瞄準中國市場 百加得推出用茶葉製作的朗姆酒

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

茶是人們耳聞能詳的全球消費量第二大的飲料，但你可能從未品嚐過一種即將在中國市場亮相的以茶爲原料的新飲品。

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.

朗姆酒製造商百加得聲稱，該公司發明了一種方法，用完全從綠茶茶葉提取的物質製造一種酒精飲料，這是一種摻水的混合飲料。上週四，該公司宣佈首次推出酒精飲料——“唐”（Tang），百加得相信這是同類飲料中的首款產品。這種新品將首先在香港的免稅店開售，500毫升一瓶的零售價約爲260美元，隨後將在中國一些飯店開始大規模推廣。

“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.

百加得公司全球研發總監吉拉姆o多克表示，“由於‘唐’的主要成分來自綠茶，我們相信這是一款真正獨特的產品，它擁有全新的口味，卻又能喚起一種讓人懷舊的熟悉感。”

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.

百加得希望憑藉這款綠茶洋酒，在中國這個全球最大的酒精飲料市場中奪取一塊份額。多年來，國外企業始終難以攻克這個市場。中國酒類市場的主宰者是一種通常用高粱釀造而成的白酒。同時，迪阿吉奧和保樂力加等飲料巨頭表示，中國政府大力推動的反奢侈浪費運動已經讓中國白酒市場遭受重創。

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.

不過，作爲帝王威士忌和灰雁伏特加的製造商，百加得已經深思熟慮瞭如何在中國市場成功推廣“唐”的戰略。它重點依靠飯店推廣的策略就頗爲高明，因爲中國人一般喜歡在吃飯時喝白酒，而不是到酒吧去喝。

“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.

百加得亞太區總監馬特o德約科維奇表示：“如今可以配餐的酒類並不多。我們希望‘唐’能成爲享用中餐時的一種新酒品。”百加得的首批產品產量不大，僅有2000瓶，因爲公司還未決定大規模投產。不過如果需求大增，百加得稱未來三到五年“唐”可能會行銷全球。

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.

由於綠茶是主要成分，且缺乏單糖，百加得的研發團隊開發了一套生產流程，從茶葉中釋放復糖，並將其轉化爲可發酵形態。這一濃縮液隨後與來自法國的礦泉水混合。法國也正是這款飲料的生產地。百加得花了整整四年才研究出“唐”的生產方法。