Colorado-based New Age Beverages puts water in a can

The same company that's pushing the all-natural tastes of XINGtea have teamed up with the Ball Corp. to introduce a canned water. The zero-calorie Just Pure Water, created by Colorado-based New Age Beverages, comes in berry, lemon lime and orange flavors. "What we wanted to do was come out with a water that had just an essence of flavor to it, that was completely unsweetened, zero calories, zero preservatives -- and it took a while to come up with it," says Tom LeBon, CEO of New Age Beverage.

Tom and his brother, Scott, have been working on this product for two years; Tom says they wanted to market a crisp, clean water that was good for the environment. Once they came up with the formula, they began working with the Ball Corp. to create cans, rather than bottles, for the beverage, that would be better for the environment.

According to Tom, the cans are 68 percent recycled -- a higher percentage than any other beverage container. There are other advantages to aluminum packaging, he notes, including getting the contents to cool faster, and keeping them cooler longer.

"We're really trying to help the environment, but still put out an all-natural product to try to get people to drink more water," Scott says.

The 32-ounce cans became available this month at Sprouts natural grocers in Colorado and Arizona, and retail for $.99. New Age is working on getting Just Pure Water into more local stores, Scott adds.