Teas Top The Charts
Teas Top The Charts
Ready-to-drink Teas Have Reached Almost $830 Million in Sales for the Year Ending June 18. This is a Nearly 23 Percent Increase, Which Industry Sources Attribute to a Flurry of new Product Activity in the Past Five Years. Traditional tea Beverages Have had Competition From new Green and White tea Products Touting Flavor and the Potential for Even Greater Health Benefits.
| Global coffee and tea volume (MILLIONS OF LITERS) | ||
| SUBSECTOR | 2005 | FORECAST 2006 |
| RTD COFFEE | 3,486.6 | 3,577.6 |
| STILL RTD TEA | 19,488.6 | 20,855.0 |
| CARBONATED RTD TEA | 194.6 | 196.8 |
| TOTAL RTD TEA | 19,683.1 | 21,051.8 |
| Source: Euromonitor International, 2006 | ||
This spring the Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership released
three new iced tea products and two new Lipton Original products: Lipton
Iced Tea Diet Peach, Lipton Iced Tea Peach, Lipton Iced Tea Green Tea with
Mixed Berry, Lipton Original White Tea with Tangerine and Lipton Original
Green Tea with Orange Passionfruit. Both Lipton Original varieties deliver
antioxidants and carry the AOX seal, a mark created by Lipton to indicate
substantial levels of antioxidants.
New white tea varieties have entered the category as
well. Cadbury Schweppes now offers Snapple White Teas, a collection of
white teas blended with light fruit essences. Available in Nectarine, Green
Apple and Raspberry flavors, Snapple White Teas are naturally decaffeinated
and made with real sugar.
Like white teas, RTD green teas also are renowned for
their health benefits and continue to do well at retail. But in addition to
health benefits, health-conscious consumers are in search of products that
won’t add to their waistlines.
To that end, Arizona bowed Diet Decaf Green Tea.
Dubbed “good for what it doesn’t have,” the tea is made
with the premium green tea and sweetened with Splenda, offering all of the
health benefits of green tea, but with zero calories, zero carbs and no
caffeine.
Arizona also added three flavored green teas to its
portfolio: Arizona Red Apple Green Tea, Arizona Extra Sweet Green Tea and
Arizona Lite Green Tea and Lemonade.
| Top ready-to-drink coffees (individual brands) | |||||
| PRIOR YEAR | DOLLAR % BRAND | CHANGE VS.MARKET% SALESPRIOR YEAR | CHANGE VS.SHARE | ||
| FRAPPUCCINO | $168,762,100 | 17.8 | 80.8 | -3.6 | |
| DOUBLESHOT | $27,442,930 | 34.1 | 13.1 | 1.1 | |
| WOLFGANG PUCK | $5,158,309 | 101.7 | 2.5 | 1.0 | |
| BOLTHOUSE | $2,274,149 | NA | 1.1 | 1.1 | |
| DOUBLESHOT LIGHT | $1,259,064 | NA | 0.6 | 0.6 | |
| PRIVATE LABEL | $1,052,137 | -6.3 | 0.5 | -0.2 | |
| STARBUCKS | $845,237 | NA | 0.4 | 0.4 | |
| KAHLUA | $785,829 | -2.6 | 0.4 | -0.1 | |
| HAVANA | $359,497 | -26.4 | 0.2 | -0.1 | |
| CAFFE D VITA | $222,924 | 15.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |
| CATEGORY TOTAL | $208,952,700 | 23.2 | 100.0 | 0.0 | |
| Source: Information Resources Inc., Total food, drug and mass merchandise (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 weeks ending June 18, 2006. | |||||
Coca-Cola made over its ready-to-drink Nestea iced tea
product line with four new products, including reformulated flavors, the
introduction of green teas and the return of the classic Nestea brand.
Nestea reformulated its Lemon and Diet Lemon varieties, which out-performed
the former Nestea Cool varieties in consumer taste tests, the company says.
It also added a Green Tea line featuring Peach and Diet Peach flavors.
Growing out of the juice category, Pom Wonderful
created Pom Tea, powered by POMx, a highly concentrated blend of polyphenol
antioxidants made from the same pomegranates used to make Pom Wonderful
juices. Made with whole-leaf, hand-picked tea, the RTD iced tea is all
natural. Using a proprietary cylindrical package with a lid-style cap, Pom
Tea’s package is designed to be reused as a drinking glass. Available
in Pomegranate Peach Passion White Tea, Pomegranate Blackberry Black Tea,
Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea and Pomegranate Black Tea, the 16-ounce
glass-packaged drinks are found in the refrigerated section.
| Top canned and bottled teas (individual brands) | |||||
| PRIOR YEAR | DOLLAR % BRAND | CHANGE VS .MARKET % SALES PRIOR YEAR | CHANGE VS.SHARE | ||
| ARIZONA | $242,495,800 | 38.1 | 29.2 | 3.3 | |
| SNAPPLE | $102,469,300 | 8.8 | 12.4 | -1.6 | |
| LIPTON | $96,751,930 | 271.3 | 11.7 | 7.8 | |
| DIET SNAPPLE | $87,242,430 | 5.9 | 10.5 | -1.7 | |
| LIPTON BRISK TEA | $79,602,470 | -2.1 | 9.6 | -2.4 | |
| NESTEA COOL | $46,701,320 | -27.0 | 5.6 | -3.8 | |
| LIPTON ICED TEA | $45,364,470 | 12.0 | 5.5 | -0.5 | |
| PRIVATE LABEL | $29,161,150 | 14.5 | 3.5 | -0.2 | |
| NESTEA | $16,925,260 | 37.1 | 2.0 | 0.2 | |
| SOBE | $15,328,240 | 15.8 | 1.8 | -0.1 | |
| CATEGORY TOTAL | $829,501,100 | 22.6 | 100.0 | 0.0 | |
| Source: Information Resources Inc., Total food, drug and mass merchandise (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 weeks ending June 18, 2006. | |||||
Coffee currents
RTD coffee sales have increased more than 23 percent
to nearly $209 million, according to IRI. While
a growing variety of new RTD coffee beverages can be found at retail, the
segment is arguably dominated by Starbucks. The company’s Frappuccino
grew nearly 18 percent to approximately $168.8 million, and Starbucks
Doubleshot grew 34.1 percent to $27.4 million.
Keen to build on the success of its Starbucks
Frappuccino and Starbucks DoubleShot products, the company launched a
number of new products this spring. Starbucks Iced Coffee is a light-tasting iced coffee drink made with Starbucks Italian
Roast coffee and a touch of milk and sweetener. It is available in regular
and light versions. Also introduced this spring was Starbucks DoubleShot
Light, which has half as many calories, two-thirds less sugar and one-third
less fat than original DoubleShot.
Also making waves in the category are new coffee/soft
drink blends. Coca-Cola launched Coca-Cola Blak, its “Coca-Cola and
coffee fusion” soft drink that is billed as “an invigorating
and stimulating blend” with “a perfect balance of the
effervescent taste sensation of Coca-Cola and natural flavors, with real
coffee.”
Combining coffee with
another popular flavor, Coca-Cola North America and Godiva Chocolatier
released a line of premium indulgent beverages called Godiva Belgian
Blends. The new blended beverages offer an experience “more decadent
that just plain coffee,” the companies say. In three flavors –
Dark Chocolate Mocha, Milk Chocolate Mocha and French Vanilla Latte –
Godiva Belgian Blends are sold in 9.5-ounce glass bottles and in
four-packs.
Additionally Ito En developed its first ready-to-drink
coffee, Café Sepia. Available in
resealable 6.4-ounce steel cans, Café Sepia can be found pre-heated
in Ito En display units or may be purchased cold and then poured into a cup
and heated. BI
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