Tea and Foodservice: Healthy, Wealthy, & Wise

If you've missed out on the first 5,000 years of tea history, it's not too late to start steeping. Tea's popularity is at an all time high as modern science continues to confirm centuries of age-old wisdom. With half of the US food dollar spent out of the home, tea of all types offers enormous opportunity for the world of foodservice.

The National Restaurant Association's 2011 annual poll of professional chefs revealed specialty iced tea to be the hottest trend amongst non alcoholic beverages, though tea is also making a splash behind the bar in culinary cocktails and even beer.

Restaurants are both fueling and benefiting from this growth as consumers are being exposed to a broader spectrum of teas from around the globe. South African Rooibos, Korean Yellow Tea, New Zealand Oolong (Zealong); tea's myriad of colors and flavors offer endless opportunities for culinary exploration. This "has-it-all" beverage tastes great, is good for you, and remains about the least expensive beverage available on a per serving basis.

Taste, wellness, and affordability are driving factors behind tea's ever-increasing popularity, according to a recent Packaged Facts report. In their 2009 online survey, 80% of adult respondents indicated having purchased food and beverages specifically for their health benefits, and listed antioxidants as the most sought-after ingredient.

While green tea has typically hogged the limelight in health related studies, new research indicates that there really isn't enough difference between tea styles to get excited about. Canada's FDA equivalent, the Natural Health Products Directorate, has deemed all types of tea infusions- black, green, and oolong, as a natural “health product” and tea is now officially recognized as a source of antioxidants for the maintenance of good health; for its ability to increase alertness and to help maintain and support cardiovascular health; and as an adjunct treatment in weight management programs.

All this, and tea is cheap! One can easily amass a substantial tea collection for the price of a few lattes from Starbucks, and businesses need not invest a small fortune in equipment and machinery to get brewing. While there do exist teas that command prices in excess of $1000 per kilo, even a gourmet specialty tea might have a pricetag of .20-.40 per teabag and loose teas are even more economical! Innovations in delivery systems, from pyramid shaped infusers that allow whole leaf teas to be conveniently steeped in a teabag, to inventive teapots that make steeping and cleanup a snap and further ease operator burden while enabling substantial earnings.

With over 200 types of teas sourced directly from origin as well as many unique styles of teaware for storing, presenting and serving tea in beautiful style, we at Adagio Tea are excited to be participating in the tea industry at a time of such great interest and are encouraged by its growing role in foodservice and hospitality venues. Stay tuned for more information about this wonder drink, industry news, tools and equipment, and service solutions for your business. Please use us as a resource and let us know how we might assist in building a tea program uniquely suited to your needs. It is our pleasure to be your partners in tea.