English
Breakfast with a dash of milk, no sugar. That's the Britain we grew up in. But
now that Costa inhabits every hotel, restaurant, service station and high
street corner, could it be that we're becoming a nation of coffee drinkers?
That the traditional builder's tea needs a campaign to save it?
Waves and waves of coffee
Having proved relatively immune to the charms of
coffee before, fetishising our traditional English brew instead, the
introduction of American coffee culture – milky, sweet, espresso based drinks –
appears to have finally seduced us. Coffee is everywhere. Britain hearts
coffee. And apparently, we heart it more every year.
As Third
Wave Coffee takes hold in Britain's cities, the Second
Wave (espresso machines, basically) is still flooding the country. Costa opened
177 new branches last year, and reported pre-tax profits growth of 22% above
2012 (itself a strong growth year). Premium, takeaway coffee was one of the last bastions of growth during the
worst of the recession; an affordable luxury in straitened times.
The question is: has it come at the expense of
our traditional favourite?
The fall of tea
It certainly looks that way. Sales of tea are
falling exponentially. 6% down in 2013, double the 3% fall in 2012.
Most tellingly, it's not just the high street coffee chains gaining from tea's
loss – in the same period, sales of Nescafé were up 6.3%.
That instant coffee (First Wave) is outperforming
tea in the sales stakes is the surest sign that the tastes of the nation are
changing. Hard to imagine there would ever be a time when freeze dried coffee
would be preferable to a nice cuppa, particularly without Anthony Head's
contribution, but it seems that time is now.
Unless... it's more complicated than that?
Going green
The proliferation of high street coffee shops
might be the most obvious sign of tea's decline, but behind closed doors
there's another story. While sales of 'builders tea' continue to decline, sales
of more exotic, healthier teas like green tea and herbal teas grew 19% and 15% respectively in
2013.
Indian black tea may have been exotic once, but
after centuries of afternoon tea (a tradition instigated by a Portuguese princess) it seems to
have lost its shine in favour of newer (to Britain), more cosmopolitan
flavours. The original drink of globalisation is suffering from globalisation.
Broadening palettes should be applauded. But
there does seem something sad about the decline of the Great British Cuppa.
Doesn't there?
This is a guest post.
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