Lucozade Ribena Suntory is taking on the likes of Lipton and Coca-Cola’s Fuze Tea in the ready-to-drink iced tea sector with the British debut of MayTea.
Rolling out this week, two variants will be available in Morrisons and BP M&S stores across the UK. White Tea infusion with Raspberry & Lychee and Green Tea Infusion with Peach & Mango (rsp: £1.49/500ml) are made with whole tea leaves rather than powdered tea extract.
In spite of Brits’ “enduring love affair with traditional black tea”, LRS had chosen green and white teas as a base because they “performed better in research in the UK & Ireland than black tea when drunk cold” said the supplier’s head of innovation, Victoria Morgan.
“Our use of a less bitter tea base means we can keep the calorie content low and make a great proposition for increasingly health-conscious consumers.”
Each 100ml of MayTea contains no more than 3g of sugar and 13 calories – compared with the 4.5g and 19kcals of Lipton’s Lemon RTD.
The brand is packed in a 50% recycled plastic bottle, and arrives having “seen incredible success on the Continent” according to Morgan. “In just three years, the brand has generated £85m in sales revenue across France.”
The company anticipated a similar achievement in the UK, she said. “Ready-to-drink teas have huge potential here. They saw 9% value and volume growth in the off-trade in 2017 to achieve £12m in sales, and the forecasted continued growth is expected to lead to approximately £23m in sales by 2022.”
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