Tea flavours for Manufacturers: Granulated and Encapsulated
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The UK drinks roughly 100 million cups of tea a day, and within the tea market, flavoured, functional and premium segments are exciting opportunities where innovation is blooming.
The challenge with these formats is that the volatile flavour compounds, the citrus oils, berry esters and floral aromatics that define those segments are notoriously difficult to keep stable across tea formats.
Spray dried (encapsulated) and granulated flavour formats resolve this tension, helping tea blenders bridge bold taste ambitions with manufacturing reality.
What follows is market data, a technology overview and practical guidance for UK tea manufacturers evaluating flavour systems.
The UK tea market
UK tea revenue stands at around £1.7 billion with 71.4 million kg sold annually, with the category heavily reliant on mass-market black tea. MarketDataForecast values the UK tea market at USD 3.52 billion in 2025, projecting USD 6.09 billion by 2034 at a CAGR of 6.28%, driven by premiumisation and diversification beyond standard black blends.
Mintel expects UK tea value sales to rise around 1.1% to about £884 million between 2023 and 2028 while volumes decline roughly 8%, herbal teas are the fastest-growing and most lucrative segment.
Even niche formats are scaling, for example, the UK bubble tea market is forecast at USD 168.4 million in 2025, rising to USD 276.9 million by 2035 at a 5.1% CAGR, with fruit flavours representing about 65% of sales.
Wellness is a growing driver too, with herbal infusions like chamomile and peppermint increasingly chosen for their functional associations. The conclusion: margin is concentrating in flavoured, herbal, fruit and functional teas.
Granulated and encapsulated (spray dried) flavours: the technology behind the taste
Granulated flavours are flavour oils or aromatics dispersed in a carrier matrix, typically carbohydrate-based, and processed into free-flowing particles via spray-drying, extrusion or agglomeration.
Granulated flavours are optimised for dry blending into tea and instant beverage systems. It's worth noting that relatively few flavour suppliers can offer granulated formats, which makes them a genuine point of difference for tea NPD.
With encapsulated flavours (spray dried) volatile compounds are trapped within matrices of gums, starches or proteins, protecting them from oxidation, moisture and heat while enabling controlled release during brewing or reconstitution. For spray dried flavours, instant beverages and teas are core application areas.
The practical benefits for tea manufacturers come down to five things:
- Protection of volatile top notes. Citrus, berry, floral and spice compounds stay intact during storage and processing.
- Reduced flavour loss. Less degradation across filling, transport and ambient warehousing.
- Improved flowability and reduced dust. Better plant hygiene, fewer cross-contamination risks and less flavour carry-over between runs.
- Controlled release. Flavour delivery matched to brewing time and water temperature for consistent cup quality.
- Cleaner tea appearance. Unlike liquid flavours, which can darken or stain leaves and create sticky blends, granules keep the visual quality of the tea and improve pack presentation, which matters most in premium ranges.
These systems are designed to meet UK and EU flavour regulations and work on high-speed filling lines, making them standard practice for protecting aroma and ensuring stable flavour delivery in hot drinks.
Format by format: where these flavour systems deliver
Tea bags
Standard UK tea bags must balance cost, brewing time and flavour intensity, often over a 12 to 24 month shelf life. Encapsulated (spray dried) flavours; citrus, berry, spice and floral notes resist oxidation over extended storage, solving the flat or cardboardy taste that plagues late-life flavoured bags. This matters most in the herbal and fruit-flavoured segments identified as the fastest-growing in UK forecasts.
Granulated flavours can be engineered with bulk density and particle size matched to tea cut, ensuring uniform distribution and consistent dosing on automated filling lines. The result: a single base tea can be split into lemon, berry, chai and wellness variants with reproducible performance, boosting SKU productivity without reworking the core blend.
Instant, vending and bubble tea
Instant tea powders, vending premixes and bubble tea bases demand flavours that dissolve rapidly, survive spray-drying and deliver strong sensory impact in milky, sweet or cold applications.
Extrusion-based encapsulated (spray dried) flavours in powder and granule form are already established in instant beverages and teas, offering high-load flavour in compact particles at low dosage. That's critical for cost management in a bubble tea market.
Rapid dissolution without residue, protection through high-temperature drying and authentic mango, strawberry, peach and tropical profiles that remain stable in syrup, powder and RTD formats are all achievable. Manufacturers developing fruit-forward tea blends may also incorporate fruit juices and purées as complementary ingredients alongside flavour granules.
Functional and wellness teas
Functional teas, incorporating botanicals, adaptogens, vitamins or fortified ingredients, are driving much of the value growth within herbal and specialty segments. These products pose particular formulation challenges: bitterness and earthy off-notes from plant extracts, instability of vitamins and complex regulatory requirements.
Encapsulated sweet spice, vanilla and citrus notes mask bitterness from botanicals and adaptogens such as ashwagandha, turmeric, mushroom extracts and green tea, without compromising drinkability.
Co-encapsulation of flavours with vitamins can improve stability against humidity and oxygen, supporting label claims over shelf life. Flavour cues can be aligned to occasion: chamomile and vanilla for sleep, citrus and ginger for immunity.
With wellness a growing driver of tea choice and value growth outpacing volume, this is where NPD pipelines are pointing.
Premium and specialty teas
Premium teas compete on subtlety and complexity rather than strength.
Encapsulation preserves delicate floral, bergamot, yuzu and smoked notes that would otherwise degrade during storage or transport. Layered systems can release at different times during brewing, creating a more complex sensory journey: an initial citrus lift followed by warm spice and smooth vanilla, for example.
Batch-to-batch consistency supports premium price positioning and export. That's essential as UK tea value growth is expected to come mostly from premium and specialist ranges despite falling volumes.
Practical implications for UK tea manufacturers
Faster, lower-risk NPD. Ready-to-use flavour granules tailored for tea reduce development time for new SKUs across black, herbal, fruit, instant and bubble tea lines. For manufacturers looking to accelerate their pipeline, new product development support from a specialist supplier can make a significant difference.
Cost-in-use optimisation. High-load encapsulated flavours deliver strong impact at low dosages, improving cost per cup and helping offset rising raw tea costs or packaging inflation.
Regulatory and labelling alignment. Flavour systems designed to meet UK and EU rules on "natural flavouring", allergen labelling and nutritional declarations reduce compliance risk, especially in functional and fortified segments.
Operational efficiency. Free-flowing granules compatible with high-speed tea-bagging and blending equipment reduce downtime, cross-contamination and waste. Less dust means better plant hygiene scores.
Shelf-life and export robustness. Enhanced flavour stability supports longer shelf-life codes and export under varied storage conditions, leveraging the UK's reputation for tea while maintaining sensory quality.
One base, multiple lines. Granulated flavours let manufacturers transform a single base into a range of flavoured variants with reproducible performance, improving SKU productivity across the portfolio.
How Uren can help
Uren offers a full range of flavour formats suitable for the tea industry. Bold, fruity flavour profiles in liquid, simple powder, encapsulated (spray dried), and granulated flavours.
Our range spans natural flavours, extracts and a wide selection of Organic flavours, and with access to more than 15,000 flavours covering floral, fruity, sweet caramel and vanilla, warming ginger and spicy chai profiles suited to every tea application discussed here.
Uren's encapsulated granule range is a real point of difference. Granulated flavours are a format not every flavour house can supply, and they're precisely the technology that keeps bold taste stable across tea bags, instant, functional and premium lines.
Uren's global ingredients supply extends beyond flavours. IQF fruit ingredients for tea inclusions, fruit juices and purées for concentrate-based blends, and honey for natural sweetness mean tea manufacturers can address multi-ingredient briefs from a single family-led specialist rather than coordinating multiple suppliers.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between granulated and encapsulated tea flavours?
Granulated flavours are free-flowing particles made by spray-drying or agglomeration, designed for easy dry blending into tea systems. Encapsulated flavours use protective matrices of gums, starches or proteins to shield volatile compounds from oxidation and control their release during brewing. In practice, many granulated products incorporate encapsulation; the terms describe different points on a technology spectrum rather than entirely separate systems.
How do encapsulated flavours improve tea-bag shelf life?
Encapsulation protects citrus, berry and floral top notes from oxygen and moisture, the two main drivers of aroma degradation in stored tea bags. This prevents the flat or cardboardy taste that can develop over 12 to 24 months, keeping sensory quality closer to day one throughout the product's shelf life.
Can granulated flavours be used on high-speed tea-bagging lines?
Yes. Granules can be engineered with bulk density and particle size matched to tea cut, enabling uniform distribution and consistent dosing without segregation on automated filling lines. This supports tight sensory specifications while reducing dust and cross-contamination between SKUs.
Are granulated and encapsulated flavours suitable for functional teas?
Encapsulated flavours can mask bitterness from botanicals and adaptogens like ashwagandha, turmeric and mushroom extracts, and co-encapsulation with vitamins or bioactives can improve stability over shelf life, supporting label claims for wellness-positioned teas. With UK tea value sales expected to rise even as volumes decline, functional lines offer a clear route to premiumisation.
How large is the UK flavoured tea market?
The overall UK tea market is valued at around USD 3.52 billion in 2025, growing to USD 6.09 billion by 2034. Within it, herbal teas are the fastest-growing segment by revenue, and even niche formats are scaling: the UK bubble tea market alone is forecast at USD 168.4 million in 2025, with fruit flavours making up about 65% of sales.
