Tamil Nadu - Udhagamandalam   

An American fascinated by tea

— Photo: D. Radhakrishnan

Joseph P.Simrany

Udhagamandalam: Joseph P. Simrany is an American and like many Americans he doesn’t make an effort to conceal his passion. Hence even before one gets to know what makes him tick one becomes aware of the fact that his passion is tea. A pin on his lapel states ‘I love tea’ and designs depicting two leaves and a bud dot his tie. When tea is the topic of discussion he deals with the subject in an authoritative manner. Small wonder then he is the President of the Tea Association of the United State of America and the Tea Council of the USA. Speaking to The Hindu at Glendale near Coonoor on Tuesday, he said that for long he had been fascinated with tea. Though the Nilgiris was a traditional tea growing area, the Nilgiris tea was not as well known as that of Darjeeling or Assam. Concentration on marketing should increase. Stating that tea consumption was on the rise in the United States, he said that almost 85 percent belonged to the iced variety. To a query, he said that the market for speciality tea was growing at the rate of 10 per cent per annum. Pointing out that nearly half the tea consumed in the United States came from Argentina, Mr.Simrany said that China, Indonesia and India took care of the rest. Tea in cans and bottles accounted for about 20 per cent of the sales. Claiming that the sale of bottled tea was growing faster than even bottled water in his country, he said that the future belonged to tea in packets and bottles. Though the benefits on the health front were being promoted in a big way, Americans associated health with green tea more than the black tea. Consequently consumption of green tea has jumped to 18 percent from three percent over the last fifteen years. Pointing out that scientists were yet to be convinced about the health benefits of black tea, he however said that black tea was not being promoted as a health drink in the United States. The Tea Council was depending on media advertisements to a considerable extent for generic promotion. However the going was tough since the manufacturers of other beverages were resorting to high power advertising.

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