OUGD603 / Extended practice - Brrrew Iced tea: Tea drinking culture.

OUGD603.

EXTENDED PRACTICE.

Brrrew Iced tea. 

Today I started to look at Tea drinking culture and came across this great website the tea spot, Not only did it speak of the culture of tea in a great deal of countries, It also had lots of information on how to brew tea, different types of tea from black to green to milky, assortments of flavours and hot to cold. 

I started by looking at the culture of tea drinking in the U.K as obviously, this is where the tea will be distributed. Here I learnt that Tea drinking is an important ritual in english culture, and was once a feature in which a special time was put aside to enjoy tea. Hence the modern day act of Afternoon tea. This spurred a new thought about tea... In terms of british culture, Is tea more likely to be consumed at home or on the go? Is tea drinking something bigger than just purchasing a bottle on the go? As I don't drink tea these are questions I don't quite know the answer to. I think the best way to gather information about the tea drinking ritual would be to ask other tea drinkers. 

Beneath the U.K was a description of the culture of tea drinking in the U.S which I read purely out of interest. I found here that Iced tea was original made popular in the U.S. This has been done by a number of different brands, such as Snapple shown in previous research. The trick is, how do I get iced tea, to fit into the systems already set out in the british tea drinking culture?

I came up with a selection of questions, that I will ask current tea drinkers about the way they drink tea, so I could better get information on how to sell Brrrew Ice tea to my audience:

Where do you most often drink tea?

a) At home.

b) On the go. 

c) from a tea/coffee house.

How often do you drink tea?

a) 1-3 times a day.

b) a few times a week.
c) Once a week. 

Do you enjoy making a cup of tea?

a) Yes.
b) No.

If yes, what Is it about making a cup of tea you enjoy?

Is there a particular ritual you have when you drink tea? 

eg. Do you watch a certain program, dunk a particular biscuit?

How do you like your tea?

(Choose as many as are relevant to you)

a) Tea with milk. 

b) Black tea.
c) Fruity tea. 

d) Green tea. 

Do you like to brew your own flavours of tea?

Have you ever tried Ice tea?

If yes, when is it you drink it?

The questions above will allow me to analyse where tea drinkers drink tea, allowing me to know If it is a product I should produce only for home drinking, on the go drinking or a mixture of both. The frequency at which the demographic audience drink tea will determine the price, how much of the product you get in one serving etc. It will also allow me to know what flavours of tea, one would like, and if they have tried ice tea and where it is they drink this. 

I uploaded my questionnaire to survey monkey, I am hoping to recieve around 15-20 responses in a short space of time, so that I can evaluate this information and move on with my research. 

Someone that I spoke to in person spoke of how they automatically assumed that Iced tea was something on sold in the seasons it was 'needed'. Meaning that they thought Iced tea was only sold in warmer months, and that during autumn/winter, Ice tea is non existent. Ice tea is sold all year round, however few brands are stocked. How can I fix this problem? How can I bring Iced tea into the culture of drinking tea in Britain?

When I closed the survey I had received 26 responses, which I believe is enough of a reply to base good development from. Below is the data summarised from my survey on surveymonkey.com:

From the survey I found that 96% of the 26 people who responded, drink tea mostly at home, the remaining one person drinks tea on the go. Bottles of ice tea are generally drank on the go, and so a transportable bottle of tea, might actually be something that wouldn't fit into english culture. The question going forward might to instead be, to discover how Ice tea can be brought into the home. 

Of the 26 people whom responded 77% responded that they drink tea at least everyday and can sometimes drink a few cups. 4 people drink tea a few times a week and 2 drink it occasionally. This would probably mean that a bottle of ice tea wouldn't be enough to satisfy those who drink tea on such a regular basis. How can you make larger quantities of Ice tea, to suit the frequent drinker?  

I also found that more so than not consumers liked the process of making a cup of tea, with 30% more of the vote. How could I include the process of brewing tea? What is it about brewing tea that people enjoy?

Of the 17 people who answered the previous question, 16 gave reasons as why they enjoy making a cups of tea. A lot of the asnwers proved that people like to make their own cup of tea to get it, just the way they like it. This is evidenced by answers such as letting tea mash and stew, putting in the correct amount of milk and making it just the way I like. Other answers proved that people found some sense of relaxation in brewing a cup of tea. 

This question informed me of at what occasions people drink tea, helping me to focus on how I would market tea. This question also backed up information I had gained earlier, about how people like to mostly be at home when enjoying a brew. Many people stated this via, wanting to drink tea in a specific mug, watching television whilst drinking or enjoying a cup of tea before bed. 

When it comes to flavours of tea, most respondents by a large amount preferred the taste of a traditional milky brew, which is almost a given in tea culture. However 5 respondents showed an interest in fruit flavoured infused teas, meaning that marketing not only a traditional tea flavoured ice tea, but a fruit range could be welcomed by consumers. 

I found that 84.6% of people preffered the flavours of their tea to be ready made, this is unsuprising in the current day culture where we want products to work for us, being fast and easy. 

The most surprising result in the questionnaire was that there was almost a 50/50 outcome on the question on whether the respondents have tried ice or not, 14 answered yes, and 12 no. How do I get these 12 people to try ice tea?

As assumed many of the people who answered yes to the previous question had tried Ice tea on holiday, and again, one responded that they had tried it on the summer when the shops sell it, however they do sell it all year around. Others commented on the taste of Ice tea commenting that it is much too sweet than what they are used to. The way to attract these consumers would be to make an ice tea that hasn't been given extra sweeteners.

CONCLUSION:

It occurred to me that If I was going to brand and promote a product that my audience were not particularly familiar with, I needed them to want it, and to do this, the product needs to be something that fits better into the tea culture that already exists. 

This is where I cam across a new idea, Instead of branding a bottled ice tea, I should create a range of ice tea that can be brewed at home, like regular tea. This means that consumers can indeed enjoy the process of brewing tea once again, and also that they can brew / drink the tea in their favourite place, there own home. If necessary the consumer can then still go on with their tea ritual of drinking out of their favourite mug or watching their favourite program. It is clear in terms of flavour choice, that an original flavour may swell well among consumers, however a selection of fruit cold brew tea would also be desirable. In terms of the tea formulae, it would seemingly be more attractive if the line of ice tea was unsweetened as this is what put some off drinking Iced tea.