Tea Junction

‘THE British response to any manner of tragedy or disaster has traditionally been a stiff upper lip and a nice cup of tea.

Add vodka and Red Bull to taste

So, should we deduce from news in the Telegraph that we are no longer the world’s most enthusiastic tea drinkers that, in the words of Harold MacMillan, we’ve never had it so good?

That is certainly the explanation Alastair Campbell will be spinning for a decline in the number of tea bags we buy a year from 279 million lb five years ago to only 251 million lb today.

It is a drop that has allowed Turkey to overtake us as the kings and queens of the cuppa.

Another explanation is the sudden – and inexplicable – popularity of herbal teas, with sales of fruit infusions up 50% in the same time span.

Consumer analyst John Band tells the Telegraph that fruit teas, which were once looked upon as New Age, have now acquired mainstream credibility.

”It’s about image,” he says. ”A stereotypical fruit tea drinker is now perceived as ‘stable’, ‘modern’ and ‘with it’.”

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Posted: 16th, June 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink