World Tea News readers have demonstrated that they like articles about trends, the top tea exporter, health benefits of tea and herbs, and market analysis. Here are the top five World Tea News articles of 2019 as chosen by our readers.
Journalist Dan Bolton analyses the teaindustry challenges and trends of 2019, stating, “Declines in retail foottraffic and fewer outlets for specialty tea slowed growth to a crawl despitefull employment and strong consumer sentiment. Uncertainties in 2019 point to achallenging trade in tea compounded by oversupply, rising production costs, andfalling prices.” He lists botanicals, functional teas, artisan whole-leaf teas,convenient ready-to-drink teas, and Amazon’s influence over Whole Foods Marketas trends of the year.
In this article, five tea industry leadersshare their trend predictions and insights for the tea industry in 2019. MariaUspenski (Owner of The Tea Spot), Eliot Jordan (Vice President of Tea at MightyLeaf Tea), Nischal Banskota (Founder of Nepal Tea), Fernando Lopez (Founder ofZen’s Tea House), and Holger Lohs (CEO of Haelssen & Lyon North AmericaCorp.) delve into subjects such as: opportunities for innovation, prioritizingtransparency, growth in cannabis products, botanicals and single estateartisanal teas, and more.
China topped tea exporting nations for twoyears in a row, a status the country held for centuries. “In December the ChinaTea Marketing Association estimated that China will export 330,000 metric tonsof the 2.8 million tons of tea it produced in 2018,” states the article, which reviewsmetric tons produced in various tea growing regions, export values fromprevious years, export volume. It also explores the worldwide demand fordifferent types of Chinese tea, such as Wuyi rock tea, Chunlun, and Jasminegreen tea.
Plants’ myriad benefits continue to fascinate scientists. This article mentions the in vitro laboratory studies that have shown dandelion root extract to cause cancer cell apoptosis. However, as of June 2019, no clinical trials of human beings had been reported and therefore dandelion root extract cannot be deemed an effective cancer treatment according to Snopes.com and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
This article examines data from Euromonitor,Technavio, Fact.MR, and Packaged Facts to reveal market activity for global hotdrinks, the global tea market, bottled tea, oolong tea, cold brew and sparklingtea. Technavio research predicted consistent growth in the global tea marketfrom 2019-2023, with much of the growth taking place in Asia. E-commerce,sustainable packaging and ethical sourcing are also listed as influentialtrends for the year.