Bottled teas expand to cover kids and sports drinks
The tea industry is an ever-evolving marketplace worth more than $4.3 billion in annual sales, according to the American Botanical Council. More than half of that comes from the ready-to-drink sector thanks to increasingly positioning itself as an alternative to soft drinks. Currently, there are two new categories to keep an eye on: functional teas and teas for children. One example is Blu-Dot Beverage Company, which manufactures bottled teas enriched with whey protein and root fiber. Blu-Dot teas try to maintain the flavor of tea while adding functional elements valued by sporty consumers. For kids, Little Me Tea offers tea-based drinks with only 6 grams of sugar and no caffeine. The juice box sized drinks are intended to steer children away from sugary sodas and juices thanks to infusions of white, rooibos, hibiscus and chamomile teas.