Dunkin Donuts Menu Expands: Premium Tea Gets Trial – Starbucks Beware!

In the world of chains specialized in breakfast food, the two biggest competitors are without a doubt the Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts menus, while the former is more focused on beverages with Dunkin often taking a stronger approach to their sweets - although it seems like they're going through an important turnaround.

Chris Fuqua, the Vice president of Marketing in the donut-focused chain, recently spoke about adding five different new tea flavors to the Dunkin Donuts menu, as they're about to launch the test version in the Chicago area, so if it's successful it could see a nationwide launch.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Fuqua explained that the tea market is "evolving relatively quickly," and considering the Dunkin Donuts menu has always been focused on breakfast type of food, it makes sense that they'd want to dip their toe into this new wave, as the company attempts to attract "higher-end" customers, a target that has been owned by Starbucks in recent years.

"It's one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world," Furqua said, speaking about the new expansion of Dunkin Donuts' menu. "Pending test results in Chicago, we think this is something that we'll want to go broader with."

According to Business Insider, currently the tea setting the mark is Matcha, while the past winter saw Starbucks also switching from Tazo to Teavana, famous for its loose tea leafs, after purchasing the company for $620 million in 2012.

In fact, Chicago Business reports that Starbucks has mentioned that tea is the company's fastest-growing product, so there's no surprise in seeing why its major competitor wants to add it to the Dunkin Donuts menu.

The five new infusions getting added to the Dunkin Donuts menu are: black tea, chamomile, mint, hibiscus and their own concoction, a blend with the name "harmony leaf," and they'll be reaching Chicago area stores in October and, were they successful, the new line might replace the old one with regular, decaf and green tea.