美国茶市场火爆

美国茶市场火爆
“PROFIT is not our basic motive,” says David Bigelow. He is referring to his tea plantation outside Charleston, South Carolina, which his family company bought in 2003. Its American Classic brand is sold only locally, though Mr Bigelow hopes to extend distribution throughout the South. His 127-acre farm, where bendy old oaks give way to neat rows of waist-high tea bushes, is the only place in America that produces tea commercially. Even though the climate is suitable, tea-growing is simply too costly, since the process is labour-intensive and resists automation. Mr Bigelow hopes to break even eventually through tourism: public tours kicked off earlier this year.

David Bigelow说“赢利不是我们的主要目的”。他在谈论他的家族企业2003年购买的南卡罗来纳，查尔斯顿外的一个茶园。这个牌子只在当地出售， Bigelow希望将来能够将展开销往整个南部。他的127英亩的农场，全部将老橡树换成了齐腰的茶树，这是全美国唯一的一家商业制茶的地方。尽管气候适宜，但是种茶仍然十分昂贵。因为整个种茶过程都是劳动力密集的而不适合机器控制。Bigelow希望增加旅游会缓和成本：今年初已经对公众开放参观浏览。
But although tea production in America is minuscule, consumption is booming. Sales have more than tripled in the past 15 years, exceeding $6 billion last year. Some 85% of the tea drunk in America is served iced—for easy sipping on sleepy summer days. Lately, sales of “ready to drink” bottled teas have been growing particularly fast. Mike Harney of Harney & Sons, a tea firm based in New York, calls the United States “the most dynamic tea market in the world”.

尽管美国茶产量很少，但是消费需求却是在高涨。在过去15年里，销售量增长了三倍多，去年超过了60亿美元。美国人消费的约85％的茶是冰冻过的——便于在令人昏昏欲睡的夏天时饮用。近来，速溶茶的销售也急剧攀升。纽约的一家茶厂Harney & Sons公司的Mike Harney将美国称为“世界上最具活力的茶市场”。
Americans' growing enthusiasm for tea can be explained in large part by its health benefits. Tea contains less caffeine than coffee, and the industry touts studies that suggest it can help with heart problems, blood pressure and even cancer. This explains tea's particular appeal to the ageing baby-boom generation, suggests Brian Keating of Sage Group, a market-research firm, in a recent report on the industry. Green tea is perceived to be especially healthy, though white teas, which have undergone minimal processing, are also popular, says Karen Dunlap, a “tea sommelier” based in New York. Tea-based soft drinks are doing well, too.

美国人对茶热情高涨在很大程度上归功于茶的健康功效。茶比咖啡含更少的咖啡因，这个产业的部门研究表明茶对心脏病、高血压以及癌症有效果。一个市场调查公司Sage Group的 Brian Keating在一份最新的产业报告中说，这解释了为什么茶特别适合生育高峰期出生的美国人。纽约的茶艺师Karen Dunlap提及，绿茶被认为最健康，而被认为经过最少的工业处理的白茶也非常受欢迎。茶作为软性饮料也非常受欢迎。
Tea still trails far behind coffee, of course. The Sage Group estimates that tea sales in America will reach
at most one-third the level of coffee sales by 2010. Yet the relationship between the two drinks is oddly collaborative. Starbucks, the dominant coffee chain, bought Tazo, a fast-growing brand of speciality tea, in 1999. Just last week the chain rolled out tangerine and pomegranate frappuccino juice blends, which mix Tazo tea with other fruity flavours. Also on sale, since the spring, has been Starbucks's blackberry green-tea frappuccino. Other chains have also turned to tea-based drinks. Jamba Juice, known for its smoothies, offers a “Matcha Green Tea Blast”, with green-tea powder, soya milk, sorbet and frozen yogurt.

当然，茶远远落后于咖啡。Sage Group评价说到2010年前茶的市场额将达到咖啡的三分之一。目前，这两种饮料也非常奇怪地结合起来。星巴克，咖啡界的权威，1999年收购了一个发展得很快的茶馆Tazo。上个星期，这个巨头推出了一种桔子石榴汁味的温和饮料，其实就是将Tazo茶与其它水果混合起来的。星巴克还在春季开始销售一种黑莓绿茶。其它公司也开始推出茶基饮料。以 思乐冰饮料（smoothies）闻名的Jamba Juice，提供了一种“绿茶风暴”的产品，是由碎茶，豆奶，果汁及冰奶酪制成的。