In his presentation, Carman Allison, NielsenIQ, said that optimism around the consumers’ personal financial situation is lagging, especially in North America and EU markets, despite the rate of inflation slowing across the globe. He explained that this has created financial polarization, noting, “it’s about the haves and the haves less.”

Allison said that in a recent consumer survey (conducted over the summer), Nielsen observed a shift from cautious to conscious consumption. “Heading into 2025, the state of consumers is determined, with three types of consumers [emerging]: resilient, vigilante and intentional. Consumers are spending in a more strategic way — they prioritize at-home, planning and waste-avoidant spending.”

This behaviour, Allison said, has ‘redefined discount’. “Consumers have embraced (and expect) a broader value from the concept of ‘discount’,” which is impacting buying behaviour across the board, not just in food, beverage (coffee and tea included) and other CPG products.

In their presentations, both Shabnam Weber, president of the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC), which organized and hosted this year’s NATC, and Peter Goggi, president of the Tea Association of the USA, discussed how health and wellness are driving components for consumers’ purchases.

“Consumers are searching for authenticity and community. People are disillusioned, particularly those ages 16-25,” said Weber, “but what’s hot is wellness and it spans all demographics.”

And while this should greatly benefit tea, it has competition from other ‘healthy beverages’. “Humans don’t ‘drink more’ during day, that is, they do not increase the number of beverages they drink in a day,” said Goggi, “they are swapping out one beverage for another, not adding.”

One strong opportunity for tea is in foodservice. “Globally, tea as an away-from-home beverage has a significant share,” said Margot Swindall of Technomic, but tea has an opportunity to further expand its share. She said cold/iced/frozen teas are growing in both Canada and US. “Hot tea is more often used as a pick-me-up while iced tea tends to serve as a meal companion and thirst-quencher (especially in the US).”

Swindall highlighted the top global foodservice consumer markets for tea for both hot and cold/iced tea in her presentation:

Hot Tea

1. Russia (47%)
2. India (43%)
3. Chile (37%)
4. Indonesia (37%)
5. Malaysia (36%)

Cold Tea

1. Philippines (52%)
2. Indonesia (45%)
3. Malaysia (44%)
4. S. (41%)
5. Thailand (39%)

Swindall said that tea meets other beverages head on in creativity and format extension on the global foodservice stage (in terms of functionality, healthy indulgence, etc.), and consumers are willing to experiment with tea (flavours and formats) — all of which enhances tea’s ability to grow its share in the foodservice channel.

“Foodservice is the playground for tea trial, experimentation and innovation,” Swindall stressed. So not taking advantage of this ‘under tapped’ market would be quite a missed opportunity.

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Considered an agricultural product that provides income to millions of smallholder farmers, tea is a ‘poverty relief crop’. These farmers often also grow other crops, which all help towards effecting a fair income. Similar to coffee, while some tea farmers are generating decent incomes (depending on the country and size of their farm), many others have no access to market and are struggling to make a living as production costs continue to rise while tea prices fall.

According to data issued by the International Tea Committee (published in its Annual Bulletin of Statistics), tea production continues to increase year over year, reaching 6.604 million metric tonnes in 2023 — up by 2 percent over 2022 and up by 26 percent over the past ten years. However, consumption continues to lag with a reported 2023 consumption tonnage of 6.212 million tonnes.

The global trade pattern of tea and coffee differ greatly, and tea is most often the cheapest at retail or in foodservice channels. It’s important to note that only about a quarter of the global tea production – 26 percent in 2023 – is exported, while nearly 75% is consumed in tea-producing countries — in contrast to coffee, in which more than two thirds of the global production is exported, and about 34 percent is consumed domestically. And although tea is reportedly still the most consumed beverage in the world after water, it has not been able to attract the global marketing, promotion and attention that coffee has. The introduction of International Tea Day was a step towards enhancing tea’s profile globally.

To drive awareness of this year’s International Tea Day (ITD), several tea associations from around the world such as the Tea Association of the USA, Tea & Herbal Association of Canada, and the UK Tea & Infusions Association, as well as tea boards from producing countries, have all embarked on a unique and ambitious campaign that is focused on Google, the ‘Google Doodle’, to be exact. Google dedicates its front page to major events and important dates, etc., through its Google Doodle. These ‘doodles’ appear on the front search page of Google. In a letter to Tea Association of the USA members, its president, Peter F Goggi, wrote:

“Google dominates the world’s searches. controlling ~ 85% of the searches done worldwide. The impact of people seeing the ‘Google Doodle’ approximates 40,000 searches every second. Imagine all 40,000 looking at an International Tea Day Doodle!

The power of our tea industry is in its collective voice, so, in conjunction with Tea & Herbal Association of Canada, UK Tea & Infusions Association as well as other Associations and Tea Boards globally, we are asking EVERYONE to jump on this bandwagon!!”

The Google team receives suggestions from around the world on which ‘doodle’ to consider and then chooses ‘doodles’ for the year.

Goggi asked US Tea Association members to submit an email to Google suggesting a Tea Theme for International Tea Day (21 May), not just for this year but for every ITD moving forward. For those interesting in lobbying Google, the email address is: doodleproposals@google.com. The letter also included a link to a draft proposal that can be used as is or adapted as need. To access that draft, click here.

Whether or not you email Google on behalf of a ‘doodle’ in honour of International Tea Day, when drinking your daily cuppa (be it hot, iced or RTD), not just on 21 May or this month, but with every cup of tea, remember the people around the world toiling hard and yet typically under-appreciated, to produce the tea in your favourite cup.

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Retail sales of coffee and tea in the United States are undergoing a transformation – especially in grocery stores and mass retailers.

Commenting on the changing retail world, Peter F Goggi, currently president of the Tea Association of the USA, and who previously spent 32 years working for Lipton Tea as part of Royal Estates Tea Company – he was the first American-born tea taster in the history of TJ Lipton/Unilever – said that during 2023, “inflation driven by supply chain costs, shipment imbalances, low unemployment and government spending reached levels not seen for 40 years”, averaging 8.0 percent for 2022 (In 1981 it was 10.33 percent). In that light, he believes “this level of inflation has certainly impacted the cost of goods and apparent growth rates in dollar terms.”

Tea Imports for 2023 were dragging, due mainly to the high level of inventories taken on by the trade during the supply chain-challenged Covid years. Tea companies anticipate that normal imports will return shortly. In regards to the market, Goggi thinks that “sales in dollar terms continue to grow. Volume declines are being seen in ready-to-drink (RTD), but are growing or staying flat in tea bags, specialty and foodservice.”

Qualitative research now indicates that at-home consumption remains high, and Goggi points out that “the likelihood for consumers to consume tea out of home declined. The hybrid way of working, with many workers continuing to split time between the office and home, will help sustain gains in consumption trends.”

Consumers are looking for specific health and wellness benefits from their food and beverages, placing that above sustainability. According to Tastewise’s 2023 trend report, “While health and wellness and international flavours have been trending in food and drink for years, this report shows preferences are evolving and consumers are zeroing in on specific niches that interest them.”

These trends complement tea’s strong position as a plant-based, healthful drink, consumed for its variety of benefits, rooted in its high flavonoid content. In fact, several new research papers were published in 2020 and 2021 illustrating tea’s extraordinary ability to act as a booster of human immune systems, followed by an important study in 2022 highlighting tea’s high content of a class of key bio-actives, flavan-3-ols.

Among the challenges facing the tea industry continues, Goggi points to these facts: too much tea is being produced; prices are too low; tea is a leader in ecological sustainability, but social and economic legs are struggling; retailers continue to push down pricing; costs are being pushed up the supply chain.

Americans still love their coffee

Which of these tea-related insights carry over into coffee’s retail reality? Three insights emerged in the 2023 National Coffee Data Trends (NCDT) report published by National Coffee Association of the USA. Firstly, more Americans drink coffee everyday than any other beverage, including tap or bottled water. The pandemic didn’t change how much coffee Americans consume, though it did impact where.

Secondly, “coffee consumption at home peaked when Americans were kept home by pandemic restrictions, with 85 percent of past-day coffee drinkers consuming their brews at home in January 2021.” Today, at-home consumption is slightly above pre-pandemic levels (82 percent compared to 79 percent in January 2020).

Thirdly, “coffee consumption outside of the home fell by almost 25 percent between January 2020 and January 2021,” before recovering as Covid restrictions eased. Today, out of home past day consumption is back at 34 percent, near pre-pandemic levels.

Fourthly, the most popular place of purchase for at-home coffee is the grocery store; 39 percent of past-day at-home coffee drinkers bought their coffee at the grocery store. Mass merchandisers were the second-most popular place of purchase for at-home coffee at 23 percent. “Both of these figures have remained consistent since January 2020.”

Stephanie Harlow, senior trends analyst at GWI, examines US consumers who regularly/often consume coffee and tea, said that buying by this type of person “has remained unchanged in the last three years. That said, if we look at Gen Z, there’s a slightly different story. The number of Gen Z regularly/often consuming coffee has sustained a small growth at 3 percent but the amount consuming tea has grown by 13 percent in the same timeframe.”

Harlow thinks “this growth is in part due to more Gen Z picking up a coffee to go or while out and about; the number who say they regularly/often drink coffee outside their home has grown 6 percent since Q4 2020.”

Among consumers who consume coffee at home, the number reaching for iced coffee has grown 19 percent since Q4 2020. And Harlow’s data indicates that, “while the number going for ground coffee pods has grown 8 percent in the same timeframe. The number of consumers preferring whole bean coffee has fallen 5 percent. The number who say they drink herbal tea has grown 13 percent since Q4 2020, with the number who say they drink black tea growing by 10 percent in the same timeframe.” Chamomile tea drinkers have also grown by 8 percent and green tea drinkers by 6 percent. Kombucha is more out of favour though, the number saying they drink it has dropped 13 percent in the same timeframe.

Harlow noted that Folgers is currently the top brand – and “among consumers who drink coffee at home, it has overtaken Starbucks,” which sat on the top spot in Q4 2020. The number choosing the brand has grown by 11 percent.

Beleaguered by labour shortages

Erwin Henriquez, Euromonitor’s senior research analyst, has a different take on the current situation. He believes that “coffee and tea continue to evolve and transform beyond the pandemic. Despite the apparent recovery of hot drinks in foodservice industry, the rising prices of goods and labour shortages continue to pose a challenge, which may impact the industry’s growth in the future. Foodservice has changed since 2019, with increased digital ordering leading to more complex orders”.

This has, of course, compounded labour problems for short-staffed teams. As a result, Henriquez thinks that “US coffee shops are pushing for higher wages and benefits. This is all to say that the industry is facing significant challenges in on-trade channels, which explains in part why the industry is focusing on the retail channels in search for growth.”

Henriquez and his colleagues said the data clearly shows that “pandemic purchasing behaviour is still very much present, with consumers still partially working from home and realizing that the difficult economic situation means fewer trips to cafés and more in-house coffee cups.”

However, retail sales growth of hot drinks (mainly in coffee) is driven by the continuation of price increases and inflationary pressures. Henriquez concludes that “while the industry saw declining volume, it managed to grow in value terms at higher rates than in the past. Inflationary pressures and general price action is part of the equation”, but he adds that premiumisation also plays a key role here.

Henriquez believes that consumers facing challenging economic conditions “are more willing to trade up in coffee/tea for the home,” which is still significantly cheaper than a cup in the on-trade. “We can see the rise of premium and specialty brands in the retail aisle, with more and more players gaining space in the already crowded market.”

Coffee and tea e-commerce retailing was significant in 2023, but for Henriquez “not as much as in the past.” The pandemic has played a significant role in adopting e-commerce retailing, especially for grocery items. While e-commerce sales continue to grow, they are doing so at a slower pace than in 2020. Due to rising inflation, there might be a significant shift towards in-person shopping soon. According to Henriquez, as grocery shopping is becoming increasingly expensive, data shows that people are now more carefully monitoring their expenses and removing non-essentials. Ordering groceries online, which often comes with an extra charge, is one such non-essential, especially now that the physical risk of Covid-19 has been reduced.

Coffee shop spending rebounds

Facteus’ co-founder and head of data & growth, Jonathan Chin, argues that spending at coffee shops “has definitely bounced back and surpassed 2019 numbers. Some regions in the US have bounced back higher than others. Surprisingly the Midwest and South have jumped way above their 2019 numbers more than the coasts. This is a bit counterintuitive, but perhaps with all the pandemic exoduses and work-from-home trends many coastal people moved to the South and Midwest. Maybe they took their coffee habits with them?”

Chin argues that “coffee shop spending has bounced back strong since the pandemic.” Spending is now well above 2019 levels, despite inflation; “it was always a question on how coffee spending habits would react post-pandemic with the influx of home coffee equipment and work from home trends.” Chin quotes Howard Schultz about the various ways in which coffee shops still offer, post-pandemic, “a ‘third place’ where people could enjoy and spend quality time.”

In the view of James Watson, executive director of beverages research at Rabobank US, “we’ve seen a strong post-Covid recovery for coffee shops. Meanwhile, retail coffee is not doing nearly as well.” He think there are many other segments of the beverages economy where consumers are looking for cheaper options. “It is not a completely zero-sum game. It’s possible to make coffee at home and then go out to get a second cup. Indeed, overall, coffee volume is probably slack, or growing ever so slowly. The shift is going back to on-premise. Covid saw a net decline in the number of coffee shops. This meant a boom for at home coffee. Office attendance is at 50 percent, during the very best weeks. What we have today is not a return-to-office story. What we have is a return to previous consumption habits.”

• Gordon Feller, based in California, travels the world reporting about innovations that can change our economies and strengthen small enterprises. Since 1980 he’s been publishing reports and magazine articles about coffee/tea innovations on five continents. He is both an ABE Fellow – Japan Fdn. and Global Fellow – at the The Smithsonian Instition. He can be reached at Gordon.Feller@gmail.com.

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Both the Gold Medal Tea Competition and the Tea Sustainability Awards will once again take place during the NATC.

The Gold Medal Tea Competition will judge teas from the same origin against each other in order identify and recognise ‘Gold Medal Teas’. Any and all origins entered will be judged — teas will be judged by origin regardless of production type or grade. It is up to the participating producer to decide what style of manufacture their entry should be. Teas will be judged purely on the ‘Best Cup per Origin’ basis. Submissions must be received by 25 August.

The Tea Sustainability Awards recognise all the hard work being put forth globally across the tea industry, to further the goals of sustainability. The purpose of these awards is to:

• Celebrate the work that goes above and beyond pure business metrics, to improve the health of the Industry, the environment in which it operates and the people who work in it or are associated with it.
• To share these efforts with the tea industry in order to build a shared responsibility, broaden and share knowledge of the state of the industry.
• To inspire others to replicate the ‘above and beyond’ attitude of recipients in their own environs and to further the efforts of moving tea to the status of Hero crop.

Because all positive actions have merit, Tea USA and THAC have changed the awards structure from that of prior years to be more inclusive and recognise a wider scope of participants so all entrants feel their work will be acknowledged and applauded.

The Sustainability Awards competition is free of charge and all sustainable efforts and submissions will be displayed at the conference. The deadline for submissions is 25 August.

“Whether you are attending the conference in person or from afar, we encourage all tea-producing nations to participate in our two competitions,” said Peter F Goggi, president, Tea Association of the USA.

This is the first in-person NATC to take place in the United States since 2019. For more information about or to register for the NATC, as well as to view competition rules and access submission forms, visit: teausa.com.

• Aubrye McDonagh Leigh

The post There’s still time to enter the Gold Medal Tea & Tea Sustainability Awards Competitions appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Both the Tea Association of the USA, Inc., and the Tea Council of the USA have been working for the last three DGAC cycles leveraging the healthfulness of tea, to influence tea being incorporated into the DGA. The DGAC is using data analysis, food pattern modeling, and systematic reviews to examine a list of prioritised scientific questions. The questions about dietary patterns reference the effect of beverages on growth, body composition, risk of obesity and risk of type 2 diabetes. Tea, as well as dairy and coffee, are included specifically as these questions are being reviewed. 

This is a significant achievement for tea Peter F. Goggi, president of the Tea Association of the USA said, explaining that “tea has been discussed by the DGAC in the past but has never made it to the final recommendations.” 

The DGAC uses three scientific approaches to examine the evidence: data analysis, food pattern modeling, and systematic reviews. In an email alert to its members, the Tea Association and Tea Council of the USA offered updates on DGAC activities to date in 2023, which included key points discussed at the second DGAC Meeting (the next meeting has not yet been scheduled). 

According to the update, sustainability is an area of interest for the DGA 2025 to better understand how sustainability intersects with food systems, diet, nutrition, and health, highlighting that “information we can provide about the sustainability of tea should be included in our comments.” The DGAC is viewing the 2025 guidelines through a ‘health equity lens’ and they are considering diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds.  

Furthermore, in his letter to members, Goggi said the DGAC committee is looking to recognise that American consumer’s frustration with choosing healthy foods runs deep and is rooted in individual daily battles. The DGAC looks to consider factors such as economic and social aspects of obstacles to food access, health, and healthcare, and works on ways to remove barriers. 

The relationship between beverage consumption and type 2 diabetes is being examined by the committee. The DGAC notes that as beverages are consumed throughout the day, the effect of beverages on blood sugar levels is important to consider. 

The DGAC is also exploring the relationship between coffee and/or tea consumption and growth, body composition and risk of obesity. 

The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is examining a list of prioritised scientific questions informed by the proposed list of scientific questions identified by Health and Human Services (HHS) and USDA. The full list of questions, including the beverage-focused ones, may be viewed here. 

Louise Pollock, president, Pollock Communications, which represents the Tea Council of the USA, and has been working with both organisations to promote research findings that tout the many healthy attributes of tea as well as to leverage the healthfulness of tea over the last three DGAC cycles in order to influence tea being incorporated into the DGA, said the [tea] organisations plan to address the research on tea and obesity and diabetes in their comments in late 2023 or early 2024. 

“The Tea Council of the USA will do this by sending written comments to the Dietary Guidelines Committee citing [published] research,” said Pollock. “Additionally, we will work with a highly respected researcher to provide in-person comments, if selected, about the health benefits of tea directly to the Committee.”

The Tea Association and Tea Council will continue to monitor the activities of the DGAC and will offer input when comments are requested, and T&CTJ will continue to provide updates as they become available. 

While on the topic of tea and sustainability, just a quick reminder that T&CTJ’s tea sustainability survey deadline has been extended to 30 June. Please voice your opinion on this critically important topic. Access the survey here. 

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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In the Western world, black tea is still the most consumed tea beverage, particularly by older demographics. However, consumption levels remain substantially below production, resulting in a market where black tea has become highly undervalued. There needs to be significant changes within the industry, including a substantial expansion of the consumer base, to increase the value and create a sustainable market for black tea.

Low prices pose significant challenges to sustainability

“Black tea is hugely undervalued, it is being sold for barely the cost of production, and that is on a good day — it is usually below the cost of production,” said Shabnam Weber, president, Tea and Herbal Association of Canada. “Brands are placing a higher value on their green tea products, even in circumstances where both their black and green tea haven’t been blended with any other products and are in similar packaging.”

Although there has been an elevated interest in other teas and infusions, black tea remains the category sustaining most of the tea industry in the Western world. “When we are talking about wanting fair pricing and sustainability, we cannot get there without black tea,” said Weber. “To obtain these goals, there needs to be more money in the pot so that it can be distributed across the supply chain.”

Image: Vahdam Tea

Peter Goggi, president, Tea Association of the USA, agreed, emphasising that the price of tea is not sustainable, making it increasingly difficult for farmers to survive. “There is way too much tea in the world, and there are only two ways to take care of that: either increase consumption or reduce the amount of tea that is produced,” he said. Reducing production levels will profoundly impact those countries that depend on tea as a primary industry. However, increasing consumption levels is a complex task.

“In the USA, we are still undeveloped in terms of the number of people drinking tea,” said Goggi. “85 percent of people drink tea, but not every other day, so it’s about converting that daily consumption into reality.” When it comes to consumption levels at origin, there is also room for growth. Countries like China and Kenya have little to zero consumption of black tea. South America, which includes several coffee-consuming countries, is another market that black tea could potentially tap into.

Increasing the overall quality and, in turn, the value of black tea is another way to help drive the product’s price up. “The specialty tea arena has demonstrated that consumers are willing to pay for tea, and so, there is no doubt that we need to raise the overall quality of tea being sold and, in turn, charge for it,” said Goggi. One of the side benefits of focusing on quality is that it naturally reduces the quantity of tea produced as the producers will not be plucking as far down the bush.

In the US, black tea remains the most common beverage, with iced being the most popular American preparation method. “Covid helped the overall tea market in the United States; it is valued, practically by millennials, Gen Z and Gen Xers as a destressor,” said Goggi. “People were drinking more tea at home, and this trend seems to be continuing, the growth of hot tea in the United States is happening.” In addition, the wellness trend has helped to accelerate the growth of black tea in the American market, with consumers gravitating towards the beverage for its taste and health properties.

“We are still very much a black tea-drinking nation, and rank in the top five tea consuming countries, per capita,” said Sharon Hall, chief executive of the UK Tea & Infusions Association (UKTIA). “But the percentage of black tea consumption is decreasing, with standard black tea accounting for 50 percent of the category. Seventy-four percent of the UK nation reported drinking some form of black tea during the day, with 40 percent drinking a cup several times a day. The key drivers for black tea in the UK are taste and, for the 18-29 demographic, the desire for a warm beverage. However, an increasing proportion of the population is shifting towards other warm drinks, with 55% reporting drinking green tea and 47 percent drinking herbal infusions. True tea sales value fell by over 6.0 percent to £578 million (2021 vs 2020), however, decaffeinated tea did continue to grow in value (1.3 percent) to almost £68.5 million.

“Over the past few years, particularly across the pandemic, we’ve witnessed increasing interest in products prioritising both planetary and human health. Ethics and the environment are high up on consumers’ agendas, supporting a rise in demand for organic and Fairtrade products,” shared Adele Ward, Clipper Teas marketing director, which is owned by Ecotone, UK. “We are also seeing a significant increase in demand for our Organic Decaffeinated Black Tea, which uses the natural CO2 process for decaffeination.”

Image: TAZO Tea

The need for innovation

Black teas remain a huge part of Vadham India’s overall portfolio because traditional tea consumption has always been dominant in the black tea category across India and other geographies. Vahdam has seen a growth of 5-10 percent in its black tea sales across all channels. “There’s been a change in outlook toward the consumption of tea, a growing prominence of black teas in cafés and QSRs, and a change in leisure drink habits across age groups leaning towards tea,” said Bala Sarda, founder and CEO of Vahdam Tea. “This has resulted in a higher demand for black tea worldwide.”

Continual innovation in the black tea category is critical, shared Sarda, to respond to the changing pattern of consumers actively seeking more from their beverages, whether it’s wellness, flavour, or newer formats, like lattes. “Vahdam’s formulations and format innovations have repositioned black tea as a preferred wellness beverage for the new-age millennials and Gen Z consumers, who are looking for an alternative that is contemporary yet clean, stylish yet sustainable and healthy yet high-fashion,” he said.

Health perceptions are skewed towards green

The continued interest in health and wellness has helped drive the demand for tea; in fact, it remains one of the critical drivers for consuming green tea in the Western world. However, one of the challenges in Canada, shared Weber, is that there remains a disconnect between black tea and its health benefits. “Every time we survey people’s perception of the health of the tea, black tea always ranks at the very bottom,” said Weber. “Canadians are quicker to associate the benefits of flavonoids with herbal teas before black tea. So, there’s a huge disconnect that’s happening, there is no question that green tea has had a head start, but the fact that the herbals are outranking black tea is shocking.”

Although the USA has been good about sharing the tea and health message, more needs to occur to help drive the consumption levels. “We need human studies to demonstrate an improvement of health in the population,” said Goggi. “That is the holy grail to get that structure/function claim; then we could state claims like drinking tea helps you to prevent cancer.”

Image: teapigs

However, these messages may fail to connect with the younger generations.

“Cardiovascular health, metabolic, and bone health, which are all significant benefits that black tea provides. However, I’m not sure that the younger generation is really in that headspace at the moment,” said Hall. “We must find ways to fit black tea into their lifestyle and understand how it will work for them.” Potential messages that could connect with the younger generations suggested Hall, are hydration, specifically as a pre- or post-exercise beverage, and highlighting how black tea can be consumed as an alternative to alcohol.

“As a category, black tea declined by 5.6 percent versus two years ago. Despite this, organic and Fairtrade tea is up by 0.3, in line with positive changes to consumer habits,” said Ward. “We’re confident that tea will remain a staple for years to come, not only for its taste but for its link to taking a break — especially in line with younger consumers who are increasingly prioritising wellness. As a brand, we’re always looking for ways we can bring new younger consumers to the category by offering this, alongside our fun identity.”

This includes increasing focus on black tea promotions through traditional and social media channels to drive demand and increase consumer awareness. “I don’t know if that is because the tea market has become dominated by black tea for decades that we’ve kind of taken it for granted, thinking people will always drink it,” said Weber. “You can’t take it for granted; you must celebrate the goodness of black tea.”

The reality is that black tea is competing with a growing number of beverages, making it increasingly challenging to draw younger demographics towards this beverage, which is in desperate need of a facelift. However, failing to connect with younger demographics places the black tea sector at risk of disappearing. Attracting and maintaining the interest of the younger consumer is essential to both drive demand and enable the market to increase the price (and in turn the value) of black tea. “The positioning of black tea as a culturally important part of our lifestyle is essential to have a sustainable industry; this includes getting millennials to drink black tea so that they encourage the tea-drinking habit in the next generation, alpha,” said Hall. “Otherwise, we’re not going to create a new generation of tea consumers.”

• Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer, professor and speaker based in Barrie, Ontario. She may be reached at: annemariehardie1@gmail.com.

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Tea and coffee have been competing for throat-share in the West for many decades and consumption patterns continue to shift. Markets are becoming more global, new generations opt for wider choices, diversification has become key to growth and social and economic sustainability are today an intrinsic part of the list of goals. There is a desire for specialty teas to move towards a more unified platform, but the path to do so is a challenging one.

In the late 1980s, tea was the leading caffeinated hot brew in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Russia, whilst coffee was the king of the morning in North America and the rest of Europe. The multinational brands were dominating with mostly blended black teas in tea bags, and the premium segment comprised the spring leaves harvested from a few world-famous origin areas, located mainly in India and Sri Lanka. When China came back to the market in 1982, with Deng Xiao Ping restoring private ownership and encouraging foreign trade, the market was shaken up with a wealth of new cups arriving in the West, all unknown and unheard of. These countless varieties of specialty teas, coming in different colours and many different shapes and grades generated a keen need for learning more about them to assess these cups and to understand their high prices.

Importing, trading, retailing & brewing premium cups

In the wake of China’s opening access to its ‘ten thousand teas’, the big issues were how to provide product knowledge for the suppliers/retailers on one side and for the consumers on the other side, how to ensure accurate information and how to manage authenticity concerning origin, process, botanical cultivar, and harvesting period etc.

Green teas were the first to puzzle the Western palates, followed by white teas, oolong and puer teas. All these cups were new and exciting with striking leaves to brew them. After generations of tea buyers, tasters and blenders having been trained in-house by the traditional tea majors and family companies the new specialty teas brought along a fully new challenge.

The big question of how and where to find complete and accurate product knowledge became a key issue in the late 1990s, with many operators doing their own sourcing travels to origin to learn about the product on the spot. Several highly renowned companies were founded during this period by passionate tea explorers and tea travellers, such as the French companies Mariage Frères, Palais des Thés, Jardins de Gaïa, and Cha Yuan; the Canadian company Camellia Sinensis; the British Fine Tea Merchants and Postcard Tea; and the Americans Seven Cups and Rishi Tea, to name a few. These well-known and fully acknowledged tea pioneers have paved the way for many more new operators, attracted by the novelty of this fascinating, exotic and high added value niche market.

Education, teaching and training

To profitably market the new cups, the urgent need for education occurred rapidly and was picked up in various forms according to national market patterns. It was in North America that the first nationwide initiatives were taken to provide accurate knowledge about these new specialty teas to the tea professionals. The Tea Association of the USA founded the Specialty Tea Institute (STI) in 2001, and the Tea & Herbal Association of Canada (THAC) launched the Tea Sommelier Certification Programme in 2006. These educational structures, vetted by the two countries’ domestic tea industry, provide fully endorsed curricula, thus ensuring that the tea professionals will acquire in depth knowledge about specialty teas.

Image: Newby Teas

Peter Goggi, president of the Tea Association of the USA, underlined the importance of the statutory tea associations, which can offer nationwide legitimation and endorsement, which is a significant competitive advantage compared to other self-proclaimed tea schools and tea training educators. STI offers certified education, which leads to graduation, giving tea professionals the status of accreditation by the Tea Association of the USA. THAC’s Tea Sommelier Certification Programme applies similar rules and offers a wide range of educational courses with certifying exams, open to tea professionals and to tea lovers.

In Europe, the tea-sourcing pioneers and specialty tea company founders acquired their tea knowledge on the ground, a learning which is not easy to access by many, hence the need to provide teaching and training to all the other tea professionals at home to prevent mis-and dis-information, and to introduce all the new cups in an attractive and fully competent way. With the national Tea Industry Federations being run by the tea majors, there was no interest to invest in specialty tea education in the early times. Therefore, the private sector followed up and the first tea school in Europe was launched by Palais des Thés in Paris, France in 1999, with the teaching open to all, however without any exams, certification or graduation. Since that time most of the French specialty tea companies have launched their own tea training lectures and tasting sessions and many tea drinkers flock there happily, to learn more about these delicious cups.

With the same objective to introduce tea training and tea education for tea professionals and to open the tea drinkers’ minds to the new and enlarged universe of the ten thousand cups (from China), renowned tea pioneer and tea author, Jane Pettigrew, launched the UK Tea Academy in London (UKTA) in 2016. In Italy, the tea expert, Gabriella Lombardi established the ProTea Academy in Milan in 2016, offering tea education and tea training to tea professionals as well as to tea lovers.

There are company tea courses and private tea schools also in Spain, Denmark, Czech Republic, and Poland, etc., all with the aim to allow the customers to learn more about the many fine cups on the market to foster consumption.

It is important to note that very sophisticated training and education is also sometimes made available by origin country operators, which have established their tea houses in the West, such as Thés de Chine in Paris, and others who come from Taiwan, Japan and Korea, where tea is not only a fragrant cup but intimately linked to ancient cultural traditions.

With the desire to share their own professional experience with tea lovers to foster an in-depth knowledge of these fine cups, many valuable tea books have been authored by well-known tea pioneers since the early years of the new millennium, a further useful tool for spreading tea knowledge in Europe and North America.

Exploring new cups from the Far East

In the early years of the new millennium, black tea producers in Darjeeling, Malawi, Rwanda, and Sri Lanka, etc., became so fascinated with China’s silver needles that they launched their own white teas to display their abilities and skills. White teas were arriving from many new origins at that time, always beautiful, whilst not always brewing to expectation. Responding to a need for ‘good order with basic processing steps properly defined,’ an ISO-tea technical report, ISO/TR 12591 White Tea Definitions, was published in December 2013, after several years of discussions, which defined and enshrined terms and definitions for these beautiful teas. Finally, the white tea-frenzy calmed down as production costs were huge for the untraditional white teas, and today, most of them come from China as before.

Spring harvest from Sikkim Temi Tea

With highly proactive promotion by Japanese major Ito En, matcha was introduced to North America over the last few years, and it has created a true craze for premium green tea powder in the USA and is now gradually gaining ground in Europe too. As some producers in Korea and China were keen to join the matcha-boom, there arose again a need for having some agreed basic rules for the sake of ‘good order’, hence the ISO sub-committee on tea convened a Matcha Tea working group in 2018 and a technical report, which lays down basic rules and requirements, published as ISO/TR 21380:2022 Matcha Tea in April 2022.

There is no end to this yet, since one also finds today puer tea made in Malawi and Laos and elsewhere and Oolong tea from India and Indonesia, therefore two new working groups have been organised by ISO-Tea to continue drafting basic definitions and terms to complete the framework of ISO standards for the new tea categories.

The international level

In 2013, Ramaz Chanturiya, CEO of the Russia Tea & Coffee Federation launched the Tea Masters Cup with the focus on promoting specialty teas with the end consumers through highly educated and knowledgeable tea professionals in the Russian tea market. Highly successful domestically, he then introduced this benchmarking scheme on an international level, embedded in a high-profile event, Tea Masters Cup International (TMCI), in 2015. Up to the Covid disruption, there have been four TMCI competitions in Turkey, Korea, China and Vietnam.

In 2015, the first Teas of the World contest was run by AVPA, a not-for-profit agency, based in Paris, France, with the purpose of promoting terroir food products, such as edible oils, coffee, chocolate and tea. The concept targets the promotion of fine teas, submitted by the producing companies at origin, for a quality assessment carried out by professional tea tasters and tea experts, and awarded with medals for commercial purpose, attracting the media, Western retailers and customers. The fifth contest took place in July 2022 and the number of samples submitted has increased hugely since inception.

Premium sencha cups from different cultivars

In 2018, the European Specialty Tea Association (ESTA), was launched in the UK, with the purpose to create a European-wide platform for the promotion of specialty teas. The plan follows the lines of the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), founded in 1998, and unified within SCA in 2017, with a structure of national chapters and accredited tea Certifiers who train, educate and assess.

Outlook for the post-Covid times

With the unending stress generated by the sanitary crisis, tea is becoming the sought-after soothing, relaxing and restoring cup, attracting many new consumers. However, the premium and specialty teas continue to require educated retailers and tea professionals, hence the need to maintain the ongoing efforts for more training, authentic and qualified storytelling and improved competence for brewing practices.

Despite many attempts, there is not yet any fully agreed definition nor an approved set of criteria required for a tea to belong to the category specialty tea, although origin, cultivar, harvesting period, and manufacturing process are most likely to figure somewhere on the list. The market share of specialty teas varies greatly throughout the Western consumer countries, which impacts the degree of consumer awareness and the growth potential. It may well take some more years of training, educating and promoting before reaching comparable market patterns to build a federating platform on European level with the support of the national federations for tea and herbal infusions.

• Barbara Dufrêne is the former Secretary General of the European Tea Committee and editor of La Nouvelle du Thé. She may be reached at: b-dufrêne@orange.fr.

The post The complicated task of categorising ‘specialty’ tea appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

In creating the definition of specialty tea, ESTA explained that they believe certain factors can help contribute to being able to distinguish specialty teas from commodity teas. These can include but are not limited to: the known supplier, the known farm, the known location, the known production dates, and the known processing method. According to ESTA, specialty tea can also be defined by the quality of the five criteria below:

1. The dry leaf
2. The aroma of the dry leaf
3. The colour and clarity of the liquor
4. The flavour and mouthfeel of the liquor
5. The appearance and aroma of the wet leaf

Specialty tea is much more complicated to define or even categorise than specialty coffee, which has strict criteria. In terms of “specialty tea,” is it just Camellia sinensis or do blends, herbal/botanicals and flavoured teas count? Does the origin and the elevation matter? Can specialty tea be mechanically harvested, or must it be hand-plucked? And who is clamoring for the definition, consumers or the tea industry at large?

Even when issuing the new definition, ESTA’s executive director, David Veal, said the document is “closer to a description,” noting, “summarised by the phrase ‘aspiring to excellence in all aspects of tea processing and brewing from the bush to the cup,’ we acknowledge that it will be difficult if not impossible to achieve a definition universally agreed by all in the specialty tea community, so we have described our approach rather than dictate a definition, in the hope that most people will agree with most of its content. However, we acknowledge, and indeed hope, that this document will encourage an ongoing debate and therefore continue to promote speciality tea into the future.”

ESTA’s wish to “encourage an ongoing debate” has come true as there was immediate response to their definition — although everyone who commented did applaud ESTA’s efforts.

“I think they’ve tried hard to talk in aspirational terms, and I like the direction they have taken,” said one industry official. “I do note that they have purposely avoided mentioning Camellia sinensis, although the criteria they list tend to limit all BUT true tea.”

In response to ESTA’s definition of specialty tea, the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC), Tea and Herbal Infusions Europe (THIE) and the Tea Association of the USA (TAUS) released a statement (which can be seen in its entirety here) expressing concern with the language used to differentiate ‘specialty tea’ from other tea.

THAC, THIE and TAUS pointed out that the ESTA definition of specialty tea includes knowledge of supplier, farm, location, production dates and processing methods — all supply chain elements that are known and documented by all reputable companies operating within the tea industry regardless of ‘specialty’ or ‘traditional’ label. “[These] are critical to traceability requirements which are at the core of food safety laws in place around the world and must be demonstrated as part of regular audits for large retailers as well as certification programs,” they stated.

THAC, THIE and TAUS also noted that the five criteria being used to define specialty tea are “the same criteria used by every tea taster in the industry, regardless of ‘specialty’ or ‘traditional’ label. Although all the above may be a part of ‘specialty tea,’ suggesting they are not a part of ‘traditional’ tea is factually incorrect.”

Another official asked whether any form of blended or flavoured tea be could – or should – considered specialty. He noted that some Sri Lankan estates have tea fields that would classify as high-grown elevation. The same estate can have other fields or sections of fields that fall in the mid-grown elevation designation, but the estate’s processing is done at the low- or mid-grown elevation. That final product of that estate is classified according to the elevation of the processing facility. “So, if all the teas from this one estate are processed together to form one lot, is this a blend? Furthermore, what happens if this estate decides to offer some specialty tea or jasmine green tea? Does the jasmine portion have to be from a designated origin (not to mention the green tea itself) for the final product to be classified as a specialty jasmine green tea?”

In conclusion he said, “I think there are a lot of refined definitions that need to be created before a ‘specialty’ designation is useful to some significant portions of the tea industry.”

Perhaps the “specialty tea definition debate” could be a topic of conversation at the next FAO IGG plenary meeting, or a session at an upcoming North American Tea Conference, World Tea Conference & Expo or Global Tea Initiative Tea Colloquium?

However, and I could be mistaken, but tea consumers do not seem to be demanding a definition of specialty tea, rather more and more consumers are desiring higher quality tea (and are willing to pay for it). So, for the moment, maybe we should consider THAC president Shabnam Weber’s suggestion, “I think that defining specialty is like ‘nailing Jello to the wall’ — to borrow a line from Bill Clinton. Specialty tea means something different to everyone asked and if we accept that truth, then why not spend our energy on elevating the category of tea to benefit the entire industry.”

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

The post The brewing debate around defining specialty tea… appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

In the collective statement issued today, The Tea and Herbal Association of Canada, Tea and Herbal Infusions Europe and the Tea Association of the USA offered the following:

[“We] take great pride in our collective approach of inclusion, representing the tea industry from bush to cup. Our members include all parts of the supply chain operating in what is commonly referred to as the ‘traditional’ tea industry as well as the ‘specialty’ tea industry. The European Speciality Tea Association (ESTA), has recently announced their definition of ‘specialty tea.’

Although we agree fully with their statement acknowledging “…that it will be difficult if not impossible to achieve a definition which is universally agreed by all…”, we are concerned with the language used to then differentiate ‘specialty tea’ from other tea. The ESTA definition of ‘specialty tea’ includes knowledge of supplier, farm, location, production dates and processing methods. These supply chain facts are known and documented by every reputable company operating in the tea industry regardless of ‘specialty’ or ‘traditional’ label. In fact, they are critical to traceability requirements which are at the core of food safety laws in place around the world and must be demonstrated as part of regular audits for large retailers as well as certification programs.

The definition goes on to list five criteria by which quality is defined: dry leaf, aroma of dry leaf, colour and clarity of the liquor, flavour and mouthfeel of the liquor, appearance and aroma of wet leaf. Again, these are the same criteria used by every tea taster in the industry, regardless of ‘specialty’ or ‘traditional’ label. Although all the above may be a part of ‘specialty tea,’ suggesting they are not a part of ‘traditional’ tea is factually incorrect.

As national associations, we celebrate the vast range of teas available to consumers. We believe in accessibility for all and strongly support elevating the value of tea. We encourage all efforts to make the industry more sustainable, thereby benefiting the entire supply chain – from bush to cup.”

The post Global tea associations respond to new definition of specialty tea appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

I did not remember it was National Iced Tea month until participating in the Tea Association of the USA’s/Specialty Tea Institute’s (STI) weekly Virtual Tea Party (started during the pandemic). I am surprised I forgot considering what “big business” iced tea is in the US — between 75% and 80% of all tea consumed is iced tea. If ready-to-drink tea is factored in, the percentage of “cold tea” consumed is much higher as the canned/bottled RTD tea segment comprised about 50% of total market share in 2019, per the Tea Association (it is expected to have a more modest growth of 1-3% CAGR over the next five years).

I grew up an iced tea drinker as both of my parents were raised in the South, and it seemed to have been the signature year-round alternative beverage to soda, which I never liked. Although, I can proudly claim that I was never a “sweet tea” drinker as that is just a cold mess of sugar, water and a trace of tea flavouring (well, that’s my recollection…) nor did I like instant tea (just awful!). But today’s iced teas are radically different than those of yesteryear. They are fun, innovative, infused blends of black, green, white, and herbal tea — and much higher quality than what was available during my youth! And now, taking it one step further, iced tea cocktails are becoming more prevalent.

During this week’s virtual Tea Party, which has a different guest presenter each week, Kelly Amoroso, coffee and tea buyer, and Alex Gigas, barista, at Allegro Coffee (a wholly owned subsidiary of Whole Foods Market), demonstrated how to prepare several delectable “spiked” iced tea concoctions that are being offered at the Allegro Cafés, now that they are slowly starting to reopen. The featured cocktails were: Black Iced Tea and Orange Liqueur, Green Tea Sauvignon Blanc Sangria, Iced Citrus Bourbon Shaker, which calls for vanilla rooibos, and my personal favourite, Hibiscus Rosé Sangria, which uses muddled strawberries — a fruit that signifies summer! I picture myself drinking the sangria (perhaps “frozé” style…) on sailboat on a hot summer day (social distancing is possible on a sailboat!), but I digress…If anyone would like Allegro’s iced tea cocktail recipes, please email me.

And just yesterday, I received an announcement from Steep Echo Tea (in partnership with Bel Lavoro Orchards) about a Boozy Summer Stir, Shake & Sip Series. The first featured cocktail is the Steep Echo Bloom Gin Gimlet, followed by the Steep Echo Ginger Hush Fizz and the Steep Echo Tend Tea-Tini. Steep Echo’s Bloom Tea is an “immune boosting” blend that fuses organic olive leaf with peppermint, echinacea root, licorice root, thyme, rosemary and natural cranberry flavour — sounds delicious!

Earlier this month, SUKI Tea introduced a sparkling tea infusions line, which was described as “perfect for afternoon teas, picnics, festivals or simply hanging out at home on long, sunny days.” SUKI also noted that “there’s the option to get creative with cocktails…The peach tea is perfect as a dark rum mixer, while the elderflower goes rather well with tequila.”

Steep Echo Tea and SUKI Tea are not the only brands promoted iced tea cocktails, they are becoming more ubiquitous, and as such, are moving beyond a fad or trend, and maybe even beyond summer. Iced tea cocktails are refreshing and fun, and don’t we all deserve a little fun after the year we’ve all been having?!

Just a quick side note, for those unaware, due to Covid-19, Tea & Coffee World Cup 2020, has been cancelled. The new dates and location have yet to be determined.

And now, as the weather is about 30C/90F, I am off to search for newly reopened cafés offering iced tea cocktails…Happy sipping!

• Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: vanessa@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

The post A new style of iced teas appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

India:

• All tea gardens are under lockdown and not operational
• For more information, visit: http://www.teaboard.gov.in/HOME

Sri Lanka:

• Continuing under safety precautions within the curfew period
• People can engage in the agricultural sector including the tea sector
• Government directive that tea production must continue still stands
• For more information, visit: http://www.srilankateaboard.lk/

Kenya:

• Kenya now has 28 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the second highest in the region after Rwanda that has 41
• “Social distancing is now our new norm, it is our new way of life,” President Kenyatta said on 25 March. He also announced a nationwide nighttime curfew.
• Exempted are organisations rendering critical and essential services which include food dealers and transporters of farm produce
• Tea producers have taken it that they are exempt as well and are currently seeking further clarification from the government
• For more information, visit: https://agricultureauthority.go.ke/

China:

• China reported no new domestic cases of coronavirus for three consecutive days (18-20 March) and has resumed work and production in every sector
• Tea production is at full capacity
• Foreign airlines have been limited to one flight per week as of 22 March
• Government is beginning to allow internal travel and a return to work in light of several days of no new cases

Argentina:

• On 20 March, the Argentine government announced a lockdown through 31 March
• For more information, visit:

The Tea Association of the USA will continue to share updates on tea origins, and tea industry overall, as information is available.

The post Tea origin responses to Covid-19 outbreak appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

According to the US-based Mayo Clinic, coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases, such as MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). Coronaviruses are transmitted between animals and people.

On 11 February, the World Health Organization announced an official name for the disease that is causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, Covid-19 (or 2019-nCoV).

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the United States reported the first confirmed instance of person-to-person spread with this virus on 30 January. The same day, the CDC further announced that the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC).

Peter F Goggi, president of the Tea Association of the USA, has been closely monitoring the situations involving China, from the newly imposed tea tariffs to the risk of coronavirus infection from tea imported from China. In a letter to US Tea Association members, Goggi stated the risk of 2019-nCoV infection per the CDC:

“The virus is not spread through goods but by human to human contact … In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. Coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread most often by respiratory droplets.”

Goggi further stated that the Tea Association’s assessment of 2019-nCoV infection risk from imported tea products is as follows:

• Tea Leaf — due to generally long transportation times from origin, the risk is very low.
• Spray Dried Extracts — due to high temperatures employed in the spray drying process the risk is very low.
• Liquid Extracts — most, if not all, liquid extracts are either pasteurized or UHT treated, reducing the risk to virtually nil (zero).

“The Tea Association’s position is that there is no need to be concerned about the risk of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection from imported tea products,” said Goggi.

Additionally, pursuant to the December announcement from President Trump that the US agreed to reduce the tariff on List 4A goods from China to 7.5% from the original 15%, Goggi informed the association’s members that the date for this reduction as published in the Federal Register is confirmed 14 February 2020.

According to Goggi, tea products listed on Annex A that will be reduced to 7.5% tariff are as follows:

0902.10.10

0902.10.90

0902.20.10

0902.20.90

0902.30.00

0902.40.00

2101.20.20

2101.20.32

2101.20.34

2101.20.38

2101.20.44

2101.20.48

2101.20.54

2101.20.58

2101.20.90

T&CTJ is monitoring both the 2019-nCoV and tariffs situations and will inform our subscribers and readers of any further developments as they become available.

• Vanessa L. Facenda, editor Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. She may be contacted via vanessa@bellpublishing.com.

Image courtesy of Barbara Dufrêne

The post The impact Covid-19 and tariffs have on tea imported from China appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

The United States first imposed tariffs on imports from China based on the findings of the Section 301 investigation on China’s acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. The announcement in December stated that the US will be maintaining 25% tariffs on approximately USD $250 billion of Chinese imports, along with 7.5% tariffs on approximately $120 billion of Chinese imports. The President stated that the US agreed to reduce the tariff on List 4A goods from 15% to 7.5% upon signing of the agreement — tea is included in the List 4A goods.

Peter F Goggi, president of the Tea Association of the USA, has been actively lobbying against the tariffs on behalf of the Association’s members. He submitted a position paper, provided oral testimony and rebuttal during the 301 Committee hearings (which took place last summer). Goggi sent a letter to members yesterday informing them that the agreement was signed 15 January 2020. In his letter to members, Goggi noted that the tea products listed on Annex A that will be reduced to 7.5% tariff are as follows:

0902.10.10

0902.10.90

0902.20.10

0902.20.90

0902.30.00

0902.40.00

2101.20.20

2101.20.32

2101.20.34

2101.20.38

2101.20.44

2101.20.48

2101.20.54

2101.20.58

2101.20.90

Goggi added that although the anticipated effective date is approximately 30 days from the signing (around mid-February), no date has yet to be confirmed. Once the effective date of the tariff reduction is announced, the Tea Association will inform all members.

T&CTJ is keeping tabs on the situation and will also inform our subscribers and readers of any developments.

– Vanessa L Facenda, editor Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. Vanessa may be contacted via vanessa@bellpublishing.com.
(Image credit – Barbara Dufrêne)

The post US Tariffs on Chinese Tea to be Reduced appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

Water is increasingly becoming the beverage of choice, particularly for millennials and Generation Z cohorts, who are consciously selecting healthier alternatives. “I think that the fact people are switching to water is an immense opportunity for the tea category,” said Shabnam Weber, president, Tea and Herbal Association of Canada, Toronto, Ontario. “What is tea, if not 99 percent of water: water that has been infused with so many health benefits. We are the original vitamin water — nature’s vitamin water.”

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome with converting water drinkers is the misconception that tea is dehydrating. Perpetuated by both the media and health authorities, this perception may be preventing consumers from turning towards tea to meet their hydration needs. “We need to make people aware that tea is just as hydrating as water,” said Dr Sharon Hall, chief executive, UK Tea and Infusions Association, London, England. “And when we extend the conversation towards the other benefits that tea offers including polyphenols and bone density, it makes a very powerful statement.”

By sharing this information, the tea industry can help influence consumers to adopt tea as their go-to hydration beverage. “Tea and water are inherently similar,” said Cindi Bigelow, president, and CEO, Bigelow Tea, Fairfield, Connecticut. “They are lighter, healthier, non-caloric beverages. There is a particularly nice correlation between iced tea and water, they both play nicely together.”

The ready to drink category presents an opportunity to engage consumers in premium tea offerings. This growth category is primed for sugar-free products that showcase a variety of whole leaf tea offerings including green, black, and oolong. “Water has enjoyed a lot of popularity due to its purity,” said Peter Goggi, president, Tea Association of the USA, New York, New York. “However, tea is making inroads. There is an extraordinarily strong, well documented, research background into the overall health and wellness of tea, which will help drive our industry forward.”

To gain momentum, the tea industry needs to focus on delivering offerings that will respond to the concerns of today’s consumer. In the ready to drink segment, packaging has become incredibly important with consumers opting for solutions that respond to their sustainability concerns. The anti-plastic movement is turning consumers away from plastic packaging and bottled water in general. At the same time, corporations, governments and public venues are taking a stand advocating for the elimination of single-serve plastic. “San Francisco has banned bottled water in the airports,” said Rona Tison, senior vice president, Ito En, San Francisco, California. “People are increasingly concerned about consuming clean food, beverages, and products. Tea fits into that lifestyle. It is a plant-based, clean, healthy beverage that they can feel good about consuming.”

Extending the Conversation

To ensure the long-term viability of the beverage, the tea conversation must go beyond hydration and wellness. “The landscape is continually changing, and to remain a part of the industry, you have to be able to adapt,” said Tison. This includes embracing a variety of formats and working in partnership with other tea companies to help transform the concept of tea into a valued experience.

“We need to turn infrequent tea drinkers to daily habitual tea drinkers — introducing new flavours to their repertoire,” said Alaina Ho, marketing manager, Stash Tea, Portland, Oregon. “Everyone in the industry has a role to play in helping make this shift. It may be one brand in the morning, a different brand in the evening, and an RTD in the afternoon.”

There remains a significant educational gap with mainstream consumers still largely unaware of the diversity that tea has to offer. “We need to talk about the goodness of tea on so many levels from the taste experience to how it aids in relaxation, mental clarity, and mindfulness,” said Tison. This conversation, although started, is still in its infancy. Consumers are actively seeking items that can be customised to their needs. However, the full potential of the tea experience still has not been fully embraced.

“Wellness will continue to be a driver in tea – it is an important message,” said Bigelow. “But there is much more to the tea conversation. In our case, we connect with our customers through both our family story and strong brand recognition.” For Bigelow Tea, this includes involving their sales and marketing team in all aspects of the business, from product development to the sourcing of ingredients. By understanding the entire process (and the motivation behind them), the sales and marketing team can develop authentic messages that showcase both the story of the company and its values.

“Millennials and Generation Z are very particular on how they spend their dollars –they want to know it’s going to something,” said Goggi. “Tea fits well in this conversation.” This includes inviting consumers into the world of tea, sharing its origin story, the variances that the terroir provides, and fostering connections with the individuals behind the tea leaves. “There is a strong sustainability message with tea: social, economic, and environmental, and when that’s paired with the wellness factor, it wraps up to a program that can help drive consumption.”

The specialty tea movement has helped to shift the perception of tea but there are still several hurdles to overcome. In order to get there, the industry needs to find ways to connect with today’s consumers. This includes understanding the terminology that they use, their values, and the barriers that may be preventing them from adopting tea into their lifestyle. “We are faced with several shifts in the industry: the volume of black tea is declining in the UK, consumers are calling a range of beverages tea, and they are not fully aware of all the benefits that Camellia sinensis offers,” said Hall. “The history of tea in the UK used to be so precious. We need to reconnect people to these stories.”

Black tea, in particular, has had its own set of challenges. This could be partially due to the beverage being unfairly pegged as a breakfast drink or the milk laden, sweetened, bitter beverage that was prepared by a grandmother. “We have seen steady and promising growth in specialty teas, herbals, etc, but black tea has been taken for granted and relegated to uninspiring words like ‘ordinary,’” said Weber. “We need to make black tea special again. It’s my go to tea, and there is nothing ordinary about it.”

The out-of-home experience presents an opportunity to help make this shift, but to do this, the overall experience needs to improve. This begins with inviting the restaurant industry into the tea conversation and showcasing the potential in a tea menu, including tea pairings, tea cocktails, and customised beverages. “There are so many parallels between tea and wine; the complexity, its taste profiles, traditions and history,” said Tison. “The story of tea runs so deep. It is something to be respected, celebrated and enjoyed in so many ways.”

Cafés have already fostered this development introducing consumers to tea lattes, specifically chai, matcha and turmeric, and the potential in cold brew iced tea. “The world continues to get smaller, and with that, we are seeing more exotic ingredients introduced into the tea world,” said Ho. “This new influx of flavours and ingredients presents an opportunity to delve into more exciting things, especially at the café level, where they can introduce the flavours in new drink experiences.”

Consumers are slowly awakening to the variety of experiences that tea offers. However, to truly propel the industry forward, the messages need to go beyond wellness and connect consumers to both tea’s diversity and its incredible stories. “We need to join up as a global tea industry and align our messages so that it will become amplified,” said Hall. “Creating global campaigns within the industry and fostering partnerships with other areas, like culinary, will help to elevate the concept of tea.”

• Anne-Marie Hardie is a freelance writer, professor and speaker based in Barrie, Ontario. She may be reached at: annemariehardie1@gmail.com.

The post Moving beyond tea’s wellness message appeared first on Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.

The North America Tea Market is expected to register a CAGR of 1-3 percent, during the forecast period (2019 – 2024) due to the increase in popularity of ready-to-drink (RTD) tea and iced tea in United States, according to the Tea Association of the USA.

Why is tea so popular? Tea is a rich source of flavonoids, making it a significantly beneficial delivery system of antioxidants. Given the focus on health and wellness, consumers are looking for flavourful beverages that are all-natural and better for you. Brewed black and green teas provide 150-200 mg of flavonoid antioxidants per serving, which greatly improves one’s ability to protect against oxidative damage to DNA and lipids, per the Tea Association of the USA.

Although these benefits are desired by consumers, tea must deliver a natural yet tantalising taste. One of the top-growing flavours, according to global data, is ginger, which is seen combined with different fruit flavours such as pear, cranberry, raspberry, and peach. According to Julia Pollard, flavourist with Beck Flavors, “Combinations of fruit and botanicals have taken the spotlight in the tea category, for example, Blood Orange Hibiscus, Mixed Berry Elderflower and Lemon Lavender. The hard part is finding flavours that complement each other and balancing it with a specific tea blend.”

From Green Tea to Kombucha

Pollard has seen a decade of change from the green tea craze to what is now considered commonplace, with tea used as an ingredient in bakery, ice cream and even including the popular kombucha. In fact, market researcher Global Newswire, in its report, Global Fermented, revealed that the refrigerated kombucha and the fermented beverage category has grown 31.4 percent year over year.

Fermentation, the natural alternative to artificially carbonated soft drinks, features a unique, slightly acidic taste. It is now also recognized for supporting digestive health by turning food and drinks into powerhouses of beneficial probiotics and friendly bacteria. Kombucha, the current star among fermented soft drinks, is a fermented probiotic tea drink that is becoming increasingly popular where it is marketed as a healthy alternative to carbonated soft drinks. Pollard has spent a lot of time working on kombucha formulations and sees opportunity to really expand kombucha flavours from sweet fruity into more comforting, warm flavours like maple and vanilla.

Deep Blue Tea

Another innovative ingredient that Pollard and her team have been working with is butterfly pea flower tea. This emerging ingredient is brewed as a tea and has a lot of anthocyanins that give it a natural deep blue colour. When an acid like lemon juice is added, it can turn pink or purple. It is classified as an herbal tea, is naturally caffeine free and has a mild refreshing flavour. In the United States, this fun and experimental component is becoming a visually stimulating trend for bartenders and generating buzz on social media. Unfortunately, this ingredient is not GRAS (Generally Recognised as Safe) approved and cannot be sold as a flavour yet but it is available for use in Australia.

• Janie Page is the senior director of marketing for Beck Flavors Inc, a custom flavour house that delivers flavour solutions for the food and beverage industry. Janie has over 18 years of experience in the foodservice, retail and consumer packaged goods industries. With her certification as a Q-Grader by the Coffee Quality Institute, she brings together insights, innovation and technical expertise.

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The annual Sustainability Awards for the tea sector encourage tea growers to not only deliver a delicious beverage, but also a healthy product that is socially responsible with a positive impact on the environment.

From water and sanitation to sustainable agriculture and farming, here’s how these tea changemakers are creating a sustainable future:

• Apeejay Tea – Apeejay Tea is working with 1,200+ small tea growers who are now part of the supply chain linked to 12 factories manufacturing tea. The company has given all of them a Supply Chain Certification. Manufacturers of green tea leaf from small tea growers is predicted to reach 5 million kg in 2019, up from 3.6 million kg in 2017.
• Sorwathe Ltd. – Sorwathe Tea Factory is situated in Rulindo District in Rwanda and employs around 2,500 workers a day and 2,500 tea farmers. Working with the Rwanda government, Sorwathe is investing in agriculture to reduce poverty and to target the lack of funds to plant tea, assist in the livelihood of the farmer and dependents of current land that are being converted to tea, and improve the lack of knowledge in organic tea cultivation.
• Finlays – Globally, Finlays has been involved in water stewardship programs with the aim to provide safe access to safe water. In Argentina, Finlays work within the Tabay river basin to ensure the flow of water throughout the basin. Their efforts are environmental (diagnosis, recovery of degraded areas), production (co-ordinate with government programs), and social (collaborate for management of roads, bridges and transportation).
• Eastern Produce Ltd. – In 2018, the EPK initiated its project for helping schools in Nandi County, Kenya gain access to water after realising how much rain water was wasted through existing systems. Through rain water harvesting programs, a total of 12,600 pupils and students have more sustained access to water. 21 schools have benefited from a sustained and self-sufficient water resource and absenteeism rates have reduced.

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However, while most of the world drinks hot tea, 75 – 80% of Americans opt for iced tea over hot. Celebrating this fact, June has been deemed National Iced Tea Month.

“As the popularity of tea surges, we’ve learned that tea is much more than just a healthy, refreshing beverage. Millennials truly have an emotional connection with tea,” said Peter Goggi, president of the Tea Council of the USA and the Tea Association of the USA.

To access America’s growing fascination with the ancient brew, the Tea Council of the USA commissioned a survey, which discovered – quite surprisingly, and I’m skeptical – that 24 million Americans think that drinking a cup of their favourite brew is as good as sex. The survey found that more men than women (13% vs. 8%) and more millennials than older generations (16% vs. 7%) feel this way.

The online survey, conducted by Kelton Global, also showed that nearly one-quarter (22%) of Americans could not survive Monday morning without tea as their daily fuel. Fewer say this about pressing the snooze button on their alarm (17%), reading their favourite blog (14%) or using their Outlook calendar (12%).

Tea’s popularity is partly attributed to its perceived health benefits, of which there are many. Researchers are continually finding new health benefits from tea consumption, whether it’s black, green, white, oolong or dark teas – any tea from the Camellia sinensis plant, (not tisanes or herbal teas). Recent research has revealed that:

• Drinking green tea polyphenols has been linked to increased skin protection from UV rays and improved elasticity. In a 12-week trial, where women were randomized to drinking extracted green tea polyphenols, they saw improvements in skin elasticity, roughness and scaling thought to be a result of increased blood flow and oxygen delivery to the skin.
• Early research in animal models suggests that both black tea and green tea polyphenols may impact the gut microbiome to promote weight loss. Research on mice also suggests that when given a green or black tea polyphenol supplement, after being fed a high-fat, high-sugar diet, weight loss was triggered due to changes in the gut microbiome. Researchers concluded that tea polyphenols had an impact on the gut microbiome to increase weight loss.
• Research using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis demonstrated that tea drinkers have slowed progression of calcification and fewer cardiovascular events. Specifically, black tea consumption has been linked to decreased risk for a heart attack and improved cardiovascular health.

Given the heat and humidity that seem to be following me no matter what state or country I’m in, a glass of fruit-infused iced tea sounds perfect right now.

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