According to the Tea Is “Hot” Report (5th edition) just released by Sage Group International (Seattle), specialty tea is “hot” and getting hotter—and will stay that way through, at least, the end of the decade. In much the same way the specialty coffee industry accelerated from a slow trot to a full-speed march in less than a decade, specialty tea is now poised for high-paced growth that may surprise even veteran beverage industry watchers.
Sage Group International founder Brian Keating points to chai, certified organic offerings, green tea and flavored iced teas as especially strong categories to watch in 2004. The tea industry has risen from less than $1 billion in annual sales around 1990 to more than $5 billion in 2003. Much of that was due to the high performance of RTD teas in the later 1990s and early 2000s.