Tea businesses can take a page out of success of kombucha
With reports of kombucha gaining a wider following among mass audience, it may be time to start wondering if the gourmet tea industry can learn a thing or two from the way its fermented cousin is making an impact on the market. While tea may be vastly more popular than kombucha, gourmet quality leaves remain somewhere in between mass and specialty sectors despite making enormous strides in the past few years. Initially, kombucha gained traction thanks to the vast array of health benefits that its followers swear by, which include detoxification, cancer prevention and energy increase. Leaving the veracity of these claims aside, this is not that different to the advent of gourmet tea, fuelled by a belief in its many potential health benefits. Later, the category expanded from local markets and delis into aisles and coolers of Whole Foods Market et al., again, similarly to the trajectory of premium tea (hot and iced). On both fronts, products became better tailored to suit mass taste buds with the inclusion of fruit juices or other sweeteners or flavorings to mitigate their unfamiliar taste.
That was then (although, lets admit that then was only a couple of years ago). The interesting part is how kombucha has since been branching out into various neighboring areas of food and drink, thereby increasing its market penetration. One smart idea is to push the beverage as a mixer in alcoholic beverages and an alternative to the usual suspects like Coke & co. What makes kumbucha relevant is not only the taste that it adds to the mix, but also the dimension of healthfulness that other mixers lack. In the back of our heads, we all know that alcohol tends to negatively impact health, so opting for an ingredient to possibly counterbalance some of those effects and detox your body is a winning proposition from a consumers point of view. Same can be said about tea, which is a source of various beneficial elements, yet it is rarely found in bars as a mixer. For example, how often do you get to opt for green or rooibos tea instead of soda water or Sprite for a mojito?
Another novel idea envisioned by kombucha manufacturers is to embrace their product for what it is: a fermented drink with a non-negligible alcohol content at the very least. Facing FDA regulations that prohibit the sale and marketing of beverages with more than 0.5% alcohol content as soft drinks, some kombucha manufacturers are owning up to the fact their product is for grown ups and register their businesses as breweries to be able to make the real brew. Such bold moves are refreshing to witness, especially on behalf of small producers that take on extra financial risk just to make their vision a reality. Here again, tea businesses could have something to learn from them and could, for instance, own up to the fact that tealeaves are not meant to taste of fruit and desserts. Real tea requires grown up taste buds. Yes, you can add flavorings to make the infusion more palatable to the average Jane or Joe. Yes, that would add sales to your bottom line in the short run. Yet if a tea retailers business is focused on full-leaf teas, wouldnt it make more sense to try to educate and train consumers palates instead of pandering to their every (uneducated) wish? Isnt the goal of such businesses the precise opposite: enabling people to learn to appreciate the fruity, floral and many other nuanced flavors and aromas that linger in a cup of pure premium tea? How sweet would that be?
Although the larger point is that kombuchas growing success should serve as an example of how niche players are pushing market boundaries and should empower the tea trade to take similar steps of faith in every direction. Of course, they shouldnt just replicate strategies adopted by kombucha makers, or any other beverage makers for that matter, but be bolder in pursuing their own route. Where that route leads remains a mystery, but learning what works for others and identifying the reasons behind it certainly eases the trip.
Stepas Parulis is the editor of TeaTrends and oversees Adagio's operations in Europe. He analyzes the tea industry through the prism of market and consumer trends.