First-ever National Hot Tea Day!

The Tea Council of the USA has announced that the first-ever National Hot Tea Day will be on January 12, 2016, and January has become the National Hot Tea Month! This new holiday marks the perfect occasion to kick-off a month commemorating the many reasons why Americans continue to reach for tea. Today, the U.S. is the third largest importer of tea in the world, and the only western nation growing in tea consumption.

In honor of National Hot Tea Day, here is a look at some new insights into America's tea drinking habits from a recent survey commissioned by the Tea Council of the USA:

• Topping it off. The most popular additions to hot tea are: sugar (46%), honey (40%) and milk (26%). Millennials are more likely than older generation tea drinkers to take their tea with sugar (54% vs. 41%), milk (34% vs. 21%) or both (23% vs. 12%). 
• Battle of the sexes. While nearly three-quarters (73%) of Americans think tea drinkers are more likely to be female than male, it turns out tea drinkers are only slightly more likely to be female (85% vs. 79%). 
• It’s not your grandmother’s cup of tea. Millennials are just as likely as older generations to drink tea (83% vs. 82%). They are also more likely than older generations to associate tea drinkers with being younger as opposed to older (45% vs. 30%), male as opposed to female (32% vs. 24%), and loud as opposed to soft-spoken (23% vs. 18%). 
• Black Tea-Drinking Nation. Eight in ten (80%) tea drinkers drink black tea. Americans would choose black tea over other types of teas for many occasions, such as when they’re feeling tired (42%), hungry (36%), thirsty (34%), stressed (28%), sick (26%), when they have a stomach ache (24%), or when they want clearer skin (20%). 
• Tea Personalities. A majority of black tea drinkers describe themselves as creative, confident, peaceful, and intellectual. On the other hand, green tea drinkers describe themselves as creative, adventurous, spontaneous and bold.