Standing on the steps of his state-of-the-art tea blending facility – with dignitaries, clients and well-wishers, his son and wife at his side – Manickarajah “Manik” Jayakumar embodies the American Dream. Since establishing QTrade Tea & Herbs as an in-home trader in 1994, Jayakumar has elevated the company to the largest supplier of organic teas in North America. His new 70,000 sq. ft. factory…more

Starbucks Coffee Co. had many good reasons and enough cash to buy Peet’s Coffee & Tea this year. Instead, in its largest acquisition to date, the coffee company spent $620 million on Teavana Holdings, a 300-store, mall-based rival to its $1.4 billion Tazo Tea division.

Tea and the Tipping Point

Specialty Coffee Retailer, October 25, 2012

Convinced of tea’s health benefits and willing to experiment with different varieties in seeking superior taste, tea drinkers are visiting an expanding number of retail locations serving and selling packaged specialty tea. Rising affluence and the desire for convenience drive sales of hot and iced teas and have prompted Starbucks, DavidsTea, Argo Tea, Teavana and Unilever to open hundreds of new…more

Tea Stirs Retail Pot

Well financed and newly energized competition is heating beverage retail to a boil. Remember when there were only three Starbucks in town? It was not that long ago. In January 2000 there were only 1,996 Starbucks in the entire country.

Retailing tea was for generations as predictable as the gently rolling surf. Sales of tea bags rose and fell seasonally, with crests in the colder months and troughs in July and August. Predictable seas, that is, until five years ago when consumer interest in quality loose leaf teas surged due to media attention and a growing awareness of tea’s health benefits. The swell had been building since…more

One sure fire way to minimize the impact of record high coffee prices is to sell more tea. Profits per cup top 85 percent at a time when coffee margins are falling. When considering a tea program recognize that customers entering the shop are looking for a hot caffeinated beverage.

Authorities halted the ichibancha (first flush) harvest in the vicinity of Minamiashigara last week after tests at five municipalities in Kanagawa Prefecture showed cesium readings greater than 500 Bq/kg (becquerels per kilogram). No contaminated tea is shipping from Japan but agricultural and commerce ministers now question the current radioactivity threshold. Additional tests this week are…more

Get summer sales brewing with refreshing iced tea. Whether from concentrate or freshly brewed, iced tea is a refreshing addition to a summer menu. In its annual Foodservice Brief, market researchers at The NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y., identified iced tea as “one of the top growth beverages” of 2011.