Shelves in the beverage section of supermarkets have always been filled with a vast variety of teas. A few years back, they would have just different brands of black tea. In the UK, where tea is hugely popular, much more than coffee, it was however not rare to find various categories of black teas - strong, medium and light. And then there are flavors of-course! Earl Gray, Jasmine, Mint, and many more. You name it and you got it. Green tea has been a recent fad, touted by doctors and fitness experts as the healthier option. Consumers have bought in, adapted to this milk-less, sugar-less and tasteless drink, with antioxidant which apparently is good for heart, skin and health in general. I sure am one of those naive ones who's fallen for this 'healthy' campaign of marketers that have successfully created this new category.
During a recent trip to Target, I noticed and picked up this 'Sleepy Time' green tea. Since I usually replace my after dinner coffee with green tea, I thought this supposedly 'soothing' drink could be a great substitute. I guess I also paid a premium of a buck or two for this brand of tea that I had never heard of before. It was only a few days later that I noticed that the tea claims to be the sleepy time tea only because its decaffeinated, something that was mentioned in probably the smallest letters on the package. What a brilliant marketing idea! The ingenious messaging on the package of the tea made me pay a premium for this unheard of brand over a zillion other decaffeinated green tea from Lipton, Tetley, Twingings and the like, without even advertising it. How powerful can the packaging be! Hats off to the marketing team of my sleepy time tea!
