Tea Council Drives Sales Success with Science

- Tea’s Health Benefits Responsible for Boost in U.S. Sales -

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Tea Council of the U.S.A. released new study findings last week at its Fifth International Scientific Symposium on Tea & Human Health, held at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. The research shows new health benefits associated with drinking tea, the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water. Since the first scientific symposium in 1991, the United States tea industry has enjoyed steady growth of 8% annually for the last two decades, growing from $1.8 billion in 1991 to $8.3 billion in 2011.

“Tea has always been a popular beverage in many parts of the world, and once we began to more fully understand the many health benefits associated with drinking tea, it made perfect sense to capitalize on science to create sales in the U.S. and beyond”

Thanks to increasing sales, the United States is now the second largest tea importing country in the world and the sixth largest tea consuming country following China, India, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Japan. Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the U.S.A. Inc., the Tea Council of the U.S.A. Inc. and the Specialty Tea Institute since 1991, has been a key figure shaping and fueling the tea industry of today. His vision for the industry led to a strategy to focus on the health benefits of tea, which helped to foster new science as well as new target consumers, including the youth market.

Simrany’s many initiatives have revitalized the U.S. tea industry. As some examples, he established Hot Tea Month in January and Iced Tea Month in June, which generated significant positive media coverage and awareness of tea’s many health benefits. He facilitated the Bermuda Accord, an agreement between the Tea Councils of the U.S.A., U.K., and Canada, to cooperate in funding scientific research to uncover the various health benefits of tea. This Accord was adopted and endorsed by The United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and partially funded by the World Bank for Commodities.

“Tea has always been a popular beverage in many parts of the world, and once we began to more fully understand the many health benefits associated with drinking tea, it made perfect sense to capitalize on science to create sales in the U.S. and beyond,” says Simrany. “The resulting U.S. industry growth and market trends have been moving steadily upward, as Americans, too, have become tea lovers.”

U.S. market data confirms that Americans are consuming more tea:

• 160 million Americans are drinking tea on any given day
• Most US households have tea in their kitchens for family and friends
• In 2011, Americans consumed over 65 billion servings of tea

In honor of Simrany’s significant contributions to tea industry growth, the World Tea Media will present him with its Cha Jing Lifetime Achievement Award. The Cha Jing Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made considerable contributions to the growth, innovation and education of the specialty tea industry throughout their lifetime.

ABOUT THE TEA COUNCIL OF THE USA:

The Tea Council of the USA is a non-profit association that was formed in 1950 as a joint partnership between tea packers, importers and allied industries within the United States, and the major tea producing countries. It functions as the educational arm of the tea industry with a primary goal of increasing overall awareness of tea by providing information about its many positive attributes. One of the Council’s primary objectives is the dissemination of key scientific findings about tea to the public. The Tea Council does this in several ways including: funding scientific meetings to bring tea researchers from around the world together to share key information and identify next steps for future research projects; and working with health organizations and international scientists to disseminate information about potential positive health effects of tea consumption on a public level.