The competitive beverage market continues to drive innovation and the tea segment is no exception. From perfecting sweetness to enhancing your mood, tea is going to make its way into more drinking occasions and dayparts this year. 

Check Out Our 5 Trends to Watch in 2024 Featuring Tea:

1. Better-For-You RTD Tea Trends Natural

We’ve seen the RTD Tea segment evolve from sweet to unsweet to subtly sweet over the past decade. The evolution continues as leading tea companies emphasize natural claims on pack. Organic sits as the leading claim in North America, with 46.2% of tea launches in the past year boast an organic positioning.

2. Peach Please!

Peach flavor launches surpassed lemon in 2023, owning 11.7% of total launches vs. lemon’s 10.4% (Innova Market Insights). Peach has been included in the most new product launches, has seen a 7.07% CAGR growth since 2020, and is expected to see continued growth in popularity as the profile penetrates other beverage categories.

3. Tea to Enhance Mood

Tea ranks as a preferred beverage and flavor in terms of matching consumers’ mood or need state (Innova Market Insights). As functional ingredient use continues to cross categories, tea’s naturally occurring health benefits are a no-brainer for brands looking to innovate with mood enhancement in mind.

4. A Moment for Herbal RTD Teas

According to Innova Market Insights, consumers are fairly consistent and open to drinking RTD tea at various points of the day, with consumption peaking at lunch, in the afternoon and during dinner, and nighttime noted as the least likely drinking occasion. As chamomile trends in hot tea, non-caffeinated, herbals RTD tea could create a new drinking occasion for the RTD tea segment.

5. Hibiscus is Still Blooming

Earlier in 2023, we trendspotted hibiscus as a trending profile in beverage. The trend still holds true, especially in tea! Hibiscus is noted as one of the fastest-growing flavors nationwide in iced tea on restaurant menus, seeing an increase of 21.6% in the past year, according to Technomic.

Our flavor specialists can help you create new beverages and improve existing formulations that quench consumers’ thirst for something extraordinary. In addition to our flavor expertise, we have dedicated tea facilities that produce the highest quality essences, extracts and concentrates to help you develop a winning solution. Contact us to learn more.

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