What does coffee culture reveal about Heytea's Osaka prices?

Heytea opened its first Osaka store in Dotonbori on February 15, with most drinks priced between 950 and 1,250 yen, or about 45 to 60 yuan. That is more than double the 8 to 28 yuan a cup typically costs in China, and Japanese consumers online said the prices feel out of reach.

The menu covers four categories: Qianmu Matcha, Fruit Tea, Milk Tea, and Original Leaf Tea. The cheapest item, Pure Green Tea Queen, is 550 yen, about 26 yuan. As specialty coffee and tea shops expand abroad, this case shows how import and rent costs push overseas pricing well above home markets.

Heytea's first store in Japan officially landed in Dotonbori, Osaka, and the news of its opening on February 15th sparked heated discussion as soon as it was announced. However, what really set netizens abuzz was not the opening itself, but the menu prices leaked on the mini-program — most drinks are priced between 950 and 1,250 yen, equivalent to about 45 to 60 yuan, nearly more than double the domestic price. Some Japanese netizens compared it with the local rice price and lamented that the money for four Heytea drinks could buy five kilograms of rice. Are overseas material and rental costs enough to support this pricing? Are local consumers willing to pay? This article takes you to find out.

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In fact, clues about Heytea's entry into the Japanese market had already emerged as early as the end of last year. At that time, many Japanese netizens discovered a store with Heytea branding in the Dotonbori area of Osaka, and the recruitment information that soon followed made fans even more certain that this was very likely Heytea's first move in Japan.

Not long after, Heytea's official channel formally confirmed the news: the first Osaka store is scheduled to open on February 15th, and all are sincerely invited to visit.

Along with the official statement, various new store details quickly spread online. From drink pricing to sneak peeks of limited-edition fridge magnets eagerly awaited by merch fans, wave after wave of leaked information kept teasing onlookers' curiosity.

But when everyone actually saw the price list of the Osaka store clearly, many were stunned. Judging from the menu displayed on the mini-program, the product line at the Osaka store is far less complete than in China, and is currently divided into only four major categories: Qianmu Matcha, Fruit Tea, Milk Tea, and Original Leaf Tea.

Among these categories, most drinks are priced in the 950 to 1,250 yen range, roughly 45 to 60 yuan when converted into RMB. The most affordable item on the menu is Pure Green Tea Queen priced at 550 yen (about 26 yuan). Faced with this price list, which far exceeded expectations, many netizens could not help asking: "At this price, will Japanese people really pay?"

Anyone familiar with Heytea knows that in China, if no extra toppings are added, a cup of Heytea usually costs between 8 and 28 yuan. Even in remote areas with higher logistics costs, although the price per cup rises somewhat, it has never broken the 30-yuan mark. By comparison, Heytea's Osaka store is priced more than double the domestic level, so it is no wonder many netizens said it was hard to accept.

Regarding this phenomenon, some opinions hold that overseas stores already spend more than domestic ones on raw material procurement, store rent, and other expenses, so the brand has no choice but to raise the average transaction price to maintain profit margins. However, this explanation has not gained widespread acceptance among overseas consumers.

Take one of Heytea's products, Qianmu Rich Matcha Latte, as an example. Due to exchange rate differences among countries, this drink is priced differently in different markets, fluctuating between about 34 and 58 yuan when converted into RMB. Among all stores, the US stores have the highest price, at 7.99 USD per cup (about 58 yuan); closely following are the Osaka stores in Japan, priced at 1,150 yen (about 54 yuan). It can thus be seen that the Osaka store's pricing is not low within Heytea's overseas map.

If the scope of comparison is expanded to local drink shops in Japan, Heytea's prices are also considerably higher than the local market average. Some netizens posted price lists from Mixue Bingcheng and COCO stores in Japan, and when compared with Heytea's menu, the gap was immediately obvious. Comments such as "twice as expensive as ordinary milk tea shops" and "a cup at Starbucks seems to be only about 500 yen" could be heard endlessly.

One Japanese netizen even ingeniously used the local rice price to analogize Heytea's pricing. The line "the money for 4 cups of Heytea can buy 5 kilograms of rice" instantly gave local consumers an intuitive sense of the high price of Heytea drinks, and many people said outright that the menu prices had deterred them.

Those international students who had originally been full of expectations and hoped Heytea would open stores on Japanese streets also admitted after learning the menu prices that the high per-cup price had already made them lose much interest in the new store opening. Many even said without concealment that rather than spend more than a thousand yen on a cup of milk tea at Heytea, they would rather use the money to eat a filling bowl of ramen.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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