What Prevents Turkish Tea from Becoming a Recognizable Brand?

Turkish tea is probably the last drink that can be described to Turkish people. As everyone knows, while we are the country that consumes the most tea in the world, we are ranked 5th among the countries that produce the most tea. When we continue to examine the statistics, while the per capita tea consumption rate in the world is 500 grams (dry tea) per year, the average Turkish person's tea consumption is 3.5 kilograms. In our country, which has a per capita tea consumption seven times the world average, 250 million cups of tea are drunk every day, according to another statistic.

Tea, which is consumed by almost everyone in the country, from the richest to the poorest, at least one glass a day, is also the most consumed beverage by Turkish people after water.

The main question I want to focus on when going to compare popular coffee consumption and tea consumption is: “Why does coffee lag behind or cannot be branded when it comes to branding?”

As someone who thinks that Turkish tea is not branded enough, I would like to focus on three reasons underlying this issue.

Let's imagine that we go to a cafe and order a coffee when we sit down. We will consume this coffee in approximately 25 minutes, at the earliest in 15 minutes.

Now let's order some tea. The average drinking time of a tea served in a thin glass is 5-10 minutes. It is not possible to drink it for a longer period of time. Let's look at it from another angle.

When we sit in a cafe, we usually order a coffee and that is enough for us. However, even if we spend the same amount of time in the cafe where we sit to drink tea, we order an average of two or three teas.

In summary, tea is a drink that is consumed much faster than coffee. In products with fast consumption, the distinguishing features between products and companies are generally; There is no mention of the branding that comes with this. From his coffeehouse to his home; We consume tea rapidly everywhere, from office to school; As we consume faster, the intensity of our search for quality in the product decreases, and we can easily ignore the quality of service and taste, which are the basic elements that determine branding in a food product. While the concept of quality coffee is so widespread, the absence or widespread use of the concept of “quality tea” is a result of rapid consumption.

Additionally, in countries where coffee consumption is as intense and widespread as tea consumption in our country, coffee is not limited to prominent brands. You may see that corner coffee shops sell coffee without any brand emphasis.

Let's continue with the cafe example. You went to a cafe, looked at the menu to decide what to drink, and saw dozens of different types of coffee. Faced with such a rich variety, you chose and ordered your drink.

Again, you went to a cafe or maybe a coffee house. You ordered a tea without looking at the menu.

While dozens of different types of coffee are common and preferable, there is no variety of tea prepared with a single method called “Turkish Tea”. In the coffee house, office, home, school; No matter where it is consumed, tea prepared in the same way is consumed. While product diversity is another strong feature of branding, the fact that Turkish tea is uniform and can be consumed everywhere cannot ensure its branding.

3) Lack of Seeking Quality

The absence of the search for quality, which we mentioned in the first title, is another reason why tea cannot be branded. While consumers look for differences in quality and taste in coffee, this search is not very common in tea.

Tea is an important part of the lives of people in Turkey. Although the developing and widespread coffee culture is unlikely to impact tea consumption, product richness is always a good thing for the consumer.

I believe that tea's lack of branding is a subject that needs to be focused on and written about more. In a second article, we will talk about the steps in branding Çay, how it can be branded, and whether branding is necessary or not.

Until then, stay with quality tea..