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Beverage makers are trying to infuse new life into a lukewarm market with a new generation of black tea drinks. Companies are bringing in big-name foreign brands, such as Twinings of England and Fauchon of France while others are coming up with their own new products.

Kirin Beverage Corp., whose Gogo no Kocha is currently the top-selling black tea in Japan, is taking up the challenge by releasing a new version of the product. But the biggest question is whether black tea in general-which has been losing market share to increasingly popular sugar-less teas can regain its popularity.

Japan Tobacco Inc. introduced Twining's Lady Grey Straight Tea to the domestic market Monday. The product makes use of a blend of popular tea leaves and new aroma-enhancing technology. Suntory will bring in Tea Soda Sparkle, a product from England's Lipton brand. The carbonated drink is in keeping with Suntory's unconventional product line-up, which includes black tea with peach extract, and is aimed at younger consumers.

Asahi soft Drinks Co. will release a new product under the Fauchon label at the end of May, aimed at the upper end of the Market.We will nurture the brand with care and, though small-scale production, preserve the image (of the Fauchon brand), company President Masumi Uematsu said.

Kirin, meanwhile, is aiming for a more sunny image with the new version of its Gogo no Kocha, which came out in late April. It has a new flavour and packaging and marketed as a low-sugar ice tea.

Coca-Cola Japan Co. on April 16 released Tea for Dining, a sugar-free black tea product. Domestic sales of black tea beverages in 2002 fell to a little more than 60 percent of the level at which they peaked in 1997.

The beverages did not change to meet a move in consumer taste away from sweet beverages and toward such drinks as green tea and Chinese tea products. Some Industry watchers, however, argue that black tea products are poised for a revival anyway, as consumers begin to tire of the low-sugar alternatives.

Source - The Asahi Shimbun

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