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Britain remains a nation of tea drinkers. Even if its popularity faltered as a result of the trendy-coffee revolution, tea remains the UK’s most popular choice of hot beverage. And the latest pack designs demonstrate the nation likes its favourite break drink to look as good as it tastes.

The variety of teas on the market is huge. These can be broken down into the everyday brews, specialist herbal ranges and, at the more expensive end of the market, the connoisseur brands and varieties.

Although the tea category is well-established with traditional brands such as Typhoo, Tetley and PG Tips having a strong heritage, the market is far from dormant. Brand redesigns in the regular tea and herbal sectors, plus the constant emergence of new brands, make it a competitive market.

Popular tea brand Typhoo recently had a facelift. Marketing manager Kate Willoughby comments on the reasons for the change. “We did some consumer research on the old Typhoo packs and they were perceived as tacky and cheap-looking and with no obvious reference to tea.”

Emphasising the brand’s heritage played an important part in the redesign, and Typhoo chose to put a strapline on the pack to reinforce that it has been “Passionate about tea since 1903”.

Willoughby says: “We looked at what was happening in the market and one of the key trends we identified was going ‘back to basics’. We made the new design much fresher, cleaner and more natural looking and in deepening the colour slightly and moving to a matt finish in place of the previous glossy OPP, we significantly improved quality cues too.”

Volatile market
According to Willoughby, the volatile nature of the tea market was one of the key drivers in the decision to rebrand. “I think the tea market will continue to develop and diversify into new and exciting areas and, as Typhoo already has a presence in all these sectors, we are well-placed to continue to develop the brand,” she says.

The launch of a new brand into an already crowded sector could be seen as risky, but design agency Elmwood Ventures felt that the category needed ‘a good shake-up’.

Its design for the Make Mine a Builder’s brand was, according to the company, about creating a brand that would get the thumbs-up from British builders as well as the nation’s most discerning tea drinkers.

The packaging uses yellow and black colours for standout on the shelf and imagery that is aimed at giving a clear visual indication of the product’s delivery – it is tea intended to be drunk from a mug.

“We wanted to reinvigorate the category, put a smile back on the face of the nation’s tea drinkers and bring back the great British cuppa,” says Elmwood’s marketing assistant Rebecca Pink.

Speciality herbal and floral teas have become increasingly popular in recent years. Once regarded as a form of complementary medicine, they are now seen as a lifestyle choice; something design agency Pearlfisher picked up on when it was commissioned to redesign Dr Stuart’s herbal tea brand.

An important element of the brief was to ensure the packs sat well alongside mainstream tea brands and in premium stores such as Selfridges. Senior planner Yael Alaton says: “The old packaging made the product look very much like a medicine. Dr Stuart’s needed to be more of an expressive and personality-driven brand.”

Pearlfisher focused on developing packs that not only reflected the core values of the product, but also expressed the brand’s personality. The new design uses quirky illustrations from artist Brett Ryder to generate, according to Alaton, an ‘eccentric’ feel to the packaging. “The product is very well-established and the tea is extraordinary so we wanted to show that on the packaging. A voice for the brand has been created. The range is also doing incredibly well in the stores.”

Elevating a brand from a niche to a market position as a desirable contemporary brand that the supermarkets would want to stock was also the aim in the redesign of the The London Tea Company’s range. Designer Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR) worked to create a visual identity and packaging that distinguished the brand from its competitors. JKR transformed the ‘L’ and the ‘T’ from the company’s name into a table and chair on which colourful silhouettes of drinkers depict various poses.

The packs are made from a single piece of card and are shaped and folded so they require no glue or stitching. They contain a biodegradable plastic pouch to hold the tea bags together, and there is no unnecessary waste in the form of tags or staples on its tea bags.

Creative director Glenn Kiernan says: “The design expanded the brand’s appeal by avoiding clichéd, speciality tea packaging, and enabled the company to extend its product offering into a new market.”

According to JKR, consumers are seeking interesting, better quality alternatives to standard tea. Kiernan adds: “Premium-isation is a general consequence, with consumers opening up to new brands. These factors have all worked to return the tea market to value growth.”

Tradition and innovation
The market may be becoming more ‘premiumised’, but, as these redesigns show, cartonboard isn’t often challenged as the pack material of choice. However, display packaging is often in metal or wood, following the traditions established when tea was first imported into the UK in the 1600s. The Tea Palace in Westbourne Grove, London, displays its 150 different tea varieties in luxurious purple metal caddies and sells smaller versions online.

Most tea consumed in the UK comes from a teabag in one of a variety of shapes and sizes. The Tstix developed by inventor Geoff Stuart with material supplied by Alcan could challenge the future of the teabag by combining the function of a spoon and teabag in one.

Tstix is a metal tube that contains tea leaves and has more than 1,000 tiny holes in its sides. The holes are small enough to allow water to enter, but not large enough for the tea to fall out.

Stuart says: “Right now a number of tea companies are looking at launching their brands in a Tstix package and while the packaging itself may look simple, it is very much a high-tech product involving a combination of materials, hole making and manufacture.

“We are a little more expensive than a teabag now and we are working hard to push the price down. While teabags will no doubt be around for a long time to come, Tstix may herald a new era of tea drinking,” says Stuart.

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SHIFTS IN BRITISH TEA DRINKING RITUALS
The demand for speciality and premium teas, led by greater health awareness, has had a positive impact on tea packaging demand, with 2006 retail pack sales up 0.8%. According to Euromonitor International, UK consumers are increasingly reaching for rooibos and green teas, rich in anti-oxidants, as either a complement to or substitute for their more traditional black tea needs.

Twinings, the market leader in fruit, herbal and green teas, consequently faces greater competition from tea suppliers looking to gain share in this fast-moving category. Tetley worked to secure a foothold in speciality tea through on-pack promotions but has had limited impact on the category with less than 1% of retail value sales of speciality tea in 2006. Tetley has also led the way in packaging innovation through the introduction of composite cartons for speciality tea. On-shelf differentiation has failed to be a competitive threat to Twinings, whose dominance continues unabated, indicating that brand loyalty remains a key purchasing criterion for tea.

Consumers are spoilt for choice in tea with a wide range of varieties, further extended by the availability of fair-trade, organic and decaffeinated varieties. In such a crowded marketplace, packagers are increasingly using on-pack graphics in an attempt to standout. Ethical sourcing is also being used as a method to bolster sales; Unilever has pledged to source all its tea from sustainable sources. However, Lipton and PG Tips will be first, expected to attain Rainforest Alliance certified status in Europe by 2010.

Euromonitor International measures the tea market at 519 million packs sold in 2006.

Future sales of small packs of speciality tea will be the most dynamic sector of that market, up 22% by 2011 compared to a total tea average of 7%. Rising consumption levels will bode well for carton suppliers, particularly as segmentation continues and teas for specific occasions, such as the Twinings Wellbeing remedial range, make inroads.

Rosemary Downey
Packaging research manager
Euromonitor International

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CULTURE AND CEREMONY
The Chinese culture behind tea making involves much more than pouring hot water over a tea bag. According to specialist tea company Emeyu, the Chinese appreciate both the health benefits and taste of tea, and the ancient wisdom that it balances and focuses the mind. Founder Kristiane Blomqvist says: “Chinese appreciation of tea is quite complex and involves rigorous examination of the quality and freshness of the leaves, the aroma and the taste. The tea ceremony involves all these steps and has an almost meditative effect on the participants.”

Each Emeyu loose tea is presented in a re-sealable bag inside an eye-catching box adorned with Chinese symbols to reflect the beauty and flavour of the tea inside.

“We needed something that would bring out the beauty in tea and protect the quality of the leaves and the taste,” says Blomqvist. “The transparent resealable bags that we use are perfect for this – they have a contemporary feel while adhering to the Chinese tradition of admiring the leaves. Our gift boxes protect the tea from light and create the added-extra factor.”

Blomqvist feels that people are beginning to appreciate that there is a lot more to tea than a bag in a cup but packaging plays an essential role in attracting the consumer. She says: “Coffee became interesting partly because it created an experience out of the ordinary, and tea could do the same. However, the packaging has to excite people and get them interested in tea again.”