Lovers of Mexican mineral water: our long actual national nightmare may in fact be over. Topo Chico is back after a seven-month pause in sales. Well, it's at least on shelves at one Houston grocery store.
Boxes of Topo Chico were spotted Thursday by Chron on the shelves of a the Meyerland Plaza H-E-B in Houston after not being sold there for months. The Coca-Cola Company, which owns the mineral water brand, has not yet responded to Chron's request for confirmation that Topo Chico is in fact back in regular circulation. Chron also reached out to H-E-B for more information on their end.
Despite the sighting, there's no word yet about the status of the beverage on both the Topo Chico and Coca-Cola Company websites.
Topo Chico previously pulled
Topo Chico had shockingly left U.S. shelves in February, after Coca-Cola sent a letter to distributors claiming issues with new sources wells in Monterrey, Mexico, necessitated a pause in production. At the time, the Coca-Cola spokesperson told Chron Topo Chico would be "temporarily unavailable" while the company made facility upgrades.
The spokesperson added that they aimed "to have Topo Chico Mineral Water back later this year."
During the Topo shortage, Coca-Cola noted the "twist-of" varieties of the brand were also impacted, as were the Sabores line of fruit-juice-forward sparkling water. At least one variety in the Sabores line was spotted by Chron at the Meyerland Plaza H-E-B.
Topo Chico has been sourced from Monterrey wells since its inception in 1895. Coca-Cola bought the brand for $220 million in 2017 and has since expanded with both the Sabores line and a line of hard seltzers.
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