English breakfast tea is still Britain's favourite hot drink

To mark National Tea Day, purchasing company, Beacon, has released research showing that English breakfast tea still tops the charts with 42% of the British public choosing it as their favourite hot drink.

Coffee comes in second with 25% of people saying speciality coffees were their favourite, and 15% saying instant coffee topped their list. However, with coffee prices seeing increases of up to 4.9% this year due to market instability, opportunities to innovate in the tea market are stronger than ever, said Beacon.

Reports from Tetley show that the tea market is thriving with a 3.6% rise in growth in out of home tea consumption and wholesaler Bidfood values the out of home tea market at £793m per year.

Kelley Walker, purchasing manager at Beacon, commented: "Breakfast remains the most important meal of the day, with our showing that 40% of consumers have tea as their first drink of the day, along with insight from Tetley showing that more than 18% of breakfast occasions involve tea."

Other advice from Beacon includes:

• Tea and food pairings are a growing trend in tea. For example, traditional flavours such as English breakfast complement a hearty bowl of porridge, or green tea blends pair perfectly with noodle dishes.

'Huge' drop in daily consumer out of home breakfast spend >>

UK coffee shop market sees biggest period of growth in nearly a decade >>

Operators urged to charge for disposable cups >>

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