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Loose tea flavors and variety - How much is too much and why is it important? - November 24, 2009

When it comes to flavored tea, how much variety is too much? In a perfect world, there would be no limit to the number of flavors one could create or offer to customers. What's the downside? Quality and freshness are at stake. As a customer, think about this very carefully. The more flavors that are offered, the more inventory that is accumulated, and the longer it takes to go through the inventory. The reason is not everyone will purchase every flavor, which means many of the flavors could sit around for a long, long time before they are replenished with fresh product. Ultimately, you, the customer, pay the price by getting stuck with stale tea.

Take Cold Stone Creamery for example, a retail chain of gourmet ice cream stores. They offer 20 signature creations and approximately 9 base ice cream flavors for custom blending. By keeping a limit to the variety, they are able to control the quality and freshness of their ice cream.

As a consumer, you should be thankful when you see a company or brand follow this type of strategy. Everyone likes variety, but there is a price to pay for too much variety. Of course there is no formula or magic number for the variety of tea flavors a brand should offer. But when you see a tea company offer 70 different loose tea flavors, approach with caution. They obviously don't have freshness or quality in mind and are interested in one thing...volume.