“Where would you like to take your girlfriend for an evening out – “to a coffee shop or a tea house?”
Unfortunately, the options are limited when it comes to tea outlets. On the other hand, you are spoilt for choice in the case of coffee as there are hundreds of outlets run by national and international brands across cities and tier-2 towns. With scant café exposure, tea doesn’t ignite the same emotion among Gen Z as coffee does.
To trigger a jump in consumption, there is a need to craft a new vision for tea, felt panelists at a session on ‘Future of Tea: Innovative Practices for Value Addition and Branding’ during the India International Tea Convention held in Kochi recently.
Share of throat
India is a tea-loving country with a penetration of 99.9 per cent. Yet, the average per capita consumption is only 840 gm – well below the per capita consumption of many prominent tea-consuming nations.
Tea must be repositioned not just as a conventional drink, but as a sustainable beverage resonating health and wellness, and as an aspirational product for the youth, noted the panelists. “We can drive demand, ensure sustainability and secure the future of the industry. Globalisation, climate change, consumer preferences and trade policy turbulence are all reshaping the tea ecosystem,” said Mathew Abraham, the outgoing president of United Planted Association of South India.
Harish Bhat, former Brand Custodian of Tata Sons, while moderating the session, stressed the need for a targeted campaign to increase tea consumption. He drew parallels with the promotion of eggs by the National Egg Coordination Committee in the 1980s, milk by the National Dairy Development Board in the 1990s, and mutual funds by the Association of Mutual Funds of India in 2017 – which all led to rise in demand.
As tea consumption growth is stagnating at 2 per cent compared to 7-9 per cent of other beverages including coffee, a strategic roadmap by the government, Tea Board and the industry is required for the generic promotion of tea, he said.
Spicing it up
“We have to talk about tea in a new way and sell it through imaginative new places. Innovations using technology and ensuring product consistency are key for the growth of the industry,” he added.
An example of that was shared by Amuleek Singh Bijral, CEO & Co-founder, Chai Point, who described how the company creatively set up seven stores at Prayagraj during the Maha Kumbh Mela in January using 60 shipping containers. “We served close to 20 lakh cups of tea in 45 days. This was possible by using 16 cloud-connected chai brewing machines that could produce 16 litres of tea in 12 minutes.”
Bijral said that they conducted a survey across their customer base and discovered that over 80 per cent of tea consumption happened at the workplace.
Sumit Patil, Head of Beverages Business Development, HUL, said that tea should be marketed as an aspirational product by leveraging technology and adding flavours to help elevate consumer experience.
As for the clamour to declare tea as India’s national drink, which would promote the brew, numerous attempts have been made including a recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Commerce to give it that status. But as yet, the official recognition eludes it.
Published on October 6, 2025