世論 What Japan Thinks

This recent survey from MyVoice into tea and tea-like drinks, their second on the subject, with the first from two years ago translated here) found actually that coffee was the top drink, replacing green tea at the top of the list.

Demographics

Over the first five days of April 2009 15,578 members of the MyVoice internet community successfully completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 15% in their twenties, 35% in their thirties, 30% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

Recently when it comes to packaged drinks I’ve been more of a diet coke person, but I drink mostly black tea at work and green and houji (roasted green tea) at home. That’s a good point, does the “other Japanese tea” in Q1 include houji, or does it get counted with green tea? My personal feeling is that it falls under the other Japanese tea category.

In the following questions, “tea-related drinks” covers green tea, other Japanese tea, Chinese tea, black (Indian) tea, and blended tea (either tea tea or other tea-like base) plus other herbs.

Research results

Q1: Which of the following drinks do you often drink? (Sample size=15,578, multiple answer)

Coffee	68.4%
Green tea	65.6%
Other Japanese tea (soba, barley, etc)	43.7%
Black tea	39.1%
Milk	35.4%
Chinese tea	35.0%
Vegetable juice	25.9%
Blended tea (teas with grains, herbs, etc)	25.8%
Fizzy drink	25.3%
Mineral water	24.6%
Squash, fruit juice	22.8%
Sports drink	20.8%
Milk-based, lactic acid-based drinks	16.3%
Cocoa	14.1%
Other	2.5%
Nothing in particular	1.1%

Q2: How often do you drink tea or tea-related drinks from PET bottles? (Sample size=15,578)

Almost every day	15.9%
Three or four times a week	10.8%
Once or twice a week	20.4%
Twice or thrice a month	19.6%
Once a month	9.0%
Less than once a month	16.6%
Don’t drink tea from PET bottles	7.7%

Q3: What points do you pay attention to when buying tea-related drinks in a PET bottle? (Sample size=PET bottle tea drinkers, multiple answer)

Price	55.8%
Ease of drinking	50.0%
Has flavour (umami)	35.1%
Has rich taste	30.9%
Volume of bottle	30.7%
The one I usually drink	29.2%
Looks tasty	26.9%
Brand	22.3%
Maker name	15.4%
If there’s a free gift	10.8%
Design, packaging	9.7%
Tea colour	8.6%
Ingredients	8.3%
If it would go with food	8.2%
Advertisement image, impression	8.1%
Product name, naming	8.0%
Place of origin	7.3%
Catches my eye in a shop	6.2%
Shape of the bottle	5.5%
If it’s a new product	4.5%
Catches my eye in a vending machine	4.3%
Recipe	4.3%
If it’s on sale for a limited period	4.0%
Friend’s evaluation, word-of-mouth information	3.1%
Good concept	2.1%
Other	1.2%
Nothing in particular	4.2%
No answer	0.3%

Q4: What point do you pay most attention to when buying tea-related drinks in a PET bottle? (Sample size=those with points they pay attention to in Q3)

Ease of drinking	20.9%
Price	18.4%
Has flavour (umami)	10.2%
Has rich taste	9.6%
Looks tasty	8.7%
The one I usually drink	7.8%
Brand	3.7%
Volume of bottle	2.0%
Ingredients	1.7%
Maker name	1.3%
Place of origin	1.0%
If there’s a free gift	0.8%
Design, packaging	0.7%
Advertisement image, impression	0.6%
If it would go with food	0.5%
Tea colour	0.5%
Product name, naming	0.5%
If it’s a new product	0.4%
Catches my eye in a vending machine	0.4%
Catches my eye in a shop	0.3%
Good concept	0.3%
Recipe	0.2%
If it’s on sale for a limited period	0.1%
Shape of the bottle	0.1%
Friend’s evaluation, word-of-mouth information	0.1%
Other	0.5%
Nothing in particular, don’t know	0.5%
No answer	8.0%

Q5: Compared to three years ago, how has your PET bottled tea drinking frequency changed? (Sample size=PET bottle tea drinkers)

Increased considerably	6.4%
Increased a little	16.0%
Not changed	51.7%
Decreased a little (to SQ)	16.0%
Decreased considerably (to SQ)	9.1%
No answer	0.7%

Q5SQ: Excluding alcohol, what have you been drinking more of since three years ago? (Sample size=those whose consumption has decreased, multiple answer)

Coffee	23.7%
Green tea from somewhere other than PET bottle	18.7%
Other Japanese tea from somewhere other than PET bottle	18.2%
Mineral water	13.6%
Black tea from somewhere other than PET bottle	10.7%
Chinese tea from somewhere other than PET bottle	8.6%
Fruit juice	5.5%
Milk	5.2%
Fizzy drinks	4.7%
Blended tea from somewhere other than PET bottle	4.3%
Squash, fruit juice	3.1%
Sports drink	3.0%
Cocoa	2.3%
Other	6.7%
Nothing in particular	24.6%
No answer	0.6%