There’s a quiet, and lightly caffeinated, trend brewing in America.
The U.S. market for tea has more than quadrupled during the past 20-plus years — from just under $2 billion in 1990 to just over $10 billion last year — according to the U.S. Tea Association. Demand for the herbal beverage has now been growing at a healthy clip for decades. By weight, Americans now drink almost 20 percent more of the herbal beverage than they did back in 2000, according to market research firm Euromonitor.
As a result, tea imports, to the benefit of major tea-producing nations like China and India, are soaring. They have grown by roughly 40 percent over the past 10 years, nearly 70 percent over the past 20 years, and more than 700 percent over the last 50 years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tea has infiltrated most Americans’ everyday routine. Some 80 percent of U.S. households have tea in their kitchens, and more than half of the American populace drinks tea on a daily basis, according to the U.S. Tea Association.
There are, however, some quirks to the country’s growing love for tea.
Americans are, for instance, much fonder of iced tea than they are of hot tea — more than 85 percent of tea consumed in the U.S. is chilled. They’re also partial to ready-to-drink tea bags, which make up the vast majority of tea consumed in the U.S. And Americans appear willing to spend a bit extra on fancier (and pricier) tea bags — dollar sales growth has been outpacing volume sales growth for years.