Trump quote being phased out from tea bottle caps

NEW YORK — Organic beverage maker Honest Tea says a Donald Trump quote is being removed from its bottle caps, but not because it has any problems with the leading Republican presidential candidate.

For years, the company has put quotes on the bottom of its bottle caps that it says are meant to be inspirational and thought-provoking. On Sunday, an Honest Tea customer tweeted an image of a cap that referenced the presidential contender: “If you’re going to think anyway, you might as well think big. Donald Trump.”

Paul Shapiro, who tweeted the image, said the quote jumped out at him.

“I usually don’t think of organic green tea consumers as target demographic for Donald Trump,” said Shapiro, who works for The Humane Society of the US.

Later, Honest Tea’s Twitter account responded to Shapiro, “We’re in the process of having his quotes removed from our caps,” with a smiley face at the end.

Funny that the bottle of @HonestTea I just bought quotes @realDonaldTrump on the cap: pic.twitter.com/FNCzryypBz

— Paul Shapiro (@PaulHShapiro) December 27, 2015

Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea, said the company had already been in the process of phasing out the Trump quote. When Honest Tea was acquired by Coca-Cola in 2011, Goldman said the world’s biggest beverage maker advised Honest Tea that there was less risk of offending people with quotes from people who have been dead for a while.

@pshapiro We're in the process of having his quotes removed from our caps. ????

— Honest Organic (@HonestOrganic) December 28, 2015

“There’s nothing objectionable to the thought,” Goldman said of the Trump quote.

Goldman said the company updates its rotation of quotes about every 18 months, and that the Trump quote was already slated for removal. Others being removed for legal or other reasons were quotes by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and famed basketball coach John Wooden.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.