Tea in Indonesia: Market Overview & Outlook 2026-2030

Market Overview

Tea is the drink Indonesia takes for granted. It comes free with a plate of rice at a warteg, it is the sweet iced drink on every street corner, and a box of tea bags sits in almost every kitchen cupboard next to the rice and cooking oil. That ubiquity makes tea a stable business, and also a hard one to grow.

We estimate retail sales of packaged tea, meaning loose leaf, tea bags, instant tea and herbal infusions bought for home use, at about IDR 12.3 trillion in 2025, or roughly USD 750 million at IDR 16,400 per dollar. Value grew about 3.5% in 2025. Volume barely moved: we estimate about 100,000 tonnes, up only 0.2%. Ready-to-drink bottled tea and tea served in cafés and kiosks are not included in these figures, although they draw on the same leaf.

The pattern is simple. Almost every Indonesian household already buys tea, so there is little room to add buyers. Since 2020, volume has grown by about X% a year and value by about X%. Growth slowed in 2023 as purchasing power weakened, then picked up to about X.X% in 2024 and 2025, but almost entirely through price. In dollar terms the market is roughly where it was in 2020, because the rupiah has weakened.

How did prices rise in a market where many buyers count every rupiah? Partly through cost pass-through: leaf, packaging and logistics all became more expensive. But a large part came from pack sizes. Small sachets holding just two tea bags, sold mainly through neighbourhood warung, let shoppers pay a few hundred rupiah per purchase. Brands also trimmed the weight of a standard bag from 2 grams to 1.85 grams. Both moves raise the price per gram while keeping the price at the till low.

Our volume figure is lower than some published estimates, and on purpose. Audit data put retail tea at about XXX,XXX tonnes. But Indonesia produces roughly 120,000 to XXX,XXX tonnes of tea a year, exported about XX,XXX tonnes in 2024 and imported about 13,000. That leaves about 100,000 to XXX,XXX tonnes for every domestic use, including bottled tea factories, food stalls and kiosks. Retail packs cannot account for more than that, so we cap our estimate accordingly.

Habits explain the resilience. Most Indonesians drink tea sweet, often very sweet, whether brewed strong in a glass at home as "teh tubruk", poured over ice at a food stall or bought by the cup from a kiosk. Total tea demand per person rose from about X.XX kg in 2008 to about X.XX kg in 2022, according to BPS figures cited on Wikipedia, and that includes the leaf that goes into bottled drinks. A cup of home-brewed tea costs a few hundred rupiah, far less than coffee or a bottled drink, so when budgets tighten households trade down within tea rather than leave it.

Plantations, Exports and Imports

Indonesia was once one of the world's great tea exporters. In the early 20th century the Dutch East Indies ranked third behind British India and Ceylon. Today the picture is very different. Tea grows on about 97,500 hectares, according to BPS and Ministry of Agriculture data compiled by GoodStats, and West Java alone accounts for 77,264 hectares, or about four-fifths of the total. About half of the area belongs to smallholders; state plantations and private estates hold the rest.

Exports have fallen by about two-thirds in volume over two decades. Export value in 2024 was USD XX.X million, the lowest in a decade. At the same time, imports rose from about X,XXX tonnes in 2023 to about XX,XXX tonnes in 2024, with Vietnam supplying around XX,XXX tonnes of mostly cheaper leaf used for blending. In other words, Indonesian packers increasingly mix local and imported tea to keep costs under control.

Global prices add pressure. In November 2025 the Minister of Agriculture said world tea prices had risen by almost XX%, Koran Jakarta reported, and promised to push processing and productivity. Higher prices could help growers, but they squeeze packers who cannot raise shelf prices quickly. The full report models how leaf costs feed into the price of a carton of tea bags and who absorbs the difference.

Ownership of the leaf matters for brand owners too. A few tea houses run their own estates or have long-term supply contracts, and the state plantation group still sells its own Goalpara brand. Most packers, however, buy leaf on the open market and blend it to a house taste. As smallholders switch to more profitable crops and estates age, securing consistent leaf of the right grade is becoming a quiet competitive advantage.

Regulation: Food Safety, Halal and Labelling

Compared with sugary drinks or tobacco, plain tea leaf faces light regulation. But the basic rules still shape who can compete. Every pack needs a BPOM registration number before it can be sold, and imported tea needs registration through a local importer. Halal certification has been mandatory for medium and large food and beverage producers since the October 2024 deadline under Law 33/2014, which adds cost for small packers and for flavoured blends with many ingredients. The national standard SNI 3836:2013 sets quality parameters for packaged dry tea.

The interesting policy story is the one aimed at other drinks. If the government starts collecting excise on sweetened packaged drinks, bottled tea would become more expensive relative to a home-brewed cup. Plain leaf tea could be a quiet winner of the push against sugar.

Taste differs by region. Central Java, around Tegal, Slawi and Pekalongan, is the heartland of jasmine tea and home to several of the oldest tea houses, including the Sosro family business that started in Slawi. West Java, where most of the leaf grows, drinks plainer black and green tea. Sumatra and eastern Indonesia lean towards black tea bags and sweet iced tea, where national brands are strongest. A brand that wins in Semarang will not automatically win in Medan or Makassar.

Categories: Jasmine, Black, Herbal and Instant

The biggest surprise for foreign readers is that green tea, not black tea, is Indonesia's largest retail tea category. Most of it is jasmine-scented tea, the fragrant "teh wangi" or "teh melati" sold loose or in bags, brewed strong and drunk sweet, especially in Central and East Java. We estimate it at just over half of retail value in 2025. Black tea bags make up about a third, loose black tea about a seventh, and herbal and instant tea only a small slice.

Black tea was the most dynamic category in 2025. Brands courted younger drinkers through influencers and social media and launched new flavours and health-oriented variants, while keeping prices relatively affordable. Loose black tea grew fastest in volume for a different reason: it is the raw material for the cheap iced tea sold at kiosks. Jasmine green tea, by contrast, is slowly losing volume as younger drinkers move to tea bags and ready-made iced tea. Price per kilogram, growth and outlook for each category are detailed in the full report.

Herbal and instant tea are small but telling. Instant tea, led by Max Tea from Sari Incofood, was home to the fastest-growing brand in 2025, albeit from a very low base. Herbal and fruit infusions sell at the highest price per kilogram of any category and appeal to health-minded urban shoppers. Imported premium brands such as Dilmah hold well under X% of value but show where the top end of the market is heading: more variety, more origin stories and more online sales.

Channels and the Iced-Tea Boom

Most retail tea is still bought at the warung, the small neighbourhood shop. For lower-income households, tea is a monthly purchase made alongside rice, oil and sugar, and warung reach villages that modern retail does not. They also let regular customers buy on credit, which matters when money is tight. Minimarkets, supermarkets and traditional markets follow, and e-commerce was the fastest-growing channel in 2025.

Outside the retail pack, demand is booming. Since about 2023, kiosks selling large cups of sweet iced tea at very low prices have spread from Greater Jakarta and Central Java across the country. The Sosro group's Es Teh Poci franchise reports more than 8,000 partners and over XX million cups a month, Detik reported, and Mixue alone has about 2,000 outlets in Indonesia, Kontan reported in September 2026. These outlets buy loose black tea in bulk, which is why that category's volume is growing while the rest of retail tea stands still.

Online, the shelf looks different. Brands list larger packs and full ranges on Shopee, Tokopedia and TikTok Shop that bricks-and-mortar stores do not carry. Dilmah, for example, sold more on Tokopedia with exclusive price cuts of 5–XX% and a wider range than in AEON or Daily Foodhall supermarkets. Unilever ran heavy discount campaigns online and in convenience stores in 2025. For smaller premium brands, e-commerce is the cheapest way to reach buyers across the archipelago.

Competitive Landscape After the Sariwangi Sale

Six companies hold more than two-thirds of retail tea value. Unilever Indonesia led with Sariwangi and Lipton, followed closely by the Sosro group, which owns Teh Sosro, Poci and Cap Botol. Tangmas (2 Tang) and Gunung Subur (Kepala Djenggot), both strong in jasmine tea, come next, then Teh 2 Burung Factory with Tong Tji and Sukabumi with Teh Bendera.

The biggest change in years came in early 2026. Unilever Indonesia sold its Sariwangi tea business to PT Savoria Kreasi Rasa, a consumer business of the Djarum group, for IDR X.X trillion. The agreement was signed on 6 January 2026 and completed on 2 March 2026, BCA Sekuritas reported. Sariwangi accounted for only about X.X% of Unilever Indonesia's revenue and X.X% of its net profit, Fortune IDN reported, which helps explain why a multinational focused on its core categories let it go.

Unilever had been losing share before the sale despite heavy discounting. Tong Tji, meanwhile, showed what a heritage brand can do: its Tong Tji Tematik range brings matcha, teh tarik, lemon, lemongrass and ginger flavours to everyday prices, uses real sugar instead of artificial sweeteners and sells on Shopee, Tokopedia and TikTok Shop. The fastest-growing group of all is "others": small regional packers whose combined share has risen by several points since 2021. Five-year share trends, brand shares and full profiles of the five leading companies are in the full report.

The new owner is worth watching. Savoria Kreasi Rasa is part of the Djarum group controlled by the Hartono family, which also bought the Fox's candy brand from Nestlé in 2018. A well-funded owner for whom tea is a core business, rather than a small line in a large portfolio, could invest more in distribution, pack innovation and marketing. That could put pressure on the Sosro group and the jasmine tea houses, which have so far competed mostly against a distracted leader.

What This Means for Brands, Investors and Suppliers

For brand owners, the lesson is that pack architecture and flavour matter more than adding buyers. For investors, the Sariwangi deal shows that heritage tea brands can attract serious money, and other family-owned tea houses may follow. For packaging and ingredient suppliers, smaller packs and blends of local and imported leaf create steady demand. You may also be interested in our reports on coffee in Indonesia, energy drinks and convenience retailers in Indonesia.

For foreign tea brands, the route in is narrow but real. Premium imported tea sells mainly through upscale supermarkets and online, needs BPOM registration through a local importer and halal certification, and competes against strong local brands at much lower prices. The most promising openings are in herbal and functional teas, specialty origins and bulk supply to the fast-growing kiosk and café chains rather than in head-on competition with Sariwangi or Sosro on the warung shelf.

This article describes the market as it stands today. The full report adds the price build-up of a carton of tea bags, business models across the value chain, Porter's Five Forces, seven mega trends, an impact assessment of drivers and restraints, segmentation by pack format and region, five company profiles and bear, base and bull forecasts to 2030.

Key Questions Answered in the Full Report

Tea in Indonesia: Market Overview & Outlook 2026-2030 Executive Summary

The three slides below summarise the full report. The complete 40-slide version, with the outlook to 2030, value chain, regulation and company profiles, is available on Gumroad.

What the Full Report Includes