian afternoon, and for the right customer on the right day that is precisely the thing they want.

Key facts

• Italian Beverage Heritage Founded in Scorzè near Venice in 1956 as an Italian bottled-beverage company.
• Mediterranean Iced Tea Standard Strong following across Italy and European retail for Peach, Lemon and now Matcha variants.
• Bottled Convenience Format Ready-to-drink bottle format for cold consumption, no preparation required.
• Japanese Matcha Source Authentic Japanese matcha source in the Matcha Green Tea bottled variant.

The founders

Brand timeline

1. 1956 San Benedetto founded in Italy

   San Benedetto is established in Scorzè (near Venice) as an Italian bottled-water and beverage company, building a strong following across Italy and into European retail.

2. 1990s Iced tea range launches

   San Benedetto launches its iced tea range that becomes a Mediterranean-cafe standard, particularly the Peach and Lemon variants.

3. 2010s UK retail expansion

   San Benedetto enters UK retail through specialist European-food retailers and Italian-food shops, building a niche following for the bottled Italian iced tea format.

4. 2022 Matcha Green Tea bottle launches

   The Matcha Green Tea ready-to-drink bottle launches at the premium end of the range, bringing Japanese matcha into the Italian bottled-tea format for a sweet matcha cold-drink cup.

5. Today Italian beverage specialist

   A specialist Italian beverage brand with strong UK distribution through Italian-food retailers and premium specialty shops.

6. 2026 Stocked at Teas.co.uk

   Hand-picked into curator selection: San Benedetto Matcha Green Tea 400ml ready-to-drink bottle.

Sustainability

San Benedetto operates within the Italian bottled-beverage industry framework with recyclable PET bottle packaging across the range. The bottled-tea format trade-off compared to a tea-bag is the transport weight per cup served, but the consumer convenience of ready-to-drink no-preparation format is the brand value proposition.

• Recyclable PET Bottles PET bottle packaging fully recyclable through standard plastic recycling streams.
• Italian Heritage Brand Long-standing Italian beverage brand with established sustainability commitments.
• Japanese Matcha Sourcing Authentic Japanese matcha sourcing for the Matcha Green Tea variant.
• Convenience Trade-Off Bottle format trades transport weight for consumer convenience of no-preparation.