New colour in the “third wave” rainbow in the tea market
Modern world tea trends have come to be called the "third tea wave." At the peak of this wave, a new trend in consumer preferences arose - the desire for a healthy lifestyle.
Consumers are interested in an environmentally friendly product with a natural and unique taste. And as you know, tea perfectly matches the concept of a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, today tea is becoming a very popular and trendy daily drink. Moreover, a new global trend today is “Tea and Health”.
The real sensation in recent years has become RTD tea. This is the fastest growing and most promising segment of the world tea market. Over the past three years, the growth in consumption of this product amounted to more than 70%. At the same time, a significant increase in the consumption of RTD tea is observed both in traditional Asian markets and in European countries, including Eastern Europe. In countries of Western Europe, for example, in Switzerland, Austria and Portugal, this figure is more than 15 litters per person per year, in countries of Eastern Europe exceeds 10 litters per person per year.
However, the real sensation of consumer demand for RTD tea was the United States. This happened in 2017, when the proceeds from the sale of RTD tea amounted to $ 9.6 billion. Today, the consumption of RTD tea in cafes and restaurants occupy a stable leading position.
The general global trend, characterized as the trend of "Tea and Health" is primarily associated with consumer confidence in tea, due to its millennia-old history and its beneficial properties. A modern consumer analyses the consumed drinks and concludes that tea is much healthier than carbonated drinks, for example.
The forecasts of tea market analysts indicate that RTD (Instant) tea may soon become more popular than carbonated drinks. Firstly, tea is natural and does not contain as much sugar as carbonated drinks. For example, in Germany, the world leader in tea, the multinational company Unilever, satisfying the desire of consumers to consume less sugar, changed the composition of RTD Lipton teas, reducing the sugar content by 30%. Secondly, tea has a diverse flavour palette.
The positive dynamics of growth in RTD tea consumption today is concentrated mainly in large cities, but this indicates the presence of significant potential for the development of regions. In general, forecasts for the development of the RTD segment of tea for the coming years are very optimistic.
