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Tea Cozies
As the weather turns blustery, offer customers teas that warm them
from the inside out.
By Nancy Roberts

When winter winds blow, tea warms the drinker right down to the bones. There’s nothing like a strong Assam, lightened with a little milk and sugar, full-bodied and aromatic with spices. Or perhaps a rich cup of rooibos, enlivened with chocolate tones.

The names of cold-weather teas are evocative: Snowflake Tea, a blend of black tea with coconut and nuts from the East Indies Company; or how about Arctic Berry Tea, offered by Empire Tea Services?

But of course cold-weather teas also must offer a taste that’s memorable, that registers. “In the winter season, people are looking for blends that are more robust, that offer a little more caffeine to keep them warm,” says Lalith Paranavitana, owner of Empire Tea Services in Columbus, Ind. “Tea is the ideal winter drink because it can be made stronger for those who prefer it that way, yet lighter for those who don’t.”

Empire Tea Services’ best-selling cold-weather teas include Snowberry Winter Fruity Blend, an unusual black-tea-based combination of several different berry flavors; and Sugar Plum Seasonal Christmas Tea, a festive blend of black tea, botanicals and the natural sweetener stevia. Other popular varieties are Season’s Greetings, a caramel-flavored Ceylon tea; and Thanksgiving Tea, with overtones of pumpkin pie. The popular, traditional Christmas Tea blend combines black tea, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel. Of course, the basic black-tea-based Breakfast Blend is especially popular during the winter months.

Paranavitana also suggests Cinnamon Orange Spice Green Tea for a comforting cold-weather brew, as well as Caramel Rooibos (caffeine-free).

Any of these teas could be used as the base for a jolly wassail in the shortening days of the year, while any of the black-tea-based blends lend themselves to seasonal lattes.

Paranavitana urges retailers to “Sell teas that are appropriate for winter. Lemon tea, tropical fruit tea, may simply not sell as well in winter, while anything with a cinnamon, orange or berry flavor seems more fitting for the season. And, the name is more important than you might think. When your customers are drinking a tea called Snowberry, they’ll be mindful that it’s appropriate for the season.”

He finds that teas with caffeine are in greater demand in the winter, “when the caffeine can help to open the bronchioles in the lungs. I personally like to drink strong tea during the cold months because it helps to improve my vocal chords.”

Besides best-selling Snowflake Tea (whose little bits of coconut suggest the look of snow), The East Indies Company also offers Nutcracker Suite, black tea blended with spices and fruit. For herbals, Mim Enck recommends the popular Chai of Sri Lanka, which “warms the soul,” or any of several rooibos blends such as Winter Chocolate (chocolate and rooibos) and Sweet Christmas. Apple Ginger Tea contains no tea at all, just roasted apple pieces blended with ginger, and is “extremely popular in the cold-weather months,” Enck says.

Many of her customers swear by Cold Chaser Tea, an herbal that’s “perfect for winter” with its blend of herbs and botanicals such as anise, thyme, fennel and rose hips. “It’s lovely, and there are those who say it really works, too.”

The typical wintertime tea drinker is looking for a “little heftier beverage,” she says, and that can often mean starting with an Assam. “Assams accept a spot of milk well,” she says. “And milk adds this amazing sweetness, especially with Assams, where you find you may not need any sugar at all.”

For a bracing Assam, she suggests East Frisian Tea, a blend originating from Germany’s North Sea coast, “where it’s cold and windy, where you want strong hot tea with lots of milk and sugar.”

According to Enck, the ranks of winter tea drinkers today include sports enthusiasts who may come in from the cold wanting something different from coffee. “And with tea, there are so many more choices,” she points out. In cold weather, hot teas are especially popular on the East Coast, followed by the West Coast and then the South, Enck says.

To best merchandise cold-weather teas in the coffeehouse environment, Enck encourages retailers to put out little bowls of dry tea blends for people to sniff and touch. “Seeing it in its dry form this way is absolutely beautiful, even artsy.”

She believes strongly in sampling. “Get your tea in airpots and let people try it; it’s the best way to grow tea sales. Tea is so interesting and so delicious, the variety is astounding, you just have to let people try it themselves.”

Richard Rosenfeld, founder of two leaves and a bud in Basalt, Colo., also reports that his customers favor heartier teas in cold weather. “People come home to the basics, the classics like our Assam breakfast tea and Earl Grey, while in the summer they drift more toward the greens and herbals.”

The summer tea drinker is more committed, drinking tea year-round, while “the winter tea drinker tends to be more occasional,” he says. “The best thing we find that encourages tea drinking in the winter and in fact all year, is to make the tea accessible in the point-of-sale area. Most everything that we call specialty tea today comes in a great package, so put those intriguing packages right out there where people can easily see them.

Two leaves and a bud’s tea sachets have a distinctive look that, when displayed, often elicits inquiries and then an order for tea, Rosenfeld reports.

At the TeaSource in St. Paul, Minn., owner Bill Waddington finds that the fastest-selling cold-weather tea is his own chai blend. “It’s not prepackaged and far and away, it’s our most popular one,” he says. Then comes the rooibos-based Montana Gold Tea, with orange peel, cinnamon and clove oil, also blended in-house. The TeaSource’s Iron Silk Puerh, a blend of Puerh with winter spices such as peppermint, clove and licorice, is also in demand, as is Gingerbread Orange, rooibos flavored with almond pieces, pistachios, orange peel, coriander and even little red peppercorns. “It’s really beautiful to look at, you can see the reddish peppercorns and the pistachios,” Waddington notes.

In the blustery months, either black-tea-based drinks or rooibos are popular, he says; “Green tea doesn’t seem to make it, nor oolong, but puerh does (many think of it as black tea).

“Herbals don’t explode in the winter,” he adds, “they don’t have much thickness, while rooibos adds a lot of body to a drink, so it’s a winner.” The colder the weather, the more substance to the drink: As proof, Waddington observes that “when the first frost hits the Twin Cities, our tea sales will go up 20 to 30 percent and keep nudging up until the end of winter. Our sales take a leap in the cold weather.”

Who’s drinking these hot teas? Not the high-end tea drinker, Waddington says, “but more likely the everyday price tea drinker, as opposed to a connoisseur. Everyday-priced teas tend to spike a bit in the winter. Some people may be getting off cold drinks and just find hot drinks more appealing; we also have more sit-down traffic in the winter, because it’s cold to be sitting around a picnic table in the middle of January in Minnesota. People are driven indoors by the cold. But it’s definitely not the high end.”

Yet Waddington believes it’s a mistake to ignore iced tea sales in the winter. “Even here in Minnesota, we sell a lot of iced tea all through the cold months, three to five gallons a day. I think it’s a younger generation that grew up on cold soft drinks, that’s finally off Mountain Dew, that drinks the iced tea in the winter.”

Waddington says “at least 75 percent, maybe even 85 percent” of his customers are women, but of his upper-end tea drinkers, as many as 80 percent may be men. “They want the expensive stuff, they become geeks, just as they get into wine or computers or cars, they really become very educated about tea and they develop their palates. There’s a much higher percentage of men wanting to pursue that side of it.”

Waddington urges retailers to “choose teas that are dramatically aromatic” for winter sales. “Think spices, cinnamon, orange oil, peppermint, even chocolate, in the winter. Brew an airpot of it, pump out a mug of it, and then set the mug on the countertop where it can fill the air.

“People will ask you, ‘What’s this? I’m smelling some spices in here today.’ Find the most aromatic, dramatic tea you can find, get it out in the air, and it can compete with the coffee that may dominate your shop.

“Whatever you do,” Waddington advises, “don’t leave your tea in the airpot. Compete on a sensory level with coffee. Good tea blends are almost potpourri; you can even keep a few spent teabags behind the counter to fill the air with their scent.

“As always,” he adds, “I strongly suggest you sell retail anything you’re serving even if you’re bagging it yourself. Have a bamboo basket with two-ounce packages for extra incremental sales.”

Winter best-sellers at LUXE Tea of Bellevue, Wash., include Orange Inspiration (black tea with orange and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon), Rose Romance (a top-grade black tea blend with papaya and rose petal) and Mountain Red, a new organic rooibos. Peppermint Tea, an herbal, is also “very warming in the wintertime.”

“In summer we tend to sell more of the green tea and the fruit-flavored teas,” says owner Sherry Hsieh, “although West Coasters seem receptive year-round to the greens.”

Rooibos tea sales “have been strengthening during the past 12 months,” she says. “They’re an especially good winter choice.”

Lately, she says, tea sales have strengthened to a younger age group—between 20 and 45 years old. These younger consumers seem “very focused on what they drink, always looking for a specialty blend.” They may find it in Chocolate Mint Decadence, a decaffeinated infusion of shaved semi-sweet chocolate, fresh mint, and black tea that’s “perfect in the evening with dessert.” Guests at West Coast hotels such as Vintage Plaza in Portland, Ore., have given it a very enthusiastic response, Hsieh reports.

Too, demand is increasing for more organic choices as well as decaf teas, Hsieh observes. “Many people can’t take caffeine after noontime, so the decaf teas are increasingly popular.” Accordingly, LUXE Tea has just introduced a new decaf blend, Almond Vanilla Tea. zWhen winter winds blow, tea warms the drinker right down to the bones. There’s nothing like a strong Assam, lightened with a little milk and sugar, full-bodied and aromatic with spices. Or perhaps a rich cup of rooibos, enlivened with chocolate tones.

The names of cold-weather teas are evocative: Snowflake Tea, a blend of black tea with coconut and nuts from the East Indies Company; or how about Arctic Berry Tea, offered by Empire Tea Services?

But of course cold-weather teas also must offer a taste that’s memorable, that registers. “In the winter season, people are looking for blends that are more robust, that offer a little more caffeine to keep them warm,” says Lalith Paranavitana, owner of Empire Tea Services in Columbus, Ind. “Tea is the ideal winter drink because it can be made stronger for those who prefer it that way, yet lighter for those who don’t.”

Empire Tea Services’ best-selling cold-weather teas include Snowberry Winter Fruity Blend, an unusual black-tea-based combination of several different berry flavors; and Sugar Plum Seasonal Christmas Tea, a festive blend of black tea, botanicals and the natural sweetener stevia. Other popular varieties are Season’s Greetings, a caramel-flavored Ceylon tea; and Thanksgiving Tea, with overtones of pumpkin pie. The popular, traditional Christmas Tea blend combines black tea, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel. Of course, the basic black-tea-based Breakfast Blend is especially popular during the winter months.

Paranavitana also suggests Cinnamon Orange Spice Green Tea for a comforting cold-weather brew, as well as Caramel Rooibos (caffeine-free).

Any of these teas could be used as the base for a jolly wassail in the shortening days of the year, while any of the black-tea-based blends lend themselves to seasonal lattes.

Paranavitana urges retailers to “Sell teas that are appropriate for winter. Lemon tea, tropical fruit tea, may simply not sell as well in winter, while anything with a cinnamon, orange or berry flavor seems more fitting for the season. And, the name is more important than you might think. When your customers are drinking a tea called Snowberry, they’ll be mindful that it’s appropriate for the season.”

He finds that teas with caffeine are in greater demand in the winter, “when the caffeine can help to open the bronchioles in the lungs. I personally like to drink strong tea during the cold months because it helps to improve my vocal chords.”

Besides best-selling Snowflake Tea (whose little bits of coconut suggest the look of snow), The East Indies Company also offers Nutcracker Suite, black tea blended with spices and fruit. For herbals, Mim Enck recommends the popular Chai of Sri Lanka, which “warms the soul,” or any of several rooibos blends such as Winter Chocolate (chocolate and rooibos) and Sweet Christmas. Apple Ginger Tea contains no tea at all, just roasted apple pieces blended with ginger, and is “extremely popular in the cold-weather months,” Enck says.

Many of her customers swear by Cold Chaser Tea, an herbal that’s “perfect for winter” with its blend of herbs and botanicals such as anise, thyme, fennel and rose hips. “It’s lovely, and there are those who say it really works, too.”

The typical wintertime tea drinker is looking for a “little heftier beverage,” she says, and that can often mean starting with an Assam. “Assams accept a spot of milk well,” she says. “And milk adds this amazing sweetness, especially with Assams, where you find you may not need any sugar at all.”

For a bracing Assam, she suggests East Frisian Tea, a blend originating from Germany’s North Sea coast, “where it’s cold and windy, where you want strong hot tea with lots of milk and sugar.”

According to Enck, the ranks of winter tea drinkers today include sports enthusiasts who may come in from the cold wanting something different from coffee. “And with tea, there are so many more choices,” she points out. In cold weather, hot teas are especially popular on the East Coast, followed by the West Coast and then the South, Enck says.

To best merchandise cold-weather teas in the coffeehouse environment, Enck encourages retailers to put out little bowls of dry tea blends for people to sniff and touch. “Seeing it in its dry form this way is absolutely beautiful, even artsy.”

She believes strongly in sampling. “Get your tea in airpots and let people try it; it’s the best way to grow tea sales. Tea is so interesting and so delicious, the variety is astounding, you just have to let people try it themselves.”

Richard Rosenfeld, founder of two leaves and a bud in Basalt, Colo., also reports that his customers favor heartier teas in cold weather. “People come home to the basics, the classics like our Assam breakfast tea and Earl Grey, while in the summer they drift more toward the greens and herbals.”

The summer tea drinker is more committed, drinking tea year-round, while “the winter tea drinker tends to be more occasional,” he says. “The best thing we find that encourages tea drinking in the winter and in fact all year, is to make the tea accessible in the point-of-sale area. Most everything that we call specialty tea today comes in a great package, so put those intriguing packages right out there where people can easily see them.

Two leaves and a bud’s tea sachets have a distinctive look that, when displayed, often elicits inquiries and then an order for tea, Rosenfeld reports.

At the TeaSource in St. Paul, Minn., owner Bill Waddington finds that the fastest-selling cold-weather tea is his own chai blend. “It’s not prepackaged and far and away, it’s our most popular one,” he says. Then comes the rooibos-based Montana Gold Tea, with orange peel, cinnamon and clove oil, also blended in-house. The TeaSource’s Iron Silk Puerh, a blend of Puerh with winter spices such as peppermint, clove and licorice, is also in demand, as is Gingerbread Orange, rooibos flavored with almond pieces, pistachios, orange peel, coriander and even little red peppercorns. “It’s really beautiful to look at, you can see the reddish peppercorns and the pistachios,” Waddington notes.

In the blustery months, either black-tea-based drinks or rooibos are popular, he says; “Green tea doesn’t seem to make it, nor oolong, but puerh does (many think of it as black tea).

“Herbals don’t explode in the winter,” he adds, “they don’t have much thickness, while rooibos adds a lot of body to a drink, so it’s a winner.” The colder the weather, the more substance to the drink: As proof, Waddington observes that “when the first frost hits the Twin Cities, our tea sales will go up 20 to 30 percent and keep nudging up until the end of winter. Our sales take a leap in the cold weather.”

Who’s drinking these hot teas? Not the high-end tea drinker, Waddington says, “but more likely the everyday price tea drinker, as opposed to a connoisseur. Everyday-priced teas tend to spike a bit in the winter. Some people may be getting off cold drinks and just find hot drinks more appealing; we also have more sit-down traffic in the winter, because it’s cold to be sitting around a picnic table in the middle of January in Minnesota. People are driven indoors by the cold. But it’s definitely not the high end.”

Yet Waddington believes it’s a mistake to ignore iced tea sales in the winter. “Even here in Minnesota, we sell a lot of iced tea all through the cold months, three to five gallons a day. I think it’s a younger generation that grew up on cold soft drinks, that’s finally off Mountain Dew, that drinks the iced tea in the winter.”

Waddington says “at least 75 percent, maybe even 85 percent” of his customers are women, but of his upper-end tea drinkers, as many as 80 percent may be men. “They want the expensive stuff, they become geeks, just as they get into wine or computers or cars, they really become very educated about tea and they develop their palates. There’s a much higher percentage of men wanting to pursue that side of it.”

Waddington urges retailers to “choose teas that are dramatically aromatic” for winter sales. “Think spices, cinnamon, orange oil, peppermint, even chocolate, in the winter. Brew an airpot of it, pump out a mug of it, and then set the mug on the countertop where it can fill the air.
“People will ask you, ‘What’s this? I’m smelling some spices in here today.’ Find the most aromatic, dramatic tea you can find, get it out in the air, and it can compete with the coffee that may dominate your shop.

“Whatever you do,” Waddington advises, “don’t leave your tea in the airpot. Compete on a sensory level with coffee. Good tea blends are almost potpourri; you can even keep a few spent teabags behind the counter to fill the air with their scent.
“As always,” he adds, “I strongly suggest you sell retail anything you’re serving even if you’re bagging it yourself. Have a bamboo basket with two-ounce packages for extra incremental sales.”

Winter best-sellers at LUXE Tea of Bellevue, Wash., include Orange Inspiration (black tea with orange and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon), Rose Romance (a top-grade black tea blend with papaya and rose petal) and Mountain Red, a new organic rooibos. Peppermint Tea, an herbal, is also “very warming in the wintertime.”

“In summer we tend to sell more of the green tea and the fruit-flavored teas,” says owner Sherry Hsieh, “although West Coasters seem receptive year-round to the greens.”

Rooibos tea sales “have been strengthening during the past 12 months,” she says. “They’re an especially good winter choice.”

Lately, she says, tea sales have strengthened to a younger age group—between 20 and 45 years old. These younger consumers seem “very focused on what they drink, always looking for a specialty blend.” They may find it in Chocolate Mint Decadence, a decaffeinated infusion of shaved semi-sweet chocolate, fresh mint, and black tea that’s “perfect in the evening with dessert.” Guests at West Coast hotels such as Vintage Plaza in Portland, Ore., have given it a very enthusiastic response, Hsieh reports.

Too, demand is increasing for more organic choices as well as decaf teas, Hsieh observes. “Many people can’t take caffeine after noontime, so the decaf teas are increasingly popular.” Accordingly, LUXE Tea has just introduced a new decaf blend, Almond Vanilla Tea.

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