Just when it seemed everyone had their preferred variation on a latte and a local Starbucks to buy it from, consumers are turning to a new brew, and there’s not a coffee bean in sight. Tea is enjoying a renaissance, not just in Britain, where a cuppa is part of the nation’s history, but throughout Europe and North America, where it’s proving a hip and healthy choice for style-conscious and quality-seeking consumers. Led by a growing range of speciality teas, its popularity has risen to the point where supply can barely keep up with demand.

Worldwide tea production is at record levels, approaching four million tonnes a year. And despite a 15% rise in the price of tea over the past five years, and the rapid growth of coffee shops during that time, consumption of tea continue to increase.

“Consumers’ consciousness about their health has increased dramatically,” says Bill Gorman, executive chairman of the UK Tea Council, who notes that scientific research into the drink’s health benefits is now generating more than 1,000 papers a year. “Ten years ago, very few people had heard of antioxidants. Now 90% of people would probably say they don’t really know what they are, but they know that they’re good for them.”

The low-calorie aspect of tea is particularly seductive to young women. There are no calories in tea served without milk, and tea with semi-skimmed milk – contains 13 calories. As the main grocery shoppers, women are drinking more tea themselves, but also influencing the men and children they shop for.

Influencing the women are slender celebrity tea drinkers; OK! magazine names Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, Kylie Minogue and Jerry Hall as fans of tea.

In Britain, sales of speciality teas are increasing by 7% a year. In the US, where 85%–90% of all tea consumed is chilled, concerns about obesity are driving the rise of tea. Beverage Marketing Corporation data shows that while carbonated soft drink sales are on the slide in the US – down 2.3% in 2009 – ready-to-drink tea is the fastest-growing drinks category, up   1.2% in the same period. Between 300 and 400 new tea brands have launched in the US in the past year alone, and while many won’t survive in this increasingly crowded market, they’re creating excitement among a new group of consumers. US tea drinkers used to be predominantly middle-aged women; younger people are now taking it up.

“Americans have a love affair with soft drinks, but they’re trying to wean themselves off them, and tea is seen as a more natural, healthier product,” says Joe Simrany, president of the US Tea Association. “Even though most of them [iced teas] are sweetened, they tend not to be as sweet as soft drinks, and they have the value of antioxidants so they’re perceived as being better for you.”

Per capita tea consumption in the US has grown from 385g per person in 2005 to 435g per person now, according to IBISWorld. The research firm expects demand to rise further, as baby boomers seek products they regard as nutritious and anti-ageing. IBISWorld estimates that the US tea market will grow 5.4% a year between now and 2015, to total €2.15bn.

“This year we’ve seen an increase in fine tea sales,” says Mark Daley, CEO of New York’s upscale food retailer Dean & DeLuca, which recently installed a loose-leaf tea counter in its Madison Avenue store. “We’re confident that the popularity of gourmet tea will continue to grow, and we plan to continue offering a wide range of distinctive blends to be out in front of the trend.” At the other end of the spectrum, Starbucks is joining the tea party too. In January, it began serving 10 new varieties in its US and Canadian stores, as well as selling tins of tea for home brewing.

Rather than finding their preferred brew and sticking with it, tea drinkers are discovering different teas for different occasions. What they want with breakfast isn’t the same as they’d serve to friends in the afternoon, use to celebrate a birthday, to relax, or to give as a gift. While their coffee cupboard might have a favourite Tea is also becoming more popular in the out-of-home beverage market. French tea merchant Mariage Frères used to have one outlet in Paris; it now has 18 across France, two in Germany and 13 in Japan, and is reported to be eyeing up London, New York and China. Tea is even becoming fashionable in the coffee bars of Spain and Italy, again, primarily among young women. Espresso machines are increasingly finding company with an inviting selection of teas – that’s appealing to local sophisticates, who drink it when they’re out, and buy it to drink at home.

In early 2009, market research firm Mintel found that 26% of French and 52% of Germans consumers over the age of 15 drink herbal teas daily.

It’s a similar story in North America, where the growing number of speciality tearooms – there are now around 2,600 in the US – are helping turn tea drinking into a social occasion. “It’s not really seen as English, but it’s an upmarket thing to do – there’s a degree of sophistication associated with it,” says Simrany. Tea cocktails are even being mixed, and while a decade ago, only a killjoy would have ordered a pot of tea during after-work drinks, many bars are now offering not just tea, but a whole range of gourmet teas. In upmarket American restaurants, diners are often offered a range of carefully selected teas, with details of the estate where they were grown, in the same way as they might once have been offered the wine list.

The comparison with the wine industry is one that frequently comes up in discussions about the rebirth and rebranding of tea. Just as the wine industry has always had a very exclusive top end and a very low end, so too had tea. Supermarkets stocked a handful of teas with very little to distinguish them; the alternative was a prestigious tea house with perhaps several hundred varieties to choose from. There was very little middle ground, meaning tea was either a posh, bone-china affair, or over-stewed in a chipped mug for tradesmen. While going out for coffee gave consumers vast choice – as well as a chance to buy into the trendy Friends-inspired coffee lifestyle, buying tea out, at any place less grand than a speciality tea house, in many cases seemed like the boring option, and a lot of money for what most people could make better at home.

“Now it’s a bit more modern – to get a good quality cup of tea, you don’t have to have gold trims and it doesn’t have to be intimidating,” says Louise Allen, co-founder of Teapigs, a three-year-old UK outfit with a cheeky image and brightly coloured packaging for its range, which includes silver tips white tea and Tung Ting Oolong. “We’ve tried to simplify it, and show that quality doesn’t have to be traditional and it can be a bit more fun.”

It is relatively new companies, rather than tea stalwarts, who have led the push for new varieties to market, and they’re certainly benefiting. For example, British company JING Tea’s varieties are served and sold in several top-flight restaurants and hotels, while Singapore-based TWG Tea, founded in 2007 and supplier to Harrods and Dean & DeLuca, turned over $30m (€22m) in its first full year of trading. CEO Manoj Murjani predicts a 10-fold growth in the next few years.

The UK’s Pukka Herbs is another successful newcomer, led by sales of its Detox tea and Three Ginger and Three Mint teas. “Over the last year Pukka has seen organic herbal tea sales increase 52% year on year,” says managing director Tim Westwell. “Key factors have been an upsurge in UK sales and continued growth abroad, significantly in the Nordic region, Japan and the US.” Pukka has just entered the green tea sector and says early indications are “very encouraging”.

Innovation has also seen the launch of UK-based Exotic Teapot, which offers teas that flower when hot water is added, and in the US, The Republic of Tea sells a range of teas and tea-related gifts, including a travel kit, which includes Redbush tea, earplugs and a relaxing pillow spray.

Long-time players in the tea trade have also been diversifying; Twinings’ new products include Light & Delicate Green Tea, Organic Ginger & Mandarin, and a Fresh & Fruity range of infusions. So, where once supermarkets might have offered half a dozen brands, now there’s a huge number of varieties, from boutique labels and major brands. Unilever’s PG Tips recently moved into green tea, and Tetley (now part of the Tata Group) now offers a Summer Berry Merry variety.

Beyond the Western markets currently rediscovering tea, Taha Bouqdib, president of TWG Tea, expects strong future demand from the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey: “Because of rising affluence and higher disposable incomes among the middle-class in the developing world, customers are developing a higher level of sophistication, requesting exquisite blends and single origin teas that improve on those traditionally consumed.”