TIME FOR TEA

WHY TEA WILL NEVER, AND SHOULD NEVER, BE THE NEXT COFFEE

Tea consumption is ingrained in the drinking cultures of many nations, especially the UK. But dwindling sales of this old reliable is causing a rethink across the industry, as younger consumers move away from black tea products. Could tea be repositioned to meet new needs? Or even, should it?

While the past two years have been undeniably transformational in terms of reshaping the social rituals that govern our lives, even before the pandemic hit, the writing was on the wall for black tea. Consumed without consideration, but rather an ingrained ritualism and habit for generations, the consumption of a cup of tea has been steadily going off the boil for years.

According to Euromonitor, in the five years to 2019, volume sales of black tea fell by 10% in the US, Russia and UK retail channels.

Announcing plans to sell its tea brand portfolio (including PG Tips and Brooke Bond) in 2020, Unilever chief executive, Alan Jope, proclaimed that traditional tea drinkers are an aging market. While younger consumers preferred coffee and herbal teas, or trending varietals such as matcha, black tea drinkers, he claimed, were “getting older and consuming less and starting to fall over”. The brands eventually sold to European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in November 2021.