Tea, tea everywhere

Once uncommon in the United States, it seems like now teas and tisanes are everywhere you look. These days, you can even buy tea without leaving home. Internet options aside, Teas, Etc. recently struck a deal with home shopping giant QVC.

This year’s big-money headlines include Coca-Cola’s 40 percent stake in Honest Tea and Starbucks’ deal with PepsiCo and Unilever/Lipton to distribute Tazo RTDs. Both are prime examples of big beverage businesses turning to tea to offset slumping soda sales, and ensuring continued RTD tea growth through the widening of distribution channels along the way. Expect to see more RTDs on shelves, and more tea businesses in headlines, soon.

Falling pop sales also led Dr. Pepper Snapple to revamp Snapple’s image to seem healthier. The health aspect of tea also can be seen in its rising application as a superfood in dietary supplements and health foods, which have proliferated in drug and grocery stores across the nation. For instance, The Republic of Tea’s Superfruit Bottled Iced Teas are now available at Whole Foods Markets, Cost Plus World Markets and Wegmans.

On a less healthy note, tea began to really shine this year as a flavor focus in cocktails, savories and sweets. According to a recent Vogue Magazine article by Jeff Steingarten, tea is now entering the science-inspired realm of “hypermodern cooking,” indicating strong potential for futuristic, avant-garde tea creations from the culinary elite.

Back in the everyday world, grocery chains continue to pick up better teas. Mighty Leaf, a standard choice for many grocery stores these days, said its retail sales are in the double digits over last year. Southeastern chain Harris Teeter now carries Rishi’s loose-leaf teas in flagship stores. TWG launched a new tea line in Dean & Deluca. RTD offerings are multiplying in grocery stores and convenience stores alike, indicating potential for sales growth in a variety of tea types. New product offerings from 2008 vary widely, from pure-tea shots, to exotic blends, to organic and fair trade lines.

The gift market is also thirsty for tea. Teas are popping up in boutiques across the nation, and with the dollar down and international tourism to the U.S. up, American department stores are following the leads of international equivalents (such as Harrods and Takashimaya) by offering tea. Select Bloomingdale’s locations paired up with Tavalon for café and retail offerings, and custom Tay Tea blends appeared at several Henri Bendels. Both plan to expand to additional locations during 2009, and more retailers are likely to make similar moves in the near future.

The trend of tea and spa, previously thought to have peaked, has kept growing this year. Boston’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel opened a tea lounge in conjunction with its spa, Qua opened a scaled-down version of its Vegas tea experience in Atlantic City, Urbàna Cityspa & Teabar put its tea collection online and announced plans for a second location, and a number of other spas released blends as both beverages and treatments. Meanwhile, home spa treatments are holding strong: OPI added two tea-based treatments to its manicure-pedicure line, Allure Magazine gave Fresh’s Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask their Editor’s Choice Award and Pekoe Sip House partnered with Origins for a “wellness spa” offering tea and home-spa products. No longer a novelty, tea is likely to continue to grow in the spa industry as higher quality quaffs and products gain recognition.

–Lindsey Goodwin

Tea room travails

WTN began informally tracking new tea room openings in September, around the time the credit crisis climaxed in the stock market’s dizzying plunge. We had seen the hundreds of starry-eyed entrepreneurs work-shopping their plans for tea rooms during the World Tea Expo’s New Business Boot Camp in May, and we knew they’d want more than wonky speculation about whether they should forge ahead or keep their day jobs.

We can’t make that decision for them. One thing we can do, however, is assure them that they’re not alone. Since September, with the recession in full swing, we’ve spotted stories in the national press about nearly a dozen new tea rooms and retail locations opening around the United States; and we’ve personally received tips and press releases about a handful of others.

In October, for instance, WTN wrote about Laura Stewart opening Sip Tea in downtown Los Angeles. The following month, the Green Mango, a café for bubble tea, chai and other Asian-influenced hot beverages, opened in Murfreesboro, Tenn. And in December, Tea’s Art Studio celebrated the addition of a Tea Bar.

Other openings were expansions of already-successful businesses, such as Portsmouth Tea’s new café and retail store in Somersworth, N.H., and specialty food and beverage producer Tea Together’s first storefront in Millburn, N.J. Even non-tea retailers – such as Richardson’s Furniture Emporium in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., which added the Atrium Tea Room – got in on the action.

Still others were franchises; for instance, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf operated by Delaware North in Ontario Airport, and the two new Florida locations of Barnie’s Coffee & Tea opened on the sites of former Starbucks.

Perhaps the most encouraging was the expansion of Amanzi Tea, which began as a pushcart in Miami and most recently opened its second tea bar in New York City (following the success of one in Greenville, S.C.).

Of course, it hasn’t been all good news. The recession has brought some closures and sales along with the new openings. Just two weeks ago, Mistletoe & Roses in Turlock, Cal., reportedly closed its doors; this week, it was reported that Anna’s in Whidbey Island, Wash., may go on the auction block in January. Others will undoubtedly follow.

What does all this mean for 2009? Look for risk-takers who already have or can get startup capital to take advantage of the shakeup by snatching up real estate at bargain basement prices and going ahead with their tea room plans. As financial guru Warren Buffet once said, “We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”

–Heidi Kyser

A healthy prognosis

Tea enthusiasts have long touted the health benefits of tea, and in 2008, scientists from across the globe released study after study exploring the potential held within the delightful drink.

Clinical trials conducted through Tufts University’s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging found that people at risk for hypertension may be able to reduce their blood pressure by regularly consuming hibiscus tea.

In Berlin-Buch, Germany, researchers at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine began exploring a link between green tea and preventing deadly plaque in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Meanwhile, the European Society of Cardiology reported that green tea has an “acute beneficial effect” on endothelial function, an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk, in healthy individuals.

The National Cancer Institute contradicted past findings on a certain subgroup of flavonoids found in high concentration in tea and their role in preventing colorectal cancer. In follow-up research by scientists in Japan, green tea extracts reduced the occurrence of colorectal adenomas.

Other studies found that chamomile tea can benefit diabetics, green tea polyphenol could delay autoimmune diseases like Sjogren’s syndrome and diabetes, and combining yogurt and tea does not diminish the health value of either.

Of course, all research is open to debate, and those skeptical of tea's healing properties gained ammunition in late May, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned five tea makers to stop claiming they can prevent and cure diseases.

Other companies raised eyebrows with new products. San Diego’s SoutherLee introduced tea bracelets to the market, claiming the green tea from the jewelry can be absorbed into the skin, providing health benefits. At least one researcher expressed skepticism, noting that the body’s absorption of beneficial elements is much more complicated than SoutherLee suggests.

Still, awareness of tea-based beverages as healthy alternatives to soda continues to grow. In September, Women’s Health editors named Steaz’s organic, fair trade teas one of the 125 Best Packaged Foods for allowing consumers to get their fix “without all the sugar.”

At the same time, experts warned consumers about other drinks. The Berlin-based Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, after studying Sweden’s National Food Administration, called on energy drink makers to provide more detailed information on their product labels. People with high blood pressure or heart disease should show restraint when consuming such drinks, the organization advised.

The year wasn’t without some negative news about tea and health. In June, Tipu’s Tiger Chai voluntarily recalled its Chai Concentrate after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found unacceptably high pH levels. King Car Food Industrial Co. also recalled seven products – one a milk tea blend, Mr. Brown Milk – after possible melamine contamination. Melamine was also a problem for Lipton owner Unilever, as the company recalled milk teas sold in Hong Kong and Macau.

Overall, based on the amount of interest in tea shown in 2008, we expect to see further exploration of tea’s mental and physical health benefits in the upcoming year.

–April Corbin