Tea is the most popular beverage after water. In the US tea is gaining in popularity due to emerging health trend. By the meantime, Euromonitor international (https://www.euromonitor.com/) has published it’s report on “Tea in the US”. I would like to bring you the executive summary of the report with some changes in order to have an idea about USA tea market.

STANDARD TEA FORMATS STRUGGLE

According to Euromonitor, Black tea bags is still among the largest categories in USA tea, but has been declining as consumers tire of mainstream brands and seek out more specialty exotic flavours and formats. Loose black tea is picking up some of these lost sales, but, according to findings, tisanes / herbal infusions are emerging due to health and wellness trend. FUNCTIONAL TEAS ARE A FOCUS

FUNCTIONAL TEAS ARE A FOCUS

Tea drinkers are increasingly seeking for teas crafted with a specific health and wellness purpose in mind, even though in many cases this is a goal such as relaxation (Tea contains L-theanine which is responsible for relaxation) rather than a defined medical condition. Many companies are also now naming products by their functionality rather than by flavour or ingredients in recognition of this.

GREEN TEA MOVES IN TWO DIRECTIONS

According to the report, Green tea was the worst-performing category of tea in 2018. This was partly a temporary aberration due to Teavana closure, but the long-term trend for many of the leading brands is declining consumption.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

STARBUCKS CORP DIVESTS MOST OF ITS US TEA BUSINESS

Starbucks Corp has closed all of its Teavana retail outlets and its online tea store, dashing the hopes of those who thought that Starbucks could do for hot tea in the US what it did for coffee. But still Starbucks is selling Teavana brewed tea at their outlets. This move came after Starbucks had already sold off its major retail tea brand Tazo to Unilever Group in late 2017.

UNILEVER EXPANDS MORE HEAVILY INTO PREMIUM TEA

Tea sales leader Unilever United States Inc saw major share growth in 2018 thanks to the acquisition of Tazo. With Lipton sales slipping, Unilever has been expanding more heavily into premium tea to compensate.

BIG PLAYERS ARE LOSING SHARE TO SMALLER RIVALS

The long-term shift away from standard tea bags towards higher-end loose and sachet teas has benefited smaller players at the expense of the companies that have traditionally dominated US tea. Sales of many of the major brands, including Lipton, Celestial Seasonings and Salada, have been consistently falling in the last few years even as the category overall has grown.

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References

1.Original Post: https://www.euromonitor.com/tea-in-the-us/report