Lipton Ice Tea has announced it has u-turned on its decision to ‘discontinue’ its popular peach ice tea flavour.

The ice tea brand had posted on the social media platform Instagram to say that its “Iconic Peach Lipton Ice Tea flavour is getting discontinued”.

Apologising to fans of the drink, the brand described the move as a “period of adjustment”, and hinted that one day the flavour might make a “legendary comeback”.

The brand reassured consumers that other products in its range would be untouched, adding “don’t worry, the rest of your faves are still here to keep you refreshed”.

The post, which contained a short statement signed by the brand’s team, was met with incredulity by fans in the comment section. One user asked “this has to be a joke”, while another said “I did not realise you have other flavours”.

However, less than 24 hours later, the brand returned to Instagram to dub the announcement a “April fools” stunt, and promising to give free products to fans with the greatest reaction.

Lipton first launched its peach flavour in 2004, just two years after the brand made its UK debut in 2002.

It has since launched other variants of the peach flavour, including Lipton Light Peach Tea, and other drinks in its range, including Lipton Ice Tea lemon, raspberry and mango.

 

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The axing of the popular flavour follows the launch, earlier this month, of a kombucha range in flavours including Strawberry Mint, Raspberry and Mango Passionfruit.

Speaking about the debut, Carlsberg Britvic VP of sales off-trade Ben Parker said: “We know how popular the kombucha trend is and believe Lipton has created a product that can introduce even more people to the category and its benefits.

“As a brand, we are in a good position to grow an exciting category and we’re really looking forward to shoppers being able to try the flavours and for retailers to reap the current untapped rewards of stocking it.”

In the UK, Lipton Iced Tea is made and sold by soft drink manufacturer Britvic under an exclusive agreement with PepsiCo, allowing PepsiCo to own the brand rights, while Britvic handles production and distribution.

Last year, Britvic was acquired by Carlsberg in £3.3bn deal, which in January was officially approved by a High Court judge.