At Bird + Blend in Manchester, where the first PG Tips brew was made 90 years ago, the 25-year-old “tea mixologist” Frankie Cooksey says standard builder’s tea has little appeal to younger customers. They want their brews exciting and sustainable.
“Being in the Northern Quarter, we get a lot of younger customers who tend to ask if anything has plastic in and bring their own containers. We mainly do loose leaf and matcha but our teabags are made of potato starch, they’re plastic-free and biodegradable.”
Pulling down a caddy of white tea blended with cinnamon, liquorice and rose, she says: “Some people think that because they don’t like one type of tea, they don’t like tea. But we find if they’re offered something new and interesting, they do find one they like. People who come to us are looking for more than just a builder’s brew.”
That means customers such as Christos, 26, who chooses herbal teas over traditional caffeinated varieties for the health benefits. “I don’t have anything that’s caffeinated; strictly herbal. Sage, lemon verbena, they’re antioxidant-rich and benefit my digestive system.”
Jane Spindler, who has run the nearby North Tea Power for the past 10 years, says her sales are about 80% coffee. “People don’t really tend to come out for a cup of tea. They drink it at home, whereas when they come out they’ll want to drink something like an espresso-based coffee that they can’t make at home: it’s more of a treat.”
Outside the cafe, 24-year-old Luke was enjoying a pot of gunpowder. “I much prefer the taste of green tea, no sugar, no milk, just pure tea and I know it’s good for me.” But his dad, he says, “can’t stand it”.
But down the road at The Koffee Pot, co-owner Sam Dunwoodie said there was still plenty of appetite for a straightforward brew: “None of this fancy stuff, none of this loose leaf, ginseng, not for us. It’s too much hassle – just get a bag and throw it in. Really strong, leave the teabag in, just a splash of milk, no sugar, a real builder’s brew.
“People will always drink tea. It’s too ingrained in English culture. Britain was built on it, the Blitz-spirit and all that jazz. We still sell a lot because we get a lot of builders in.”
But Dunwoodie also conceded that trendy and aesthetically pleasing coffee had overtaken their orders for tea. “A lot of people need a tulip or a heart or whatever in their coffee now – you can’t Instagram a cup of tea, can you?”
