2025
9
UK Tea and Other Hot Drinks Market Report 2025
2025-12-20T00:01:59+00:00
REP22197729_176F_4F6E_8492_C524BA6C6487
2195
189871
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Report
en_GB
Matcha is firmly mainstream. Over half of under-35s drunk a hot matcha drink at home/in the workplace in the month to September 2025, with cold matcha drinks enjoying the same…
UK
Tea and Other Hot Drinks
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UK Tea and Other Hot Drinks Market Report 2025

"The matcha boom, dynamic functional NPD and tea's role in self-care routines are some of the bright spots for the market amid its ongoing volume decline."

Emma Clifford, Associate Director - Food and Drink

Emma Clifford, Associate Director - Food and Drink

UK Tea Industry – Trends and Insights

  • Matcha is firmly mainstream. Over half of under-35s drunk a hot matcha drink at home/in the workplace in the month to September 2025, with cold matcha drinks enjoying the same high penetration. While this trend has staying power, matcha’s ability to live up to its long-lasting, jitter-free energy associations will be key to supporting future growth. Off-putting taste perceptions also need to be addressed.
  • As low-cost drinks linked to emotional wellbeing, tea and other hot drinks in retail benefit from consumers’ ongoing cautious mindset, this also driving the rise of own-label. However, this will not be enough to halt the category’s long-term volume decline, as ordinary tea bags struggle to engage the younger generation.
  • The ever-evolving competition from coffee and soft drinks continues to be the biggest threat and primary driver behind the long-term decline of ordinary tea bags. However, health and ‘foodie’ trends will see volume growth in other types of tea, most notably matcha, and in formats such as concentrates.
  • The established role of tea in self-care routines is a boon for the tea market. While tea brands already lean heavily into this angle in marketing, more can be done to strengthen this image. Enhanced hydration NPD offers rich potential to build on tea’s role in self-care, given strong consumer interest.

This Report Looks at the Following Areas:

  • Performance of the market, including the impact of inflation on value and volume sales of tea and other hot drinks
  • Key trends in launch activity and future product development opportunities
  • Usage and usage frequency of different types of tea and other hot drinks
  • The matcha trend, including usage of matcha-based drinks and the need to address its challenging flavour
  • Tea’s place in self-care routines, and how this role can be strengthened
  • Opportunities for tea around enhanced hydration and alternative formats
  • Potential for the ‘drinkable desserts’ trend to be mined by tea and other hot drinks
Report AttributesDetail
Published DateDecember 2025
Report AuthorEmma Clifford, Associate Director – Food and Drink
Market Data2019-2025 (est)
Market Forecast Range2025-2030
Measurement MetricsValue sales of tea and other hot drinks in £
Market SegmentationTea (Ordinary tea bags, decaffeinated tea, specialty tea, Fruit and herbal tea, Green tea, Instant tea, Tea concentrates), Hot chocolate and other hot drinks (Hot chocolate powder, Cocoa and cocoa powder, Hot malted drinks, Malted hot chocolate drinks, Other hot drink mixes, Instant cereal drinks)
Consumer Data2,000 internet users aged 16+, September 2025
Leading Brands in the UK Tea MarketYorkshire Tea, Twinings, Tetley, PG Tips, Pukka, Clipper, Teapigs, Tick Tock

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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • What you need to know
    • Outlook for tea and other hot drinks
    • Opportunities
    • Mask or embrace matcha’s challenging flavour
    • Lean into tea’s self-care associations
    • Mine the ‘drinkable desserts’ trend
  2. THE MARKET

    • Snapshot – tea and other hot drinks market size and forecast
    • Financial wellbeing and confidence is still relatively weak, despite improvement in H1 2025
    • Graph 1: the financial wellbeing and confidence indices, 2019-25
    • Lower tea and cocoa/powdered chocolate inflation provides relief to shoppers
    • Graph 2: consumer price inflation for tea, coffee, cocoa and powdered chocolate and soft drinks, 2020-25
    • Caffeine concerns help fuel the matcha trend
    • Graph 3: Google searches for caffeine and matcha, 2020-25
    • The overarching health trend supports teas’ appeal
    • Market size and forecast
    • Inflation to drive value growth
    • Graph 4: retail market value forecast for tea and other hot drinks, 2020-30
    • Market segmentation
    • Graph 5: retail value sales of tea and other hot drinks, by segment, 2023-25
    • Only Clipper and own-label grow volumes in tea in 2024/25
    • Graph 6: leading brands’ value sales in the retail tea market, 2022/23-2024/25
    • Own-label also gains share in hot chocolate and other hot drinks
    • Graph 7: leading brands’ value sales in the retail hot chocolate and other hot drinks market, 2022/23-2024/25
  3. THE CONSUMER

    • Usage of tea and other hot drinks
    • Almost everyone drinks tea; habitual usage of standard tea continues to slip
    • Graph 8: usage of tea and other hot drinks, by type, 2025
    • 25-34s are core tea users, except of standard tea
    • Graph 9: usage of different types of tea, by age, 2025
    • The matcha trend
    • Most under-35s are matcha drinkers
    • Propelled from niche to viral, matcha is firmly mainstream
    • Address barriers around taste
    • Fusion drinks leveraging the matcha trend
    • Tea’s role in self-care
    • Lean into self-care associations
    • Self-care isn’t only for functional tea brands
    • Many routes to drive self-care associations
    • Take self-care into the RTD space
    • Enhanced hydration opportunities
    • Cold teas with added hydration benefits spark interest
    • Tap the enhanced hydration trend
    • Enhanced hydration opportunities beyond RTD tea
    • Unlocking the potential of alternative formats
    • Alternative formats offer strong potential
    • Tap into the buzz around coffee concentrates
    • Raise awareness of cold-serve options
    • Mine the ‘drinkable desserts’ trend
    • Mine the ‘drinkable dessert’ trend
    • Tap ‘drinkable desserts’ trend through recipe inspiration…
    • …with focus on visual excitement
    • Explore drinkable dessert kits for self-treating
  4. PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING

    • 2024 was a big year for functional innovation
    • Graph 10: share of tea launches featuring selected functional claims, 2022-25
    • Ingredients linked to energy, focus and relaxation gain momentum
    • Matcha: a hotbed of activity in tea and RTD tea
    • Other categories inspire flavour NPD; chai gains momentum
    • Brands up the ante to stand out on ethics
    • Brands in hot chocolate/malted drinks continue to innovate
    • Iced tea and kombucha continue to attract NPD
    • 2025 sees a hike in adspend
    • Graph 11: total above-the-line, online display and direct mail advertising on tea and other hot drinks, 2021-25
    • Humour and emotional cues are key themes
  5. APPENDIX

    • The market
    • Market definition
    • Market definition (continued)
    • Forecast methodology
    • Forecast methodology – fan chart
    • Market forecast – volume sales
    • Graph 12: retail market volume forecast for tea and other hot drinks, 2020-30
    • Market size and forecast of tea and other hot drinks – value
    • Market size and forecast of tea and other hot drinks – volume
    • Market forecast and prediction intervals (value)
    • Market segmentation
    • Tea retail market share – value sales – brands
    • Tea retail market share – volume sales – brands
    • Tea retail market share – value sales – manufacturers
    • Tea retail market share – volume sales – manufacturers
    • Hot chocolate and other hot drinks retail market share – value sales – brands
    • Hot chocolate and other hot drinks retail market share – volume sales – brands
    • Hot chocolate and other hot drinks retail market share – value sales – manufacturers
    • Hot chocolate and other hot drinks retail market share – volume sales – manufacturers
    • Advertising spend on tea and other hot drinks
    • The consumer
    • Consumer research questions
    • Consumer research methodology
    • Other data source methodologies
    • Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
    • Abbreviations

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