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Americans Turning Their Attention to Tea

John Cheetham, Lipton's Royal Estates tea master, tastes an array of brews at the company's test kitchen in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Jim Zarroli, NPR /
John Cheetham, Lipton's Royal Estates tea master, tastes an array of brews at the company's test kitchen in Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Of the tea sold in the United States each year, 85 percent is consumed as iced tea. When it comes to hot caffeinated beverages, Americans still prefer coffee. But that's changing.

Tea is one of the oldest beverages around, but its popularity is growing like a new product's. Total U.S. sales have almost quadrupled since 1990, according to the Tea Association of the USA.

You can now buy a range of ready-to-drink teas in even the most out-of-the-way convenience stores, and there's been a boom in premium and specialty products like chai tea.

That boom has forced the world's biggest tea company, Lipton's, to make changes to its products.

One of the biggest changes is to the venerable tea maker's tea bags: Now, they are shaped like three-dimensional triangles, in order to accommodate the long-leaf teas that appeal to purists and premium-tea fans. They're also made of mesh, so drinkers can watch the longer tea leaves unfurl when hot water is added.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Jim Zarroli is an NPR correspondent based in New York. He covers economics and business news.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.