03.13.09
Familiarity
posted by Nancy Murphy | 8 comments
On my travels today, I was in the neighborhood of a local (read: not chain) coffee shop that had gotten a couple “Best of” awards in our paper, so I wanted to check it out. From everything I’ve read, it has a warm and comfortable atmosphere, with nice staff and great coffee. But when I found it, I just kept driving. It didn’t speak to me - I didn’t really like the look of it from the outside, and the neighborhood was a little dodgier than I expected.
Of course, as I was driving by, I told myself not to be ridiculous - it must be OK if it is so popular. So I turned around and came back - and drove past it again going the other way. It was still not speaking to me. Then I thought, “It’s OK, there’s a Starbucks right up the road and I know that will be fine.”
So here’s my question: what is it about familiarity that is so powerful? How does brand recognition influence our decisions every day - picking a McDonald’s over a much better local hamburger place, just because we’re more comfortable with the known than the unknown? And for me, personally - why do I shy away from making a choice that’s probably not risky at all, when I’ve made many riskier choices in my life?
How, you might ask, does this tie into tea? Well, part of the challenge I see with making tea more popular in the U.S. is overcoming that tendency to stick with the familiar. 
People know Lipton or Tetley, and either like or dislike them, but don’t have the courage or the time or the impetus to delve further into loose leaf tea. Or, if they have branched out a bit, they’ve probably tried some flavored teas from the grocery store, but not much more. So where’s the hook? How do we get people past the threshold and into the world of loose leaf tea?
Well, you may be looking for some deep insights here - but I don’t have the answer. Yet. I’m working on it, as I’m sure many others in the tea world are. I think the answer is “baby steps” - but what do those steps consist of? Get people hooked on whole leaf tea bags, and then pull them in from there? Or try to compare tea flavors to coffee or wine flavors, to give people more of a sense of the differences in tea? (This was done very well in a recent article in the Austin Chronicle.) Or promote more of the flavored teas to help make tea more approachable? If you know you like vanilla or cinnamon, drinking tea with that flavor isn’t as scary.
Or the other question: are people not so much intimidated by tea as just not interested? What to do in that case? I think that’s already being addressed, with so much of the emphasis on the health benefits of tea. But again, if people are only drinking tea for their health, but really don’t like the taste, they’ll probably move away from it again. That’s where I think that focusing on flavors, or bridging from coffee and wine, will be the most help.
Obviously, this is a pressing question in the tea industry, and people are working on different solutions. I’d be interested to hear what business owners or other industry people have done, and found to be the most successful. And to hear what they think can be done to make tea as ubiquitous here in the U.S. as coffee is.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Health benefits of tea are not well-known. I often heard people make comments about how they stopped drinking tea mainly to give up caffeine… Healthy, anti-oxidant rich chocolate has the same marketing issue. Right away people associate chocolate with weight increase. Published studies and statistics from accredited institutions should be relied upon to spread more accurate information about the products. After I started learning more about tea, I no longer wish to drink tea-bag tea at commonplace coffee shops. It especially doesn’t make sense to pay more than $3 or $4 when I am handed a cup and a tea bag and have to ask where the hot water is.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I think you’ve raised a lot of important questions. For me, it comes down to convenience. The masses are steeped in a specific culture - they want it NOW and they want it FAST. We need to introduce appliances that meet those needs. I also believe the health benefits are critical. You can hardly pick up a magazine without reading about a new research study showing the health benefits of tea. I believe whole leaf tea will evolve as more people begin to practice the ritual of tea. We become grounded by the rituals in our lives. Can’t find anything healthier than the ritual of tea.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
This is a great, important and challenging issue you bring up Nancy. I agree that there is not definitive answer to this. I think it will be left to the ingenuity of many different entrepreneurs as the explore new ways to disseminate information and introduce more people to whole leaf tea.
Ifang - I’m not sure I fully agree with you about the health benefits issue. In my experience, it’s the health issues that appear to be a main driver of new people trying tea. The problem is that they approach it like medicine and just drink it for that reason. As a result, they are drinking lower quality teas and not being educated or introduced to the full range of whole leaf teas. And because they are drinking lower quality teas like medicine, they are not enjoying it and have an increase chance of stopping before ever being exposed to the full range of what’s out there.
March 14th, 2009 at 12:47 am
Ah…just my cup of tea. The kind of discussion that makes my heart beat faster and adrenalin pump. Yes, Michelle, I totally agree. That’s why we use a system that brews loose leaf tea in one minute. If you get an order wrong, no longer is it major. Imagine a customer waiting 6-10 minutes for a cup of brewed tea or a great herbal infusion because the person making it got
the order mixed up. They are in and out in one minute and, if we have to redo it, in two.
Our customers are absolutely thrilled.
Nancy, you mentioned flavored teas. Yes, when we looked at what teas to put on the menu we considered that (these are approx.) around 80% of tea sold in the U.S. is black and iced. Voila..a no brainer. But once you do these with absolutely artistry and they taste so delicious,
the customer begins to want to know more about tea because they’ve never tasted it like this.
We have a combination tea and coffee house and, in my opinion, that’s much easier than trying
to make a go or just a tea house. The U.S. consumer just isn’t there yet en masse. But hook
them in with great espresso or coffee and have lots of incredible loose leaf teas around and
beautiful pots and other tea-centric product, and they can’t help but notice and explore.
Bottom line..it’s got to be fast and fantastic, familiar but edgy. Tea has a perception of ‘old/female’ and that’s a bit hard to break but not impossible, as more and more young men
get hooked and the ‘red hat’ image is broken. Tea is cool. Or hot. Or iced. Or latte’d. Or icy
blended. Or?
We can’t be purists if we want mass appeal. Look at coffee. So much of what sells is sweet and froo-froo. But you can’t just do it to do it; it takes so much R&D to get it to taste fabulous and
present it in a way people are excited about. But some are doing that.
Yesterday a woman drove over an hour to our store and bought app. $100 worth of tea.
The day before, another customer bought $60 worth of gift cards for her friends as she has
become a devotee of tea lattes. Okay…it’s not an old cake of Pu-erh but so what? It’s ‘tea’ made from great loose leaf and it’s a start on the journey.
And quality..oh man. Another customer today (whose friends and family spent over $100 on tea from our store for her birthday) said two coffee places in town are upset with her for not buying
tea from them anymore. She buys from us. She told them their tea ’sucked’. She’s pretty
up front. Her husband, a big fireman, can’t keep it in stock because his firehouse buddies are
getting into his ’stash’.
Tea is exciting! Let’s go sell some!!!
March 14th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I love your enthusiasm, Team! Your approach sounds right on to me. I can’t wait to get out your way.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Thanks for all the great thoughts, everyone! I absolutely agree that we need to draw people in any way we can…making tea more accessible is the first challenge. I want to know more about the quick-brewing system Team mentioned, as well. I wouldn’t want to lose the relaxing, contemplative qualities of brewing tea when time allows, but if people are in a hurry, this would be a great solution.
Then once you’ve hooked them with excellent tea brewed quickly, you can gently introduce different flavors and types of tea. This approach would work for people who are interested in tea for health reasons as well as those just looking for a coffee alternative.
I’m storing up all these gems of wisdom as I keep working on my tea shop plan!
March 14th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Sandy, I am not too familiar with the medicinal effect of tea or tea as a remedy. I am more familiar with facts like green tea’s being anti-oxidant rich, which I thought was common knowledge but discovered that many people did not know about it. I am not sure why that is the case. Aren’t there enough articles on the Internet?
March 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Erika, so glad to have you visit anytime. Nancy, our system is our own and we also hope to someday introduce a home version. I think the relaxing, contemplative part of tea is highly important in a tea-only shop with a traditional theme. Some people are disappointed we don’t do ‘tea parties’ or have the full tea service with the finger sandwiches, china cups, etc., but our intention was to make really fine loose leaf tea a ‘to go’ possibility, just like gourmet coffee and espresso. The great thing about the specialty tea business is that most people I’ve met just haven’t ever tasted really great loose leaf tea brewed right, whether traditionally or not, and they are so surprised and thrilled when they do and want to go deeper into what is possible with tea.