There was a time when the cup of tea offered onboard came with just two simple options – milk and sugar – but today airlines increasingly offer a whole menu of hot beverage options and the crew come specially trained and armed with a plethora of tea ‘experiences’ onboard.
Gone, in many cabins, are the generic multi-serve tea flasks, replaced instead with branded teas, targeting the discerning tea drinker, along with fruit and herbal blends, and ‘functional teas’ known for their health benefits.
Teas claiming to boost your energy or immunity, aid your sleep or mental focus, support digestion or relaxation are now a regular feature in the tea supermarket aisles worldwide. Leading brands like Twinings and Tetley have new products with added vitamins and nootropics (additions known to enhance cognitive performance and brain health). Twinings, for example, has added a Women’s Health range with teas to support women experiencing the menopause, and Tetley’s has revamped its Super range to add teas fortified with vitamin C and other nutrients that support the immune system and impact energy levels.
The Twinings Lemon and Ginger Herbal Infusion and Pure Peppermint are already flying on easyJet, alongside Green Tea, English Breakfast and other choices, and as the trend gathers pace, consumers are expected to increasingly demand more. Making the right tea choice can have a significant impact on the passenger experience as British Airways’ Chief Customer Officer, Calum Laming, identifies when he says: “Last year, we served more than 37 million cups of tea in the air, and more than two million cups in our lounges globally, so we knew that selecting our newest tea partner was a decision we had to get right.”
Careful choices
The catering team chose a new partnership with British tea producer Birchall offering a carefully curated range, that celebrates British originality, for all long-haul cabins, as part of the airline’s £7 billion transformation plan.
Laming says: “We’re proud to continually lead the way in championing British originality, and it was important to us that our tea not only ticked the taste box but also showcased the quality and talent we have on our doorstep here in the UK.”
The deal features Birchall Great Rift English Breakfast tea, the UK’s most-awarded tea for taste, along with Camomile, Lemongrass & Ginger, Great Rift Decaffeinated and Red Berry & Flower. Club World passengers are also offered herbal infusions, including English Breakfast, Decaffeinated English Breakfast, Peppermint, Green Tea and Earl Grey.
Back story bonus
Clearly the brand’s back story played an important role in the decision to board Birchall, something which also played into Whittard of Chelsea’s debut onboard with Saudia.
The airline now serves six Whittard teas: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Classic Green, Peppermint, Mango & Bergamont (a Whittard blend) and Warming (an exclusive herbal tea for Saudia) in First and Business, inspiring the brand to attend WTCE for the first time this year in a conscious push for more airline business.
Thomas Parkhouse, Whittard’s EMEA rep, says: “Airlines appreciate the Whittard heritage. The fact that we have been in the tea business since 1886 speaks to our quality, and then the breadth of the range, our flexibility in formats and our global network make us a good match for the airline sector.”
While classic teas remain the most popular, he sees specialist teas also making a mark in the market. “Tea is a growth market generally. Premium tea sales are up, as are fruit and herbal teas and decaffeinated teas. Increasingly, consumers are also looking for active ingredients in their teas, so those targeting digestion, energising or sleep inducing, and these types of teas can clearly support airline wellbeing initiatives onboard.”
When Cathay Pacific looked for its new partner, it too turned to premium brands for “a sense of understated elegance, a commitment to quality, authenticity, provenance and wellbeing, and an ethos that resonated with the Cathay brand”, says Vassilios Georgakopoulos, Head of Customer Experience, F&B and Service Design.
It chose JING Teas, with over 70 different strains of single-garden tea in its range including teas from Sri Lanka, Japan, India and China, and with a strong focus on sustainability and a fair deal for growers.
Tea experiences
Catherine Archer, JING Tea CEO, says: “Our real focus is on creating unforgettable tea experiences, while supporting the people and places behind them to thrive. Connection is absolutely at the heart of both our brands, Cathay do that through physical journeys, and JING through the taste journeys that we take people on.”
The British tea company invested a lot of time and trials in perfecting the perfect inflight cuppa for Cathay. “Altitude impacts the palate’s response to flavours and the lower boiling point of water on planes meant the team had to experiment with different quantities of tea and brewing times before arriving at the right formula,” says Archer.
What resulted was a range of blends including umami-rich Japanese green teas and cups of Sri Lankan Ceylon breakfast tea that worked well with the soft water onboard “to create a very smooth, rich taste”.
Once perfected, Cathay Pacific’s cabin crew were given comprehensive training on how to brew and serve the teas, with workshops held to help drive product understanding and enhance service delivery.
The potential for tea businesses is huge. Emirates’ long partnership with Dilmah Tea has run for more than three decades, and now takes the brand name to no less than 140 destinations across six continents. The airline reports it brews 33 million cups of Dilmah tea a year, which includes 10 different varieties including Dilmah Ceylon Black Tea, Moroccan Mint, Breakfast Tea and an Emirates’ Signature tea, made exclusively by Dilmah for First passengers. The signature tea uses flowery orange pekoe leaf, a sprinkle of marigold and safflower, and is said to pair well with savoury dishes, nuts and leafy vegetables, light cakes, chocolate and caramel desserts.
Instant teas
Also new to WTCE this year was Senso Foods with a range of instant chai teas to make service onboard easy for those who want to feature India’s favourite hot drink, traditionally made with black tea, milk, sugar and added spices. Available in single serve sticks which just have to be combined with hot water, the flavours include Cardamon Chai Latte, Ginger Chai Latte, Saffron Chai Latte, Masala Unsweetened Chai Latte and similarly flavoured Chai Karaks, a stronger version. The team claims this single serve format means: “No mess, no fuss, just great taste in every sip.”
Local favourites
Local tea favourites already make it into the mix on Qatar Airways where they serve both saffron and cardamom flavours of karak chai; and on Starlux Airlines where they serve boba tea lattes in Business out of Taipei. On Malaysia Airlines teh tarik, a sweet, local milky tea (literally translated as ‘pulled tea’ because of how it’s made) is served in Business even on short-haul flights.
Tea Culture of the World (TCW), established in 2010 by one of India’s few certified tea sommeliers, Dr. Rupali Ambegaonkar, aims to tap into these local tea nuances and combine the discerning tastes of passionate tea enthusiasts with the demands of the ethical and health-conscious consumer. Debuting at WTCE, its teas are sourced from Fairtrade-certified producers and the 120+ flavours are crafted to reflect the culture of the tea estates from which they come, all with the goal of creating a tea-drinking experience. Ambegaonkar says: “Tea, for me is a product of inspiration. I don’t just make teas, I curate them. The teas are steeped in memories, anecdotes, places, moments, infused with personal touch. My teas are a personal invitation. I believe each one is an experience that will linger.”
The growing market demand for new, more interesting and unusual teas, and this experiential element to tea offers an opportunity for some easy wins onboard concludes Whittard’s Parkhouse. He says: “Bringing premium brands onboard is an easy way to upgrade the customer experience to maximum effect because most passengers are going to have a tea or coffee and if that is a good experience, the customer experience will likely rank better. Likewise if you are selling the tea onboard, you can charge a little more for a premium brand and still be confident it will sell well. In short, tea is a win-win.”
