Hard tea is a flavoured malt beverage (FMB) made by putting alcohol and tea together. It's crucial to define malt beverages in general to comprehend flavoured malt beverages. Before the grain has been processed, the barley plant is malted, resulting in a fermented beverage known as malt beverage. A malt beverage must be produced in the United States using a base that contains at least 25% malt and at least 7.5 pounds of hops per 100 barrels of the final product, according to the Federal Alcohol Administration Act. The two most popular malt drinks are beer and FMB.
A flavoured malt beverage (FMB) is an alcoholic beverage created from a base that once contained malt but was later flavoured and stripped of its malt flavour. These drinks are also flavoured alcoholic beverages and go by many other names, such as "alcopops" or "malternatives." And hard tea falls under the category of flavoured malt beverage. Due to the sweetness and mild buzz that hard tea delivers, usage is rising significantly. Also, hard tea has various health advantages affecting some regions' growth.
Alcohol is a widely consumed beverage around the world. Consumers' attitudes toward alcohol consumption are changing positively because of the flavour and advantages it provides. The increased usage of alcohol has led to the development of new alcohol-infused goods like hard tea, which are becoming increasingly popular in the market today.
Manufacturers of hard tea provide it in two varieties: high alcohol hard tea and low alcohol hard tea. According to consumer taste and preferences, hard teas infused with beer are low in alcohol, whereas hard teas infused with whiskey or rum are high in alcohol.
Due to the variety of flavours that the manufacturers offer, the hard tea industry is prospering. Lemon, mango, blueberry, orange, blackberry, peach, raspberry, huckleberry, and other varieties are among the several hard tea flavours available. The flavours are provided by the local market's current consumer trend.
Growing demand is a result of rising awareness of the health advantages of moderate alcohol use. It has several health advantages, including lowering the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. These advantages have encouraged the consumption of hard tea, which has led to an expansion of the hard tea market on a global scale.
The rising demand has forced manufacturers to develop inventive hard tea flavours by mixing various fruits with alcohol. Additionally, some producers concentrate on offering goods with different claims like non-GMO, no additional preservatives, etc. Manufacturers are concentrating on alliances and partnerships for such an innovative offering to provide the highest quality product and broaden the product line by market trends.
According to the region, the global market for hard tea is divided into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa.
North America dominated the regional market in 2021. Regional market players increase demand for hard teas. During the pandemic, new hard tea brands appeared. Regional manufacturers offer low-alcohol drinks. The trend of drinking less is expected to boost hard tea sales.
Europe's revenue is expected to expand faster than expected. Improved consumer knowledge of alcohol and low-abv drinks are fuelling demand for hard teas in the region. Local and significant players are inventing low-alcohol beer, kombucha, and wine. The pandemic has also increased the demand for botanical alcohol components. Lemon and orange-flavoured drinks are popular.
Awareness of alcohol's health hazards has also boosted hard tea sales in the region. SIBA reports that the number of 18-to-24-year-olds who don't drink has risen from 6% to 23% by 2020. According to BMC Health, 46% of Brits under 35 prefer mocktails to drinks.