The American Palate: Hot for Better Tea

This is an excerpt from one of my World Tea News articles. It’s part two in a two-part series. You can read part one here. To find out more about my freelance writing or to ask me about writing copy for your tea business, please contact me at vee at veetea dot com. Thank you.

Manufacturers and sellers often tout teas and tisanes, particularly greens, whites, rooibos and yerba mate, as superfoods. However, teas and tisanes have yet to gain the same foothold in the North American market as better-known superfoods, such as now-ubiquitous pomegranates and blueberries.

While RTDs may be seen as indicators of popular taste, many in the tea business also hope they’re gateway drinks to higher-end hot teas. But is the American palate ready for the nuance and subtlety of whole-leaf, single-estate tea?

Increasing Quality

With better teas available in mainstream grocery stores, it appears that Americans are developing more discriminating taste.

Benjamin Harrison, co-owner of Rishi Tea, said that in 1999 he was laughed out of buyers’ offices, but now palates are maturing on a national level. “There’s a new appreciation of quality,” he said, and the average consumer understands that “you can get quality without paying a huge premium for it.”

Jesse Jacobs, owner of San Francisco’s Samovar Tea Lounge, added that now, most customers easily differentiate teas’ quality levels, and this sophistication drives quality increases.

Sage Group’s Spring 2006 “Specialty Tea is ‘Hot’ Report” predicted there would be many new tea products put out in the following few years, and competition would cause an “improve or perish” quality battle. Sources said this was reflected in the increasing sales of limited edition artisanal teas and in improved teabags, such as Mighty Leaf’s pouches and Tea Forte’s whole-leaf pyramid bags.

You can read the remainder of this article on World Tea News. The American Palate: Hot for Better Tea