The end of the cuppa? Herbal tea now more popular than English breakfast tea

Green tea is a firm favourite

(Getty Images)

Herbal and fruit teas have become more popular among Britons than the traditional cup of English breakfast tea, new research has found.

Sales of specialty teas like green tea or ginger tea have overtaken sales of regular black tea in the past year, with the majority of people choosing to drink a herbal tea instead.

A survey by The Tea Group with more than 2,000 respondents found that more than half (55 per cent) said their favourite brew was a herbal or other alternative tea, while 45 per cent chose English breakfast as their favourite.

Just over a fifth (22 per cent) of respondents said their favourite alternative was green tea, which is said to have a number of health benefits. The same proportion said that Earl Grey tea was their brew of choice, as per The Times.

The results are a marked difference compared to just three years ago, when a 2020 YouGov survey found that 54 per cent of Britons said English breakfast tea was one of their teas of choice, followed by Earl Grey and green tea.

Germany was found to be the country that liked herbal and fruit teas the most, with the most popular drink being peppermint tea (50 per cent) followed by fruit tea (48 per cent).

The Tea Group’s recent survey also showed that a quarter of people drink between six to 10 cups of tea a day, while nearly half (47 per cent) said they drink five cups or fewer each day.

The main reason for drinking tea among the respondents was that it made them feel “calm and relaxed” or “comforted”.

The majority of people brew their tea in a mug, while only a third use a teapot or other method.

Last year, a separate YouGov survey found that a quarter of Britons don’t drink tea at all, with the younger population (16 to 24-year-olds) more likely not to indulge in a cuppa.

But the older a Brit gets, the more likely they are to drink much more tea, with 24 per cent saying they drink 20 or more cups a week compared to six per cent of the younger respondents.