I realized on a recent trip to Mexico how deeply I am addicted to Diet Peach Snapple. I had accepted the fact that I would be without it for eight days and was in day five when I made a discovery: the resort’s small grocery store carried Snapple; however there was no peach!
My Mexican Snapple!
When I went back the next day to check, there it was: Diet Peach Snapple. I purchased a bottle. I was so happy I even took a photo of it, and it’s Spanish label. My last few days in Mexico were a bit more joyful with my favorite drink.
My Snapple addiction comes from my Dad. I think he started drinking Diet Snapple Peach Ice Tea from its beginning. The company that concocted Snapple teas was founded in 1972 in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York as a juice company. It was not until 1987 that they started producing tea, starting with lemon (Wikipedia).
I do not know when exactly they started making peach ice tea, but I do know that around 1993 my Dad was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. At that point he needed to find a new drink, and he found it in Diet Snapple Peach Ice Tea. He drank it constantly. Whenever I went back East to visit, it became my drink of choice as well. A cold ice tea in the summer was wonderful. In fact, a cold ice tea anytime of the year is great for me.
Since my parents came to visit me in Kansas twice each year, and since I am a devoted daughter and hostess, I wanted to buy the tea my Dad loved when he came here. But it was impossible to find. None of the grocery stores carried it. I went to the Snapple website to see if there was anywhere in Kansas City area where I could find it.
Nowhere! I sent them a message asking if they could sell it here. The response, ask my grocery store to carry it. I started a campaign. First, I went to my two favorite grocery stores and asked them to carry it. Then I started talking to other transplanted New York City area people about Snapple. Since they also missed it, they started asking their grocery stores as well.
Soon I was able to find the two-liter bottles of Snapple. But that was not enough! We needed the individual serving that we could carry around. Back East I could find Snapple in many different size bottles. That is what I wanted in the Kansas City area.
All sizes of Snapple are available.
And it worked. There is Snapple Ice Tea everywhere now. Of course, the small company was purchased by a much bigger company with nationwide and international distribution, which also probably helped as well.
Whenever my parents came, I could now provide a good supply of Dad’s favorite drink.
Trivia I had not seen before!
Of course, it wasn’t just the drink my Dad loved. He also loved the bits of trivial that were always under the lid of the drinks. Some of them, I have seen them so many times, I think I have them memorized. Recently however, I had one that was new to me! That was exciting.
Just over six years ago, my Dad passed away. When my Dad was in the hospital before he passed, I purchased and brought him Snapple every time I visited. Sometimes I could not find Diet Peach. It is often difficult to find. It must be everyone’s favorite. I wish I could say the Snapple nursed him back to health, but it was not to be.
My love for Diet Peach Snapple lives on. I cannot drink a Snapple without thinking of my Dad. Every year on Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day, I go to the local Korean War Memorial. I bring a Snapple and a few roses from my garden to place on the stone I had donated in honor of my Dad. I leave the flowers, I take the bottle with me.
Do I love the drink, or do I love the memory of my Dad? I am not sure. All I know is that when I drink a Diet Peach Snapple, I am happy.
zicharonot 
That’s my daughter’s favorite flavor also. 🙂 Sweet memory.
It is the best. 😊