TEA, THE WORLD'S MOST CELEBRATED GOURMET BEVERAGE
It's the second most widely consumed beverage in the world after water: tea, which is enjoying a real boom in France. This is an opportunity to celebrate this delicately aromatic beverage with International Tea Day on May 21.
Tea is one of the world's most popular beverages. It's even the world's favorite drink, if you exclude water! According to 2022 figures from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) - the latest official figures available - tea production worldwide reached 6.7 million tonnes in 2022.
The main producers are China, with almost 50% of the world production market (3.3 million tonnes); India, with 20.5% of world production, or 1.37 million tonnes in 2022; followed by Kenya with 543,000 tonnes and Sri Lanka with 256,000 tonnes. According to OpenKnowledges, black tea is the main production with over 3 million tonnes, followed by green tea with over 2 million tonnes.
The French, enlightened amateurs
France is perceived as a consumer market for connoisseurs, who are more interested in premium beverages than in mass consumption. Although the French consume just 250 grams of tea a year, compared with 3 kg in the UK, France is nevertheless one of the world's top 30 consumer markets, with 30,000 tonnes a year, according to the Delidrinks website. In recent years, new beverages such as iced tea, pearl tea and matcha have appeared on the market, attracting the younger generation in their turn.
The French market is characterized by a large number of quality brands offering a rigorous selection of the best vintages and creative blends that are in turn delicate, flowery, refined, generous or powerful.
Year after year, Gourmet Selection welcomes brands with this commitment to quality and creativity. The 2025 edition, for example, will welcome some of the show's the most constant : Le Parti du Thé, Terramoka and Compagnie & Co - the oldest French brand, going back 200 years. Gourmet Selection will also be welcoming new brands such as Lindfield & Co, as well as several former exhibitors such as Nature Expression and Comptoir Français du Thé.
In 2023, the Comptoir français du thé brand presented blends created by renowned pastry chef Nina Métayer at Gourmet Selection.
Tea culture takes root in France
One original idea would be to showcase teas produced and created in France. Indeed, France now grows its own tea, a production that is admittedly small but adds to its status as a rare product. According to the National Association of French Tea Producers (ANVPTF), France produces 1,500 tonnes a year. A drop in the bucket compared to global production!
For several years now, ANVPTF has been bringing together a dozen tea growers. Some of them live on Reunion Island, but also in the Occitanie region. More specifically, in the departments bordering the Pyrenees Mountain range. There are also a few tea growers in Brittany, Normandy and Loire-Atlantique. ANVPTF is planning to create a French tea label and a long training course for producers-processors.
Among these French growers, the “Best Of” jury was impressed in 2023 by a French tea producer, Plantations d'Acapella. The Gourmet Selection jury appreciated “la Tramontane”, a spring green tea, vintage 2022, from the very first French harvest grown in the Roussillon region. With its highly fragrant nose, this beverage reveals sweet, fresh notes of white flowers and citrus. This organic tea grows underground in the shade of solar panels and close to the Mediterranean Sea, which provides the necessary humidity.
Tasting a French tea is generally a guarantee of a pesticide-free and increasingly organic product. Qualities that grocers and specialty stores should appreciate. As did the Gourmet Selection “Best Of” jury two years ago.