Finding where product development could improve a cup of tea

The question

A beverage company’s product development team wanted to know what shapes a cup of tea beyond what a sensory test in a lab can measure.

The team wanted every stage of drinking tea in view, beyond what happens in the cup: the physical, emotional and sensory cues at each stage, what makes a cup good or bad, and how the whole experience plays into which brand people buy. Hot and iced tea are made and drunk differently, so each needed a journey of its own.

Our approach

We followed the making as closely as the drinking, online and face to face, over a cup of tea at home and on a trip to the store.

Tea is a habit, and habits are hard to describe from inside, so we gave drinkers tasks that break routine, from buying a tea they don’t usually drink and swapping a tea moment for another drink to running a blind tasting with a friend.

For a while, we also handed drinkers the agenda, so the journey could include moments we had not thought to ask about.

What the team came away with

Two interactive online journeys, one for hot tea and one for iced, let the team explore each stage for themselves.

Each ran from the moment someone wants a cup, through the shelf, the kettle, the steep and the drink, to the bin, with drinkers’ own video alongside.

At every stage they set out what happens, the sensory cues at play and how different kinds of drinker behave. Product development could see the whole experience it was designing for, and look for the stages where a better cup could begin.