How much tea is in your flavoured tea?

Sipping flavoured and herbal tea has become a new craze among a section of tea lovers in India, but few realise that some of them could be drinking more flavouring substance and less tea. A circular issued by the Tea Board of India last week, seeking to fix an upper cap on percentage of flavours mixed with tea, is a timely move to bring back the garden-fresh aroma into the cup. The Tea Board has proposed that manufacturers of flavoured tea shall be allowed to add natural flavours and natural flavouring substances up to 5% only as single flavour or as blend of different colours with tea. Addition of flavour beyond 5% shall not be considered for issuance of flavoured tea registration certificate, says the circular, which is expected to prevent undesirable mix of tea and additional flavour. Flavoured tea manufacturers are required to register with the Tea Board before marketing their products in accordance with a notification issued by the Ministry of Health in October, 1999. The Tea Bord circular points out that provision in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 says that tea may contain natural flavours and natural flavouring substances, which are flavour preparations and single substance, respectively, acceptable for human consumption. There was no mention of the maximum percentage of flavour in the regulation and this ambiguity allowed some manufacturers of flavoured tea to add high percentage of flavour and less percentage of tea. Even though the Tea Board advises the flavoured tea manufacturers to keep maximum percentage of tea to "retain the original quality, aroma," instances of a manufacturer using less than 51% tea and maximum amount of flavour sounded the alarm bell. The Tea Board has made it clear that promotion of a valued-added product like flavoured tea, which is a demand of present consumers, cannot be at the cost of compromising with the "inherent, unique characteristics of globally acclaimed beverage." Based on studies conducted on flavoured teas, the United Planters' Association of South India recommended up to 5% of addition of flavouring substances with tea, while the Tea Research Association suggested up to 10% in respect of certain flavours and up to 7.5% in case of other flavours. While benefits of tea consumption are well established through scientific studies, over-consumption of certain flavouring substances could be harmful to health which justifies the Tea Board's proposal to fix the maximum percentage of flavours for mixing with tea. Arriving at the right percentage of the upper cap is a matter of scientific research, consultation and conclusion but ambiguity in food standards regulations without mention of the maximum percentage needs to be eliminated in the interest of consumers' health as well as to protect the tea industry. Apart from posing health issues to consumers, less tea in flavoured tea poses the threat of replacing tea with flavouring substances, which will adversely affect the tea market and growers. The Tea Board and tea industry's building of awareness on requirement of fixing maximum percentage of natural flavours or natural flavouring substances will make consumers pause and find out, before sipping his or her brand of flavoured tea if it has sufficient tea in it. The Inter-Governmental Group (IGG) on Tea in its report on Current Global Market Situation and Emerging Issues states that world tea consumption increased annually by 3.6 percent to 6.1 million tonne over the decade to 2020. The expansion was underpinned by the rapid growth in per capita income levels, notably in China, India and other Asian and emerging economies, it says. In China, consumption expanded at an annual rate of 7.3 percent over the decade, reaching 2.6 million tonnes in 2020, representing 43.1 percent of world tea consumption. India, with consumption estimated at 1.07 million tonnes, was the second largest tea consumer in 2020, accounting for 17.5 percent of the global total, adds the report which indicates about current tea consumption trend. The report says that the increased awareness of the health benefits of tea consumption and the product diversification process are attracting more customers from non-traditional segments, including young people. Attraction to tea consumption for health benefits creates the space for flavoured and herbal tea manufacturers to push their products. The IGG has highlighted that food service, refrigerated teas and high-end specialty teas continue to grow at slightly accelerated rates, stealing shares from both traditional and ready-to-drink tea, with a growth of 4–5 percent per annum. The International Tea Day observed annually on this day lays emphasis on greater efforts towards expanding demand, particularly in tea-producing countries, where per capita consumption is relatively low, and to address the declining per capita consumption in traditional importing countries. It is also important to focus on safety standards and quality aspects of flavoured tea.