Loose Tea in the American Marketplace – Opportunities for Affiliates
The American tea market
Traditionally, the marketplace for tea drinkers in the United States has been limited.
Although loose tea was extremely popular in colonial times, the consumption of loose tea gradually changed and recently the American market for tea has been generally confined to iced tea and tea in bags.
Loose tea was introduced to America at the same time of introduction to Europe. As early as 1650 Dutch traders were active in the tea trade and Peter Stuyvesant, as an early governor of the New York colony, brought the first tea to New York. Loose tea was so popular in colonial New York that at one time the small colony consumed more loose tea than all of England. This popularity was equally evident in the other colonies.
Gradually however, the American tea market changed. America made two unique contributions to the tea world in the form of iced tea and the tea bag and both were invented in the early 1900s. Presently, 80% of the tea consumed in the United States is iced tea and of the remaining 20% of tea consumption, most is consumed in the form of bagged...