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Health tea market still in nascent stage
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Thursday, 01 March, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Archana Aroor, Mumbai
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Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world.
Different countries have adopted ways of defining “tea” on their own. Therefore, consumption of green and black tea has slowly picked up across the world, for its beneficial effects.
Types of tea, health benefits
“India is the largest producer and consumer of tea and around 85 per cent of tea produced in the world comes from this country,” Bidyananda Barkakoty, chairman, National Tea Association (NETA), shared with F&B News in a chat over telephone. India produces 980 million kg and consumes 780 kg of tea annually.
Barkakoty said that tea, which was considered to be the cheapest beverage in the world after water, had an increasing rate of consumption in the country hitting 3.3% per year. This was primarily because of the country's ever-growing population.
But Barkakoty is not very happy about the growth rate in terms of export, which remains stagnant at 200 million kg.
“The growth in exports is not very commendable, given the fact that India is the leading producer of tea in the world,” said Barkakoty.
In today's world, where people hardly find time for themselves and particularly for their health, several health-related issues come up. Gradually, the consciousness towards health has begun to emerge.
“Slowly and steadily the trend has shifted in India towards consuming tea which is good for health,” Gaurav Saria, owner, Bangalore-based Infinitea, wrote in an e-mail interview, highlighting Internet as the main reason for this change in the trend.
Thus, some varieties of tea are fast gaining popularity over the last few years.
Some tea varieties which are known to have a positive effect on health are black tea, green tea, oolong tea and herbal tea. Black and green tea, top the popularity charts, with 90 per cent of tea consumers going for them.
Green Tea
According to Saria, green tea has been effective in lowering the LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) cholestrol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter is the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Some of the green tea available in India includes Japanese Green Tea, Wiery Green, Green Gold and Emerald Green.
Black Tea
Black tea can prove effective in balancing the hormone levels in the body, in turn keeping stress at bay. The tea helps the body fight bacteria and strengthens the immune system as well. The tea is rich in anti-inflammatory properties and proves to be beneficial for those suffering from arthritis.
India produces around 90 per cent of black tea in the world, as it has also been proved to have the same amount of health benefits like green teas which are mainly produced and promoted in China. Some of the black teas are vintage, silver blossoms, Assam Orthodox and Assam CTC and Assam Gold.
Herbal Tea
This is an energiser, anti-anaemic, abundant in vitamins, anti-inflammatory herb, and it also decreases appetite. At the same time, it speeds up the recovery process after an illness, it's a good coronary protector and it can also slow down the ageing process. Due to the presence of a large amount of vitamins that it contains (C, A, B1, B2, B6, B9, E, K, P, F, as well as phosphoric micro elements, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and sodium), sea buckthorn tea is used effectively in treating liver failures, improving the detoxification of the hepatic cell. It contributes to the synthetisation of proteins and through the considerable amount of carotene that it contains, it's also effective at preventing cancer. Some of the herbal teas are Strawberry Rose, Buck Thorn, White Thorn and Lemon Grass.
“Mostly CTC teas as the orthodox and green teas etc. are a tiny part of the consumption,” Saria said.
The quality of the tea depends on the quality of the tea leaves and the process of manufacture where it contains ingredients mainly anti-oxidants, polyphenols and numerous other beneficial chemicals.
Tea vs Coffee
Pitching tea against coffee, Barkakoty said that coffee also being one of the healthy beverages, had managed to outperform in mostly in the southern parts of India. He said that the overall consumption in the country would be around 100 mn kilos per year which is comparatively less to tea consumption in India.
He said that the reasons for this could be many as tea was discovered much before coffee and that it was the cheaper beverage in the world. He said that in India, Assam produced 51 per cent of the total tea produced in the country and mainly India consumed Black Tea.
Lack of marketing, promotion
“Surprisingly, while tea is consumed in large quantities and that its varieties such as black and green are widely recognised, it lacks promotion and marketing as a health drink in the country,” Barkakoty said.
With regard to this, representations have been made at several Tea Board of India meetings by NETA wherein it has been demanded that the government spent on advertising tea as a health drink in the country, in view of its slightly stagnant growth. He then pointed out that a lot of work was to be done in the area of marketing tea (green or black) as a whole.
Further China has been successful because of its good backup in marketing tea (green tea) as a health drink. Meanwhile coffee has also been successful in attaining its own space after tea as there has been a rapid growth in the promotion of coffee through many outlets in the country.
Barkakoty then suggested that like coffee, tea should also have many outlets called “chai bars” as it gives an opportunity to the consumers to explore the varieties of tea and its health benefits. Also the apex body should promote “evening tea parties” like in China and other countries adding that there should be more research organisations in the country to explore innovations in the tea industry.
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