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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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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What Are Flavan-3-ols?

There’s something brewing in your tea you may not know about: flavan-3-ols. Data shows that consumption of 400-600mg of flavan-3-ols daily (about 2 cups of brewed green or black tea) can help improve blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Flavan-3-ols are plant compounds found in many foods and drinks, such as tea, berries, craisins, apples, and dark chocolate. True teas – which include black, green, white, dark and oolong – have been found to have the highest concentrations of flavan-3-ols of all foods and beverages evaluated.

For decades, research has consistently demonstrated flavan-3-ols’ ability to help reduce the risk of diet-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes by helping to improve blood pressure, blood flow, cholesterol levels and blood sugar. Flavan-3-ols have even been shown to help protect the body’s cells from damage as we age.

Flavan-3-ols & Diet-Related Disease

These new guidelines could impact broader dietary recommendations and significantly improve the health of Americans. To establish these guidelines, data was evaluated from 157 randomized control trials and 15 cohort studies as part of a recently published systematic review and meta-analysis. When asked about the significance of the guidelines, lead researcher Kristi Crowe-White, PhD, RD explained, “We know flavan-3-ols found in plant-foods can impact cardiometabolic health by helping to improve blood pressure, blood flow, cholesterol levels and blood sugar making our intake recommendations key to preventing, and improving, disease. Flavan-3-ol rich foods, such as teas, are accessible and affordable and can truly have positive effects on cardiometabolic health. These guidelines are a framework for broader dietary guidance and show the powerful impact food has on health.”

Diet-related diseases not only negatively impact the health of individuals, but our economy. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States and costs the United States about $229 billion each year. In addition, 37.3 million Americans (about 1 in 10) have diabetes, and 96 million American adults (more than 1 in 3) have prediabetes. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, and annual medical costs and lost work and wages totals an estimated $327 billion.

Is Tea the Key?

As we look to improve our health and prevent disease through diet, it’s important to know which foods and beverages contain the highest amount of nutrients to reap the most benefits. True teas have been found to have the highest concentrations of flavan-3-ols of all foods and beverages evaluated.

“Teas such as green and black are flavan-3-ol powerhouses. It’s exciting something like tea, which so many people already consume and enjoy, and is accessible and affordable, can provide us with optimal amounts of flavan-3-ols” said Crowe-White. The newly issued guidance states there is moderate evidence supporting cardiometabolic protection from consuming 400-600mg of flavan-3-ols daily. Following these guidelines, research suggests health benefits can be seen from consuming about two, eight-ounce cups of green or black tea each day. Importantly, these guidelines are food-based recommendations, meaning the flavan-3-ols should be consumed through food and drink and are not applicable recommendations for flavan-3-ol supplements.

“Research has always shown that tea is an inherently healthy beverage, but with this groundbreaking guidance we now have actionable recommendations about how much tea should be consumed to see health benefits” says Peter Goggi, president of the Tea Association of the U.S.A. “By drinking just two cups of true tea each day people will be able to improve their health. Science shows tea is a key beverage to consume if you want to live a long, healthy life.”

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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.

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)

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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.

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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