What the s.o.e coffee Angle Says About Heytea's Return

Heytea has brought back its Dragon Boat Festival limited-edition drink Mango Coconut Sticky Rice, a zongzi-inspired beverage first launched in 2021. The cup combines a mango coconut smoothie, mango chunks, and freshly made sticky rice. Its return drew immediate orders from longtime fans, but a single bamboo leaf garnish inside the cup also stirred complaints about stirring, sipping, and hygiene.

Heytea staff said the bamboo leaves are selected, washed, and disinfected, and that the garnish exists to add a festive feel. The debate mirrors a broader habit in specialty drinks of borrowing cues from traditional foods, similar to how s.o.e coffee borrows from single-origin sourcing conventions. Some customers see the leaf as unnecessary packaging; others accept it as part of the seasonal concept.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, Heytea once again launched its festival-limited drink Mango Coconut Sticky Rice, a creative beverage inspired by zongzi. Since its debut in 2021, it has become a "white moonlight" that many consumers look forward to returning every Dragon Boat Festival, thanks to its combination of mango coconut smoothie, mango chunks, and freshly made sticky rice. However, a single bamboo leaf garnish in the cup sparked dissatisfaction among some customers—some found it took up space and got in the way of stirring and sipping the toppings, while others worried that the leaf might not be cleaned thoroughly and could pose hygiene risks. Heytea employees responded that the bamboo leaves go through selection, washing, and disinfection, and that the garnish is meant to add a festive atmosphere. As to whether this leaf is superfluous, customers and staff each have their own views.

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As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, Heytea has officially announced it is "starting to sell rice," with the festival-limited product Mango Coconut Sticky Rice returning to stores nationwide.

It is understood that this distinctive drink, jokingly dubbed "dark cuisine" by some netizens, first appeared during the 2021 Dragon Boat Festival. Inspired by traditional zongzi, it blends mango and coconut milk into a smoothie, paired with mango chunks and freshly made sticky rice, offering consumers a drinkable "sweet zongzi."

After its launch, the product quickly won over a large fan base with its ingenious concept and rich, layered taste. As a result, in recent years, whenever the Dragon Boat Festival comes around, Heytea has responded to fans' calls and brought this "white moonlight" back briefly, and over time it has become an established "Dragon Boat Festival ritual" between the brand and consumers.

After the official announcement, sticky rice lovers who had been waiting eagerly were thrilled, and they rushed to place orders on the first day the product was available, reliving the familiar flavor of Mango Coconut Sticky Rice. Some die-hard fans even said they planned to have one cup every day during the limited return, drinking their fill.

However, many customers, after receiving their drinks with great anticipation, found themselves somewhat stumped by that very conspicuous bamboo leaf in the cup. Some reported that although only one bamboo leaf was placed in the cup, it still took up space inside, making it inconvenient to stir the drink and sip the toppings at the bottom. As a result, many people's first move after getting Mango Coconut Sticky Rice was to pull out this leaf, which seemed somewhat superfluous to them.

Consumers who prefer extra toppings, meanwhile, posted photos of their drinks, pointing out that added toppings easily clung to the surface of the leaf, making it look as if it were covered with a layer of frog eggs, which not only hurt the appearance but also greatly dampened their appetite, prompting the question, "Does this leaf really have to be in there?" Besides taking up space and looking unappealing, some customers also found slight stains remaining on the leaves they pulled out, and thus worried whether these decorative leaves, which directly touch the ingredients, might harbor invisible risks such as bacteria.

In response to these concerns, Heytea store employees explained: Mango Coconut Sticky Rice is a Dragon Boat Festival-themed drink, so since the product was created several years ago, a seasonal bamboo leaf has been placed in the takeaway cup as a garnish, and it also allows ingredients such as the sticky rice in the cup to absorb a hint of the bamboo leaf's fresh fragrance.

To ensure food safety, the bamboo leaves used in stores must go through screening, washing, disinfection, and washing again. However, stains on individual leaves may not be completely removed, or the leaves may be damaged when placed into the cup, which can make them look insufficiently clean. Employees said consumers need not worry excessively.

However, some frontline Heytea employees also shared their own feelings. They mentioned that making Mango Coconut Sticky Rice itself requires steps such as freshly preparing sticky rice and cutting mango chunks, and on top of that, the bamboo leaves, which mainly serve as decoration, must be disinfected and washed, making the entire drink-making process rather lengthy.

In the eyes of employees, although pairing Dragon Boat Festival drinks with bamboo leaf decorations can indeed create a festive atmosphere, this decorative leaf is time-consuming and labor-intensive to handle, and customers may not necessarily appreciate it. They believe the brand might consider canceling this special design so that both staff and consumers can be spared this trouble.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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