01.04.15
Tea is the world’s second most-consumed beverage after water. According to a report published in HerbalEGram—the American Botanical Council’s (ABC) monthly online magazine—sales of loose, bagged, concentrated and herbal tea in the U.S. grew 5.9% in 2013, reaching a total of about $1.75 billion.
Ready-to-drink (RTD) tea sales in the U.S. remained relatively flat at about $2.38 billion, a small decrease of approximately 0.36% from 2012 sales. Based on available figures, 2014 is expected to be a banner year for both brewed and RTD tea sales.
According to the report, growing demand for tea in the U.S. is being driven by three primary factors: health and wellness trends, positive media coverage and an evolving retail landscape. Consumers are seeking affordable, safe ways to enhance their personal wellness and self-care regimens. Consistent media coverage is delivering a stream of positive news on the research validating health benefits of tea (Camellia sinensis) consumption—particularly green tea—that is helping to educate and motivate consumers to choose tea.
Further, thousands of independent and multi-unit tea retail outlets are expanding nationwide, offering greater consumer access to finer-quality specialty teas. In 2012, global specialty coffee leader Starbucks invested $620 million in its acquisition of Teavana—the largest North American retail tea chain.
The HerbalEGram tea market report is based on sales data from the mainstream multi-outlet, natural and specialty/gourmet channels supplied by SPINS (and SPINS Multi-Outlet powered by IRI [a Chicago-based market-research company]). The data do not include tea sales from food-service settings including restaurants, cafés, delis and similar establishments. Additionally, sales from a number of other tea distribution channels are not assessed by any single entity, including mail order, online, network marketing, Whole Foods Market and thousands of independent specialty tea shops. Were those sales data available and included, the report estimated total U.S. tea sales for 2013 could be in excess of $15 billion.
Among loose, bagged and concentrated teas in 2013, black tea bags continued their dominant trend. Loose iced teas and powder tea mixes followed, succeeded by green and white tea bags, herbal beverage tea bags and medicinal tea bags.
The top five herbs in 2013 in the U.S. medicinal tea (bag) sector were, respectively, chamomile (Matricaria recutita), senna (Senna alexandrina), ginger (Zingiber officinale), echinacea (Echinacea spp.) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). In the 2013 U.S. herbal beverage tea (bag) category, top-selling primary herbs were chamomile, mints (Mentha spp.), ginger, valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and acai (Euterpe oleracea). SPINS defines “medicinal teas” as all medicinal teas with one or more medicinal ingredient often marketed with a structure-function claim or strongly associated with a health focus. “Herbal beverage” tea refers to single or blended beverage infusions formulated with various combinations of fruits, spices, herbs and C. sinensis not marketed with any health-related claim; they are considered conventional foods in a regulatory sense.
“More impressive than the current size of the tea industry is the fact that, for more than a decade, annual sales totals … have grown consistently in the United States with very few types of tea showing anything other than consistent gains,” wrote the authors of ABC’s 2013 tea market report. “The onslaught of hundreds of new retail tea outlets—and thousands more projected to open in the next few years—parallels the germinal stages of the fledgling U.S. natural foods industry circa 1980-2000.”
Ready-to-drink (RTD) tea sales in the U.S. remained relatively flat at about $2.38 billion, a small decrease of approximately 0.36% from 2012 sales. Based on available figures, 2014 is expected to be a banner year for both brewed and RTD tea sales.
According to the report, growing demand for tea in the U.S. is being driven by three primary factors: health and wellness trends, positive media coverage and an evolving retail landscape. Consumers are seeking affordable, safe ways to enhance their personal wellness and self-care regimens. Consistent media coverage is delivering a stream of positive news on the research validating health benefits of tea (Camellia sinensis) consumption—particularly green tea—that is helping to educate and motivate consumers to choose tea.
Further, thousands of independent and multi-unit tea retail outlets are expanding nationwide, offering greater consumer access to finer-quality specialty teas. In 2012, global specialty coffee leader Starbucks invested $620 million in its acquisition of Teavana—the largest North American retail tea chain.
The HerbalEGram tea market report is based on sales data from the mainstream multi-outlet, natural and specialty/gourmet channels supplied by SPINS (and SPINS Multi-Outlet powered by IRI [a Chicago-based market-research company]). The data do not include tea sales from food-service settings including restaurants, cafés, delis and similar establishments. Additionally, sales from a number of other tea distribution channels are not assessed by any single entity, including mail order, online, network marketing, Whole Foods Market and thousands of independent specialty tea shops. Were those sales data available and included, the report estimated total U.S. tea sales for 2013 could be in excess of $15 billion.
Among loose, bagged and concentrated teas in 2013, black tea bags continued their dominant trend. Loose iced teas and powder tea mixes followed, succeeded by green and white tea bags, herbal beverage tea bags and medicinal tea bags.
The top five herbs in 2013 in the U.S. medicinal tea (bag) sector were, respectively, chamomile (Matricaria recutita), senna (Senna alexandrina), ginger (Zingiber officinale), echinacea (Echinacea spp.) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). In the 2013 U.S. herbal beverage tea (bag) category, top-selling primary herbs were chamomile, mints (Mentha spp.), ginger, valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and acai (Euterpe oleracea). SPINS defines “medicinal teas” as all medicinal teas with one or more medicinal ingredient often marketed with a structure-function claim or strongly associated with a health focus. “Herbal beverage” tea refers to single or blended beverage infusions formulated with various combinations of fruits, spices, herbs and C. sinensis not marketed with any health-related claim; they are considered conventional foods in a regulatory sense.
“More impressive than the current size of the tea industry is the fact that, for more than a decade, annual sales totals … have grown consistently in the United States with very few types of tea showing anything other than consistent gains,” wrote the authors of ABC’s 2013 tea market report. “The onslaught of hundreds of new retail tea outlets—and thousands more projected to open in the next few years—parallels the germinal stages of the fledgling U.S. natural foods industry circa 1980-2000.”
