KENYA – Kenya’s oldest tea blending and marketing company, the Kenya Tea Packers (Ketepa) has branched into flavoured teas to capture the huge youth market.
Ketepa Managing Director Albert Otochi said they had decided to embrace diversification from the household brands Fahari Ya Kenya, Ketepa Pride, Safari Pure which are in tea bags and loose tea packaging, reports Standard Media.
“We are now targeting millennials because 55 per cent of the population comprises the youth. The group is a sophisticated consumer and therefore require teas which they can relate with,” he said.
“That is why we are adding into our heritage Fahari brand lifestyle teas ranging from herbal to specialty tea variants which can resonate with the youth.”
The flavours include cinnamon, orange, forest fruit and ginger.
“In the new specialty line, the teas are packaged in very attractive packages. We even have hexagonal gift packs which contain eleven flavours of the tea,” Mr Otochi said.
Ketepa has also hit the shelves with herbal infusion teas such as Heart Chai, Sleep Easy, Immune Tea, Digestive Tea and Vitali Tea.
Ketepa is a value-addition subsidiary of Kenya Tea Development Agency.
This comes a month after Ketepa patnered with Naivas supermarket to drive tea consumption in the country in a move aimed at increasing tea intake.
Available local tea consumption data from the Tea Directorate of the Agriculture and Foods authority shows that Kenyans consume only 5 percent of the total tea produced in the country.
“Shopping trends indicate that the younger generation (millennials) is looking for new innovations in tea,” said Mr. Kimani adding that this is a program dubbed “Its tea time” with Naivas and Ketepa is designed to reposition tea as a celebratory drink as opposed to traditional breakfast drink.
Ketepa Managing Director Albert Otochi added that tea is a healthy beverage which is the second most consumed globally, after water.
“We have continued to innovate tea over the years, and today we have more than 20 varieties, flavors and infusions designed to suit individual tastes and preferences,” said Otochi.
Kimani said that the firm had organized a number of interactive sessions during the month in which renowned tea barristers are expected to make several demonstration sessions covering skills such as tea brewing and tasting for the younger population.
The Kenya Tea Month, scheduled to run the whole of August, was to herald the beginning of an appreciation journey that takes people from the original black tea to the very latest specialty varieties and collector editions.
