What Does the Heytea Color Discrepancy Mean for Coffee Culture Quality Control?

Some Heytea customers received Fire-Clearing Slimming Bottles that were orange-yellow or yellowish-green instead of the marketed fresh green. Store employees said the color change can come from yellowing kale leaves or oxidized apple juice and does not mean the drink has spoiled or is unsafe. Some consumers still question quality control, saying the drinks tasted odd or unpleasant.

Heytea's plant tea line promotes freshly squeezed, made-to-order fruit and vegetable juice, so color is part of the product promise. Staff say vegetables are washed and fruit cut daily in the back kitchen, and leaves are handled carefully. The episode has drawn attention from specialty coffee culture observers, who note that consistent ingredient handling and transparent quality control matter just as much in juice as in coffee.

HEYTEA's "Fire-Clearing Slimming Bottle" has been popular for its fresh green color and freshly squeezed fruit-and-vegetable concept, but recently some consumers have reported receiving drinks that are orange-yellow or yellowish-green, questioning whether the product matches its marketing. Store employees explained that the color change may stem from yellowing kale leaves or oxidized apple juice, and that it is not spoilage—the drink is still safe to consume. However, some consumers remain concerned about quality control. This article reviews the course of the incident, employee statements, and consumer feedback, and mentions Front Street Coffee's reference viewpoint on quality control.

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Recently, a customer shared on social media a HEYTEA "Fire-Clearing Slimming Bottle" they had purchased. According to official marketing and most consumers' photos, this drink—which contains fruits and vegetables such as kale and bitter melon—has always appeared a refreshing green, but the Slimming Bottle this customer bought showed a rare orange-yellow hue.

HEYTEA's plant tea series has emphasized freshly squeezed, made-to-order fruits and vegetables since its launch. After the customer reported the issue to store staff, they still insisted the ingredients were fresh with no problems, but the abnormal color still made the consumer uneasy. When she ordered from a different store and received a normally colored fruit-and-vegetable juice, she felt even more reluctant to drink that yellow Slimming Bottle.

Besides this customer, other netizens have also reported receiving Fire-Clearing Slimming Bottles with off colors. From the photos they posted, these drinks were either too dark or green with a yellow tinge, clearly differing from the color shown in official marketing.

Some users who tried them said bluntly that these yellow-green Slimming Bottles were "hard to drink" and "had a weird taste with every sip," leading them to suspect that quality control for the Slimming Bottle had gone wrong—most likely the store used stale fruits and vegetables or overnight juice, causing the drink to spoil.

In response, HEYTEA store employees said they wash vegetables and cut fruit in the back kitchen every day, and they pay attention when handling fruits and vegetables—they would not squeeze juice from rotten leaves. As for the yellow-green Slimming Bottles reported by customers, employees believe the cause may be the use of kale leaves that had turned yellow. They revealed that although the kale delivered daily is fresh, the leaves do not stay emerald green after being left for a long time.

So if staff use kale that has been sitting for a while and whose leaves have yellowed to make juice, the resulting drink may have a yellowish color and its taste may also suffer, but this does not mean the drink has spoiled—it is still safe to drink.

In addition, to ensure the speed of serving the plant tea series, employees pre-mix and store juice made from kale, apples, and other ingredients, so that when a customer places an order, it can be served quickly. But freshly squeezed juice with apple oxidizes more easily the longer it is stored. Therefore, according to regulations, these pre-made juices can only be kept for about two hours; after that they must be discarded and remade.

Some staff speculated that those yellowish Slimming Bottles may have used apple juice nearing its expiration, or the juice oxidized due to overly long delivery time, which is why the color differed from usual.

Chain brands generally value food safety, and HEYTEA is no exception. According to internal information disclosed by staff, whether direct-operated or franchise stores, the brand does not allow employees to use expired materials to make drinks. Ingredients like fruit-and-vegetable juice that do not keep well are made fresh the same day, and whatever is unused is discarded that day—it will never be kept until the next day. Otherwise, if a violation is caught on surveillance, staff will be fined and the store must rectify the issue.

Therefore, employees all say they would not use spoiled materials to make drinks as netizens worry, and the color change of the Slimming Bottle is merely a normal phenomenon difficult to avoid during production.

However, although most employees repeatedly stressed that the green-with-yellow Slimming Bottle is still safe to drink, some consumers remain uneasy, believing that HEYTEA should pay attention to quality control for freshly squeezed juice and ensure the product color matches its marketing as closely as possible, so that customers will not suspect the drink has spoiled upon receiving it, lose trust in the brand, and hesitate to repurchase.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.