With snow and ice covering all of Britain this week, I’m not travelling anywhere so, instead, I thought this was the ideal time to catch up with tea shops and tea rooms around the country and find out how they fared during the festive Christmas period in terms of sales and customer choices. I asked a few of my tea friends if sales in December 2009 were up or down on the previous year and in every case, it was really good news.
Raschid at Ismail in Tunbridge Wells in Kent (here’s the Ismail team in the photo on the right) said business was “significantly better”. We promoted Winter Fireside in store as our Christmas tea and it sold well as a beverage but also sold well at the retail counter for home and presents - it’s a mixture of black tea with cinnamon bark, apple, almonds and vanilla - satisfying and warming!”
Marianna, owner of Orange Pekoe in Barnes (pictured above), told me that “2009 was a much better year than 2008. Retail sales were even better and people were buying a lot of tea gifts and tea caddies for Christmas which was lovely to see. 2009 Afternoon Tea sales were definitely higher than 2008 with most weekends being fully booked for Afternoon Tea”.
Anne at Attic Teas in Bristol (pictured right) was ecstatic and emailed that, “Our tea sales were utterly incredible this year, both through our shop and our internet site”.
And at Postcard Teas, Tim (in the photo below) told me the shop “had a better Christmas this year than 2008 – it’s the time of year when tea connoisseurs treat themselves to something special so we sold many Jin Damo Pu-Erh cakes, and lots of our specialist teas made by named master makers from Japan, Taiwan, and China”.
Jennifer at Canton Tea Company told me that her sales “grew by 400% last year. We have seen a steady rise in sales in line with the growth of the premium tea market and by endorsement of places such as Petersham Nurseries, now serving and selling Canton Teas”.
And Sonja at Char Chars in Dorchester (the photo on the right shows Sonja behind the counter at the store) wrote news that “2009 sales were better for us, up 44% and Christmas alone saw a 20% increase in sales. We received many Christmas cards from customers, for the first time this year - which indicates they’re pleased with what we are doing. Comments in the cards were things like ‘don’t stop what you’re doing’, ‘thank you for making a difference to Dorchester”! Such great news all around the country!
I wondered what the best selling lines were and it seems that people are buying lots of tea makers and pots as well as guality loose leaf teas. Attic Teas found that “We couldn’t keep our tea makers on the shelf and everyone went wild for the new pouches of our 6 favourite teas (one for each tea category- silver needle, dragonwell, iron goddess of mercy, tippy yunnan, jasmine phoenix pearl, pu-erh tuo cha). Surprisingly, the favourite was the pu-erh cakes, closely followed by the green tea!” The photo at the bottom of the page shows one if Attic Tea’s tea selection presentation boxes that sit on the tables for customers to see and enjoy.
Ed Eisler of Jing Tea told me that his business was up 80% on 2008 and that Jing’s best sellers have been Jasmine Pearls (everyone seems to love the shape, the aroma, the wonderfully exotic character of these), Jing Assam Breakfast, Earl Grey, Dragon Well and Silver Needle.” And Jing have also been selling a lot of one cup teapots and tea-ieres.
Ismail’s biggest seller was Tippy Assam, closely followed by “a Kenya Blend Tea which 10 weeks before being on sale at Ismail was still a leaf on the bush, seriously fresh, sourced direct by a friend who was MD of Overseas Tea Merchants!” Other best sellers at Ismail were White Needles, Gunpowder Pearls, Phoenix Oolong, Jasmine Pearls and record numbers of glass teapots and caddies.
Tim d’Offay of Postcard Teas reported that “In this year’s show named after my recently published book ‘A Perfect Cup of Tea’, the bestsellers were the Yixing potter He Jian’s slab built Zisha pots, Mr Sasaki’s hand cast tetsubin kettles, hand made tea ware by Keiko Hasegawa and, as ever, Kaikado’s caddies (pictured right). With loose leaf tea sales, we sold lots of traditional black teas like Jungpana Second Flush Darjeeling as well as our house blends to people who were buying them as stocking fillers”
December saw the launch of Char Char’s “own tea blend - Hardy’s Tea – named for novelist Thomas Hardy who lived in Dorset. It went down a storm, selling our entire First Edition stock (100 tins) within a few weeks!” As at Ismail, their spicy winter tea also did very well and Sonja told me “the Christmas Spice Tea was the best selling Xmas tea. It’s a china black tea with orange peel, cinnamon and vanilla. And our best selling item remains our single estate Assam which we offer as our House breakfast tea.” This photo shows the upstairs room at Char Chars
At Orange Pekoe, “The best selling tea lines are always the classics – Earl Grey, English breakfast, afternoon tea, lapsang, peppermint, chamomile. Although more and more consumers experiment and buy alternative blends and the rarer teas without a doubt. Customers were also buying our tea equipage – teacups, teapots, strainers etc.”
And Canton Tea Company told me that “The Guild of Fine Food Taste Awards helped focus attention on our 3 star-winning Jasmine Pearls which have been a big success. We are becoming known for our Puerh, and the Pouchong is still a strong seller. Sales of Piao i tea infusers (see the photos right and below) continue to do well. Loose, whole leaf tea is so easy once people get their head around brewing it! Small, quality Yixing teapots are popular among people who have been to China and appreciate the traditional gongfu style of tea preparation.”
What’s the secret behind all this success and how do these speciality tea dealers view the coming year. At Char Chars, Sonja says” Our feeling is that there is definitely interest in good quality tea out there, it’s just capturing it and maintaining it! We hosted a Christmas afternoon tea party for 18 which was a first for us too - it almost turned into a private tea tasting party as they showed so much interest in what we’re offering.”
In Barnes, Marianna thinks that giving plenty of information helps increase sales and said that with a new, more detailed menu this year, “we’ll see even more of the rarer teas selling.” And because of excellent customer care, Canton Tea Company have seen a similar growth in business. Jennifer told me that “personal customer care is key. We’ve had many thank yous for prompt service, answers to enquiries and surprise in free tasters. Many delighted to have happened on us, bringing huge percentage of repeat business.”
Char Chars too said “we’ve noticed that people are starting to ask for teas by their region as opposed to by their category, eg an Assam or Ceylon or China green as opposed to just breakfast or afternoon tea. This is quite a shift from when we first opened in Dorchester and reflects the growing level of knowledge in the market.
So, despite the recession and despite bad weather just before Christmas, tea sales are on the rise and we’re all very optimistic about the next 12 months. Great news for tea and for tea shops, tea rooms and tea lounges around Britain.
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I have had the red tea and it tast just wonderful and is very good for you.It would do Americans more justice if they would think more health wise instead of junk food.