NorthJersey.com – Hackensack, NJ, USA
Our area is seeing growth in all things related to the brew
By JEAN STEVENS, HERALD NEWS
Tea fits North Jersey, well … to a tee.
The ancient beverage, topped only by water as the world’s most consumed drink, never used to do so well in the States. But that may be changing and some proof lies here. The Belamari Tea Room of Hawthorne celebrated two years of success in December. So did the High SocieTea Tea Room in Wayne, one month later. Rosehip Sympatea, headquartered in Franklin Lakes, flies off the shelves at AK Market in Paterson. In Garfield, Adagio Teas distributes its top-rated specialty line from an old warehouse, and in Edgewater, three 23-year-olds hope last month’s launch of their company, Bombilla and Gourd, brings yerba mate tea into the mainstream.
“Now it’s really booming,” said Colleen Henderson, co-owner of High SocieTea.
New Jersey tea vendors say they’ve been successful because consumers can’t get enough. In 2006, supermarket tea sales peaked at $1.90 billion, overall bottled sales reached $2.65 billion and restaurant sales hit $1 billion, according to the Tea Association of the United States. More than 2,200 tea rooms and tea shops had opened nationwide by 2006, including 46 in New Jersey, according to TeaMap.com.
They’ve caught on to the buzz that seems to be everywhere: in magazines, on grocery store shelves and on the Internet. The buzz has positioned tea to be the next big drink, exactly what the tea industry planned through marketing pushes the past 20 years.
The first push began in the early ’90s after small, independent companies like Snapple began selling bottled teas in corner stores and groceries, said Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association.
In 1988, a year after Snapple introduced its iced tea, sales shot up to $13.3 million, according to the International Directory of Company Histories. Major tea companies jumped on the “ready-to-drink” tea bandwagon.
In 1992, Lipton partnered with PepsiCo to launch bottled iced tea, and Coca-Cola and Nestle joined forces to produce Nestea.
“All of a sudden, you can get a nice tasting tea you didn’t have to make at home,” Simrany said.
A second industry push came in response to rising consumer demand for “specialty tea,” or tea made from the leaves of one single origin (most other mass-marketed teas, like Lipton and Tetley, are a blend of leaves from many tea plants). Into the 1990s, sales for specialty tea companies like Celestial Seasonings climbed, according to company literature.
Large corporations noticed and bought some of these companies. Starbucks Corp. bought the Tazo Tea Co. in 1991; Kraft Foods Inc. joined up in 2004 to sell it in grocery stores.
Now major corporations push their specialty offerings. Between 1990 and 2006, specialty sales increased from $.27 to $.95 billion.
The industry also has pushed for entrepreneurs to open tea shops. The Tea Association annually offers workshops and certifications of tea brewing, tasting, selling and distributing across the country. The number of tea vendors boomed as people realized they could profit from selling inexpensive leaves boiled in water, Simrany said.
It seems nearly all tea entrepreneurs and enthusiasts gush about tea’s health benefits — everything from weight loss to relaxation to immune system strengthening. Behind that lies the industry’s fourth major push. About 17 years ago, industry officials realized they had no proof that tea improved health, only folklore. So they began lobbying scientists to study tea’s benefits.
Since then, the number of scientific studies of tea’s health benefits jumped from 3 to 300 worldwide, Simrany said. Most involve green tea, because most studies were performed in Asia, where scientists use green tea.
But study results are mixed and the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t have enough evidence to back benefit claims — even the claim that tea contains antioxidants, molecules that reduce cancer.
The industry cannot afford the cost of all the additional clinical research that should be done, especially on mate or herbal teas, Simrany acknowledges.
Whether proven or not, folklore and flashy labels might be enough to give people the results they want even if, technically, tea has no benefits. “Different teas have different effects, but is part of that psychological?” he asks, rhetorically. “I guess.”
Someone who takes time to boil water, steep the tea and sip it, after all, slows down enough to feel something.
“This is not a person,” Simrany said, “who’s highly stressed running out the door.”
Reach Jean Stevens at 973-569-7131 or stevens@northjersey.com.
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Brewing the Perfect Cup
- Place loose tea in pot’s filter
- Pour water into filter
- After brewing, remove filter from pot
- Pour your tea
Tips:
- Always use freshly-drawn, cold water.
- Ensure that kettles, teapots and mugs (preferably ceramic) are spotlessly clean.
- If you are using a teapot, make sure to warm the pot with hot water then pour it away.
Using teabags
Use one teabag per person, plus one for the tea pot.
For Black, Oolong and herbal teas, bring the teapot to the kettle and pour the water onto the tea as soon as it boils. Let the tea stand and brew for 3 to 5 minutes and stir once before serving.
For Green teas, since boiling water can damage the leaves and cause the tea to taste bitter, use water that is just below the boiling point. Let the tea stand and brew for 1 to 2 minutes and stir once before serving.
Using loose tea
Use one teaspoon of loose tea per person plus one for the tea pot. For one person, use a 10-ounce teapot, for two, use a 20-ounce teapot.
For Black, Oolong and Herbal teas, bring the teapot to the kettle and pour the water onto the tea as soon as it boils. Let the tea stand and brew for 3 to 5 minutes and stir once before serving.
For Green teas, since boiling water can damage the leaves and cause the tea to taste bitter, use water that is just below the boiling point. Let the tea stand and brew for 1 to 2 minutes and stir once before serving.
Source: Twinings USA, Clifton
