What the Heytea Matcha Rush Says About Coffee Culture

Heytea launched a worldwide buy-one-get-one-free matcha promotion after BLACKPINK member Lisa was photographed with its Triple Thick Matcha, and the event quickly drew crowds in China and abroad. Many stores sold out early or served incorrectly made drinks, prompting complaints that the brand had not prepared enough ingredients for the demand it invited.

The episode sits inside a broader coffee culture where celebrity posts can move drink sales within hours, similar to how specialty coffee shops experience sudden rushes after viral social media moments. Heytea's overseas accounts in the US, UK, Australia and South Korea pushed a Lisa Custom Edition, yet domestic mini-program listings showed sold-out matcha items on event day.

Lisa, a member of the Korean girl group BLACKPINK, unintentionally shared a cup of Heytea's Triple Thick Matcha on social media, which quickly attracted global fan attention. Several of Heytea's overseas official accounts swiftly claimed it and seized the opportunity to launch a "Lisa Custom Edition," then further rolled out a buy-one-get-one-free matcha series promotion at stores worldwide. However, on the day of the event, consumers in many parts of China found that the matcha drinks had sold out early, and some even received incorrectly made drinks. Stores explained that ingredients were consumed too quickly and prep took time, but some fans were not buying it, believing that if the brand wanted to ride a celebrity's coattails, it should have prepared adequately in advance.

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Recently, Heytea has been hogging the spotlight on international social platforms, all because Lisa, a member of the hugely popular Korean girl group BLACKPINK, shared a set of lifestyle photos on Instagram.

In the photos, a cup of Heytea's Triple Thick Matcha sits in the cup holder of Lisa's sports car—a detail fans quickly spotted and spread widely. Although this appearance on a female star's social media account was purely accidental, Heytea clearly was not about to let this windfall of traffic slip by.

Heytea's US official account reacted with lightning speed, immediately claiming the Triple Thick Matcha in Lisa's hand on Instagram. Soon after, its overseas accounts in the UK, Australia, South Korea, and elsewhere also reposted the viral photo and swiftly launched the "Lisa Custom Edition."

At the same time, Heytea struck while the iron was hot, hastily producing a "crude"-looking promotional poster and announcing a buy-one-get-one-free matcha series promotion at its stores worldwide that same day. Participants included not only the star's go-to Triple Thick Matcha but also the new Salted Cheese Thick Matcha and two other well-received matcha drinks.

This impromptu buy-one-get-one promotion instantly ignited the enthusiasm of Heytea fans at home and abroad. Many people waited early, and as soon as stores opened they rushed to place orders through the mini-program. After getting the long-awaited Triple Thick Matcha, everyone hurried to snap check-in photos and share the joy of drinking the same drink as Lisa.

However, domestic consumers soon discovered that after the event began, one or two of the four products on the official mini-program showed "sold out," and some stores even delisted all matcha drinks outright, leaving customers who wanted to join the event staring helplessly at the menu. Judging from feedback on social platforms, stores in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Guangxi, and other places all delisted the promotional products after opening, and a few netizens said it seemed that all stores in their area were not participating in this event.

Full of anticipation that turned to nothing after seeing the "temporarily sold out at this store" notice, many fans posted screenshots of the mini-program where they could not place orders, captioned with lines like "If you can't play, don't play" and "Is this right?", expressing their frustration at missing out on the event.

Customers who successfully placed orders had their own troubles too. They posted buyer-show photos, saying they had ordered the new Salted Cheese Thick Matcha but were delivered a cup of white milk with no trace of matcha at all, and were quite dissatisfied with the production error at the Heytea store.

In response, Heytea employees explained that after the Triple Thick Matcha went viral on Instagram a few days earlier, stores had been burning through matcha ingredients extremely fast, and today's limited-time event piled on top of that, leaving many stores with insufficient stock and no choice but to delist the products. In addition, the drinks in this event have a relatively complicated preparation process—matcha liquid, toppings, and so on all take time to prepare—so once materials run out and staff have to prepare more, stores will also temporarily delist the drinks.

As for consumers reporting that they received the wrong drinks, some believe it was due to stores being flooded with orders and staff making mistakes in the rush. The official account also appeared in the comment sections of related posts, saying it could remake the drinks for customers.

Still, in the face of the stores' explanations, some consumers found it hard to fully accept. In their view, since Heytea wanted to leverage star power to launch a limited-time buy-one-get-one promotion, it should have arranged in advance for each store to stock enough ingredients and schedule enough staff to handle this wave of matcha orders and give fans a good event experience.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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