What Does a Tea Chain's Merch Drop Say About Coffee Culture?

Heytea marked New Year's Day 2024 with annual merchandise, including a calendar and handmade woven bags, plus an unpublicized in-store perk: customers whose pickup number ended in 8225 received a free fruit and vegetable pack at more than 2,000 stores. The woven bag, priced at roughly 37 yuan with a drink purchase, turned out to be made of paper rope rather than cotton or nylon, drawing complaints.

The free packs held five apples, four lemons and a bunch of kale, tied to the brand's earlier slimming bottle line. The episode shows how drink chains now lean on merchandise and limited surprises to hold attention, a habit common in tea and specialty coffee circles alike. Whether such items justify the price is a question consumers keep asking.

As soon as 2024 ended, Heytea launched a series of annual merchandise on New Year's Day, including a New Year calendar and handmade woven bags, and even planted easter eggs in more than 2,000 stores nationwide—customers with order number 8225 could receive a free slimming fruit and vegetable pack. However, this feather-woven bag, which had to be purchased with a drink and worked out to about 37 yuan, was found upon receipt to be made not of cotton rope or nylon rope, but of paper rope, sparking complaints from many consumers. This article will take you through the whole story of Heytea's New Year merchandise and see whether this "beautiful piece of junk" is actually worth it.

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2024 has just drawn to a close, and competition for the new year has already quietly begun. Major brands are reviewing last year's business results while busily planning new products and new gimmicks, ready to make big moves in 2025. As a well-known "model worker" in the tea beverage industry, Heytea has new moves almost every few days, with new products, collaborations, and merchandise rolling out in turn, keeping up the heat all year round, and even New Year's Day was no exception.

On January 1, Heytea launched several annual merchandise items, including a New Year calendar and handmade woven bags, and at the same time quietly prepared a "hidden benefit" in many stores nationwide—any customer whose order pickup number ended in 8225 could get a free slimming fruit and vegetable pack at the store.

Because Heytea did not publicize this easter egg on a large scale, and only a limited number of more than 2,000 stores participated, many "winning" customers walked into the stores completely unaware. Before they could even get their drinks, the staff handed them a big bag of "vegetable pack," almost making them think they had ordered the wrong thing, and only after coming to their senses did they realize they were the "lucky ones."

According to several lucky customers with number 8225, the surprise Heytea gave out this time was three fresh ingredients from last year's hit slimming bottle series: 5 apples, 4 lemons, and a large bunch of bright green kale. There were even water droplets left on the leaves from washing, and it felt quite heavy in one's arms. This sudden move really caught people off guard.

In addition to the fruit and vegetable pack, Heytea also launched a limited-edition item among this round of New Year surprises—the feather-woven bag. The promotional copy used words such as "light luxury, fashionable, relaxed," and with the help of filters, this casual mesh bag took on a fresh avocado-green vibe, and its photogenic look also attracted the attention of many Heytea fans.

According to Heytea's official mini-program, this handmade woven bag could only be ordered together with a drink and was not sold separately, with set meal prices starting at about 55 yuan. After deducting the cost of one drink (18–19 yuan), this was equivalent to Heytea pricing this woven mesh bag at 37 yuan.

When faced with something they think looks good, fans of appearance often cannot resist the temptation. Although Heytea did not say much about this bag on the details page, based on past experience scrambling for merchandise, everyone thought it might be gone if they were too slow, and in the end they still placed orders with the mindset of "might as well buy it since it costs nothing extra."

But when everyone actually received the woven bag, before they even had time to show it off, they discovered that the mesh material was not the more common cotton rope or nylon rope, but was woven from "paper rope."

"Absolutely ridiculous! Heytea, are you not broke or something?" "I wouldn't dare carry it, I'm afraid it'll just soak apart if it touches water." "I spent a lot of money on a paper! woven! bag!" "Who is the sucker who spent 37 on this bag? Oh, it's me"...

Regarding this Heytea crossbody bag, many netizens said that first, it cannot get wet, second, it cannot bear weight, and it also "pricks" when carried on the body. For a while, they did not even know what to use it for, and at most it could count as a "beautiful piece of junk." Even setting aside practicality and taking another glance at the price, fans of appearance, thinking that they had spent more than thirty yuan on a "paper mesh bag," instantly felt like they had become "suckers."

Image source: internet screenshot

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