Tea Blog

Awhile ago, a tea grower/vendor said that they really focus on quality products that will be winners in the marketplace. That brought to mind a question: Can you win in the tea market by presenting a quality product? Some of you might immediately answer, “Yes!” And I am one of those who certainly thinks that’s how it should be. However, the real world works differently than “how it should be.” So the best does not always win.

Case in point: the video recorder wars back in the late 1980s. Beta format (from Sony) was superior to VHS format. The recorder could stop anywhere in the videotape and give you a crisp, clear image. You had better features on that recorder, too. So, why did it eventually lose out to VHS? Because VHS recorders could record longer (8 hours max versus the 6 hours max on Beta). Today we have the e-reader wars going on, with the two major contenders being the Kindle and the Nook. Here, marketing strategies are shifting the tide in favor of the Kindle, and Microsoft has stepped in on the Nook side to have a hand in things. The outcome is still unknown, but which one wins will probably not depend on the product quality.

Tea has a variety of factors affecting its marketability and price paid. (The grower gets a price, the processor gets a price, the vendor gets a price, and so on.) Trying to raise prices for tea depends on two key things:

• The market demand versus supply
• The public’s perception of the product

Demand versus supply has always been a teeter-totter. When demand is up and supply is down, prices go up, and vice versa. Happens always. When prices are artificially prevented from going up, supply dries up or a black market develops. When prices are artificially raised, demand dries up. Anyone who tries to market something at too high of a price will know this well enough. That’s where the second one comes in. You need to create the right public perception.

The public didn’t care about the fancy recorder features that Beta had and the better picture quality. They just wanted that extra two hours of recording time. That’s what they saw as important. The same with the Kindle, only it’s being driven by authors, especially independents, who are getting their books out before the public faster and being able to respond to the market faster. So what if the Nook has a better display, access to far more books, etc.? The same goes for tea. Those who want they cuppa a certain way won’t care about the latest tea fad, or that new TTES oolong from Taiwan, or the improved soil conditions in some small tea garden. He or she will go for the PG Tips, the Borengajuli Estate Assam, the Typhoo, etc., that has the taste they have come to love over the years. We are, after all, very much creatures of habit.

Not trying to be a downer here. But reality is reality and does not change simply because we say it does.

Getting back to that grower/vendor, he is very commendably working hard to grow and produce some fine teas as well as work with other growers to learn more and spread the word about teas that are a cut above that everyday cuppa. Time to try a few!

See more of A.C. Cargill’s articles here.

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