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