Forget matcha, yaupon, and yerba mate; a buzzy new beverage may soon be flying off grocery store shelves. San Antonio chef and entrepreneur Chris Cook has relaunched his olive leaf iced tea company, Special Leaf, as Olia, with an eye towards national distribution.

Cook, a veteran of San Antonio restaurants and co-founder of nonprofit Chefs Cooperatives, first envisioned the brand while working at Sandy Oaks Olive Orchard in Elmendorf. But the idea really took hold after he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Olive leaf tea became part of a lifestyle and dietary regimen that helped him avoid a lifetime on prescription meds.

While Cook doesn’t claim Olia is a cure-all, he does tout its many healthy benefits. The drink is high in polyphenol oleuropein, a naturally occurring compound shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective benefits in clinical trials. Oleuropein, also found in extra virgin olive oil, is one of the reasons why the Mediterranean diet is celebrated.

Cook says his olive leaf tea also happens to have a boatload of antioxidants — up to 14 times that of green tea.

“We have an unmatched antioxidant level compared to most anything on [the] shelf,” says Cook.

Olia isn’t just a rebrand of Special Leaf, first launched in 2018, although it does have snazzy new branding. Cook says he tinkered with the formulation. Each of the three 12-ounce flavors — citrus honey jasmine, tangerine ginger, and raspberry lemon — is under 40 calories, has no artificial ingredients, and maxes out at seven grams of sugar from agave, stevia, and cane sugar. Plus, the sparkling sippers offer some zip.

“There’s no caffeine naturally in our teas, but during consumption, it helps to boost your metabolism sustainably, so there’s no crash,” explains Cook.

Olia is now in the midst of a crowdsourced fundraising campaign with a threshold as low as $100. The campaign gives everyday investors the chance to get in on the red-hot functional beverage market, a category that has increasingly become popular with Millennials and Zoomers who are turning away from booze.

Whether they have a financial stake or not, San Antonians will soon be able to load up their carts with Olia cans. Cook says production begins in August and the drink is expected to return to local grocers in the fall.