Brits are embracing ‘super teas’, but what’s next?
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Driven by the global health and wellbeing mega trend, the retail infusions market in the United Kingdom is experiencing fast growth in the functional ‘super teas’ segment.
Tea already has a ‘health halo’ with 54% of UK consumers believing that green tea has a positive impact on their health (per GlobalData Plc, 2022). Functional teas take this one step further and combine tea with botanicals and fortifications to offer a specific benefit and create products that deliver a compelling health proposition for consumers.
Super teas arrived in the UK in 2015 when Tetley brought out the first ever range of EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) backed Super Green and Super Fruit teas. This paved the way for other brands and supermarket own brands to capitalise with new products being put on the supermarket shelf at a faster rate than in any other tea sector.
And it’s not just physical health — post Covid, consumers are increasingly seeking products that promise psychological or emotional benefits too. Claims relating to sleep or stress management attract the most activity, with one in ten new products using these claims according to Mintel’s Tea and other Hot Drinks Report, 2022.
How can brands capitalise?
The key to capitalising on this trend is for retailers and brand owners to understand the top claims and flavours that appeal to consumers. The traditional black tea market is still significant with over 85% share, but consumers are seeking variety when shopping this category and have a higher preference for healthy beverages than ever before. With a slightly higher price premium than other ‘tea’ products, not only do functional teas add choice to the fixture, but they also help to drive value into the category.
What’s next for functional tea?
In my view, this is just the start of the super tea trend. As consumer tastes evolve and demand for functional food and beverage heightens, there is huge opportunity for retailers to increase sales by looking beyond what is happening now and asking what will happen next. Tea – with its health halo – will be a mainstay, as will botanical infusions… but inspiration can be found in other categories and markets, where emerging ingredients such as mushroom tea, protein tea and adaptogens like ashwaganda are increasingly popular.
The key, as ever, is to join forces with an expert partner, who can help you stay ahead of the curve and tap into the extremely exciting opportunities within the functional beverage space.
- Rebecca Coath, category manager at Finlay Beverages, analyses the rise of functional teas in the UK and where the trend might be going next.
