Following Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co.’s acquisition of Atlanta-based Teavana Holdings Inc. at the end of 2012, the tea industry is waiting for the hot tea segment to boom, according to experts. “If [Starbucks puts] a big push behind it because of the Teavana purchase, we could see [tea] really take off in mainstream,” said Jonas Feliciano, beverage industry analyst for Euromonitor International, Chicago, in Beverage Industry’s June issue.
From 2011 to 2012, hot tea experienced a 4 percent decline in volume but a 4 percent increase in value, which represents a premiumization trend in the category, noted Feliciano in Beverage Industry’s June issue. Consumers are willing to pay more for high-quality teas and even pay a premium to purchase these products on-premise, he says.