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It’s that quintessential British tradition that we’ve enjoyed for hundreds of years.
The answer to every crisis, a bonding ritual when you welcome someone into your home, and the first drink many people wake up with.
“Want a cup of tea?” or even just “Tea?” » is music to your ears, isn't it?
Well, maybe not for everyone.
“I suppose there's some sort of association with tea as an old people's drink,” says Gillie Owen, 20.
The London student says he and his friends prefer water or diet soda.
Gillie calls tea “a drink for old people”
Layba, on the other hand, doesn't drink tea at all.
“I never liked tea,” says the 20-year-old. “I just think it tastes really weird, really weird.”
This is in stark contrast to her parents who, she says, “really like” tea.
So is it a question of generation? As a nation, are we losing the love of tea?
“Iced tea and healthy drinks”
Last week, one of Britain's oldest tea companies, Typhoo Tea, collapsed after a drop in sales.
The 120-year-old company was saved by vape manufacturer Supreme, whose boss says he wants to develop new products under the brand.
Sandy Chadha told the BBC the tea market was in decline, but said Supreme would look to attract the younger generation who prefer “things like iced tea and healthier drinks”.
Tea sales volumes fell 4.3% from two years ago, according to analysts at NielsenIQ.
And a recent Mintel survey suggests that less than half the nation, 48%, now drink tea at least once a day.
Kiti Soininen, food and drink researcher at Mintel, says traditional tea faces “intense competition” from specialty fruit, herbal, green and black tea.
Dylan prefers less traditional teas like Redbush
Dylan, a 21-year-old student, says he drinks tea, but not the usual builder's tea – black with a little milk – and prefers not to consume caffeine.
“I definitely drink less tea than my parents. I drink Redbush tea and other less 'tea' teas,” he says.
Shayma, 18, says she also prefers herbal teas, while most of her friends drink coffee. She says there are “so many drinks now” and she hasn’t even heard of Typhoo.
changing landscape
Ms Soininen highlights the huge difference between tea and coffee sales.
“Sales of regular tea were worth £377 million in 2023, putting it well behind instant coffee at (almost) £1 billion,” she says.
Even instant coffee's popularity is being challenged by the fast-growing ready-to-drink coffee market, she adds, whose sales have more than doubled in the past five years.
Polina Jones of NielsenIQ says that while people aren't “falling in love with tea per se,” the landscape is changing with huge offerings of bubble tea, herbal teas, kombuchas and energy drinks attracting the younger generation.
If this trend continues, she believes brands will have to reinvent themselves and figure out how to get into the ready-to-drink business. Twinings, for example, has started offering canned sparkling tea, while bottled kombuchas appeal to students and young professionals who purchase a meal deal, she says.
Supreme's purchase of Typhoo includes two herbal tea brands, Heath & Heather and London Fruit & Herb Company, as well as specialty tea brand Ridgeways. Analyst Susannah Streeter of Hargreaves Lansdown believes Supreme will integrate them with the wellness brands it already owns.
Breakfast tea, not afternoon tea
Another challenge for black tea is that even for those for whom it is a staple, costs are increasing and so they buy in smaller quantities.
In 1974, the average family bought 68g, or about 30 teabags, per person per week. By 2023, this consumption had fallen to 19 g, or around 10 tea bags, per person, according to government figures.
“What is particularly telling about the potential long-term threat to black tea is that, although all age groups consume tea equally early in the morning and at breakfast, younger groups are much less likely than older people to have a drink later in the day,” says Kiti Soininen of Mintel.
She concludes with a stark warning to traditional tea makers: if younger generations continue to adopt these habits as they age, it will eventually “shrink” the size of the market.
And as one BBC reader commented on the Typhoo collapse story: “You know things are bad when a tea company in the UK goes bust. »
