How Long Does Coffee Last in the Freezer? A Look at Summer's Bucket Tea Trend
Bucket-sized fruit teas moved onto mainstream menus this summer, with Heytea and Naixue Tea rolling out 1-liter drinks and other chains like Chabaidao and CoCo following with their own large cups. The appeal is straightforward cost-effectiveness: a bigger cup for a modest price. Early versions appeared in 2019 through Jay Chou fan support, and Naixue even launched a 5-liter bucket in 2020, but this year's comeback is broader.
Prices sit around 20 to 22 yuan per liter at several chains. The trade-offs matter too: the optimal drinking window is short, bacteria multiply quickly in large volumes, and quality can drop as ice melts, so a bucket is not something to sip slowly like a small cup kept cold, where freezer storage rules for coffee do not apply to fresh tea. Giant buckets have largely given way to portable 1-liter packs.
This summer, bucket-sized fruit teas quietly took over milk tea shop menus. From Heytea and Naixue Tea to Chabaidao and CoCo, major brands have rolled out 1-liter or even larger bucket drinks to attract consumers with high cost-effectiveness. Bucket tea drinks are nothing new; they first went viral back in 2019 thanks to Jay Chou fans' support, and in 2020 Naixue even launched a 5-liter "Awesome Bucket." However, issues like the short optimal drinking window and rapid bacterial growth in bucket tea drinks cannot be ignored. From giant buckets to portable packs, what evolution has bucket tea drinks undergone? And why has this summer's bucket fruit tea made a comeback? This article will break it all down for you.
Before "milk tea freedom" truly returned, people would always check their wallets first when buying milk tea, hesitant even about a large cup, let alone an extra-large one.
Later, tea brands sympathized with consumers' struggles and gradually lowered prices, making milk tea freedom a reality once again.
On a scorching summer day, a refreshing cup of fruit tea is undoubtedly the perfect companion for shopping. To highlight their superb cost-effectiveness, bucket fruit teas began appearing on milk tea shop menus and became the top choice for many consumers wanting to "indulge."
In the past, during afternoon tea time, a 500ml cup of milk tea was the trendy item in the office. But after summer arrived, this afternoon tea staple surprisingly upgraded to a bucket. Besides the common 1-liter size, there are even super-sized versions around 6 jin or 8 liters.
Leading brands of new-style tea drinks, Heytea and Naixue Tea, were the first to launch their own bucket tea drinks.
In mid-July, Heytea launched its seasonal 1-liter "Big Bucket of Mixed Peach and Plum."
Naixue Tea also followed the bucket tea trend, rolling out "Awesome 1-Liter Peach," "Awesome Bucket of Melon," "Awesome Hand-Mashed Bayberry Lemon Bucket," and "Awesome Strawberry Tornado."
Bucket milk teas and bucket fruit teas were rare before this summer, but now searching related terms on delivery platforms shows multiple tea brands offering bucket products.
According to Meituan delivery platform information, Chabaidao's Super Cup Fruit Tea (1 liter) is priced at 22 yuan per cup; CoCo's "Gao Tong Shui Guo 778" (1 liter) at 20 yuan per cup; Shanghai Auntie's "What a Big Bucket of Fresh Fruit Tea" (1 liter) at 23 yuan per cup; Heytea's Super Large Bucket of Mixed Peach and Plum (1 liter) at 19 yuan per cup; Naixue Tea's Awesome 1-Liter Peach at 28 yuan per cup and Awesome Bucket of Melon at 24 yuan per cup.
Not only are high-end tea brands making bucket fruit teas, mid-range brands have also jumped on board. Interestingly, the pricing of high-end brands' bucket fruit teas is very close to that of mid-range brands, showing just how fierce competition is in the new tea beverage sector.
Bucket drinks give the impression of being cheap, large in quantity, and high in value. Buckets aren't just appearing in milk teas and fruit teas either. On some popular social platforms, 8-jin coconut water, super-large bucket coffee, and 4-liter mung bean smoothies have all become topics of discussion. "Bucket-sized" has become a unique and eye-catching phenomenon this summer, and snapping a photo with a bucket in hand has become part of the new fashion wave.
Although bucket milk teas and bucket fruit teas are popular, they are not entirely new. At the end of 2019, Jay Chou's fans showed up with large buckets of milk tea in support, and bucket milk tea thus spread widely among fan groups and even became a meme. Once something becomes a meme, it's not far from going mainstream.
In 2020, Naixue Tea released a limited 5-liter "Awesome Bucket Treasure Milk Tea" in multiple locations, priced at 99 yuan per bucket. One bucket equals about 10 cups of milk tea—even if the entire office pitched in together, it would be hard to finish.
The Shanghai Consumer Council once tested the bacterial count and changes in milk tea, finding that if milk tea is left unopened and sits for two hours after being made, the bacterial growth rate is astonishing. The most fatal problem with bucket milk teas and bucket fruit teas is that they can't be stored for long. Some netizens tested it and found it takes 5 hours to finish a bucket, while the optimal drinking time for a bucket of tea is far shorter than 5 hours.
When bucket milk tea first appeared two years ago, many consumers bought it for the eye-catching novelty, but few actually finished it. Large-capacity milk teas like the 5-liter version didn't bring lasting joy, and bucket tea drinks gradually faded from memory. It wasn't until this summer that bucket tea drinks shifted from milk tea to refreshing fruit tea, and from 5-liter giant buckets to 1-liter portable packs.
Today is the Start of Autumn. Are you, dear reader, choosing the first cup of milk tea of autumn, or the first bucket of milk tea of autumn?
Image source: Internet
For more coffee bean news, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)
For professional coffee knowledge exchange, please add WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
