瞄准中国市场，百加得推出用茶叶制作的朗姆酒

    茶是人们耳闻能详的全球消费量第二大的饮料，但你可能从未品尝过一种即将在中国市场亮相的以茶为原料的新饮品。

    朗姆酒制造商百加得声称，该公司发明了一种方法，用完全从绿茶茶叶提取的物质制造一种酒精饮料，这是一种掺水的混合饮料。上周四，该公司宣布首次推出酒精饮料——“唐”（Tang），百加得相信这是同类饮料中的首款产品。这种新品将首先在香港的免税店开售，500毫升一瓶的零售价约为260美元，随后将在中国一些饭店开始大规模推广。

    百加得公司全球研发总监吉拉姆•多克表示，“由于‘唐’的主要成分来自绿茶，我们相信这是一款真正独特的产品，它拥有全新的口味，却又能唤起一种让人怀旧的熟悉感。”

    百加得希望凭借这款绿茶洋酒，在中国这个全球最大的酒精饮料市场中夺取一块份额。多年来，国外企业始终难以攻克这个市场。中国酒类市场的主宰者是一种通常用高粱酿造而成的白酒。同时，迪阿吉奥和保乐力加等饮料巨头表示，中国政府大力推动的反奢侈浪费运动已经让中国白酒市场遭受重创。

    不过，作为帝王威士忌和灰雁伏特加的制造商，百加得已经深思熟虑了如何在中国市场成功推广“唐”的战略。它重点依靠饭店推广的策略就颇为高明，因为中国人一般喜欢在吃饭时喝白酒，而不是到酒吧去喝。

    百加得亚太区总监马特•德约科维奇表示：“如今可以配餐的酒类并不多。我们希望‘唐’能成为享用中餐时的一种新酒品。”百加得的首批产品产量不大，仅有2000瓶，因为公司还未决定大规模投产。不过如果需求大增，百加得称未来三到五年“唐”可能会行销全球。

    由于绿茶是主要成分，且缺乏单糖，百加得的研发团队开发了一套生产流程，从茶叶中释放复糖，并将其转化为可发酵形态。这一浓缩液随后与来自法国的矿泉水混合。法国也正是这款饮料的生产地。百加得花了整整四年才研究出“唐”的生产方法。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

    审校：任文科

    Tea, the second most widely consumed beverage in the world, is about to pack a stronger punch in China.

    Rum maker Bacardi says it has figured out a way to make an alcoholic beverage distilled entirely from green tea leaves, a concoction it blends with water. On Thursday, it announced the debut of an alcoholic beverage called Tang, which Bacardi believes is the first of its kind. The beverage is initially being sold at a duty-free shop in Hong Kong, retailing for about $260 per 500 milliliter bottle, before a broader expansion in some Chinese restaurants.

    “With green tea forming the cornerstone of Tang, we believe we have created a truly unique product that tastes entirely new yet inspires a nostalgic familiarity,” said Guillaume Dock, Bacardi’s global research and development director.

    Bacardi’s tea spirit is angling for a slice of the world’s largest alcoholic-beverage market, which has been tough for foreign companies to crack. China’s homegrown beverage Baijiu, a liquor generally distilled from sorghum, has a dominate market share position. Meanwhile, beverage giants including Diageo and Pernod Ricard have said an anti-extravagance campaign backed by the government that has hurt the liquor industry.

    But Bacardi, which also makes Dewar’s Scotch and Grey Goose vodka, has a thoughtful strategy for how it plans to successfully launch Tang in China. The company is leaning heavily on restaurants for the launch, a smart bet considering the Chinese generally prefer to drink Baijiu with meals, rather than out at a bar.

    “Today, the types of spirits that can be enjoyed with food are fairly limited,” said Matt Djokovic, a director for Bacardi’s Asia Pacific region. “We hope Tang can represent an additional spirit option to enjoy during Chinese meals.”Bacardi is kicking off production with a relatively small batch of 2,000 bottles because the company hasn’t yet committed to larger scale production. If demand takes off though, Bacardi said Tang could potentially go global in the next three to five years.

    Due to the composition of tea leaves and the absence of simple sugar, Bacardi’s team developed a process that released complex sugars from the tea leaves and turned them into a fermentable form. That concentrate was then combined with spring water from France, where the beverage is being produced. It took Bacardi four years to develop the methods to make Tang.