What Does the Nanning Tea Brand Apology Mean for Street Coffee Culture?

A tea beverage brand in Nanning, Guangxi, faced backlash after its mini-program listed "three types of people" who should order with caution, including customers who ignore packaging and those unfamiliar with high-quality fruit prices. The brand apologized, deleted the post, and removed the notice. Market regulators have intervened, highlighting how consumer-facing copy can misfire in street coffee and tea culture.

The apology blamed an early operations employee who had left, but critics said it lectured consumers rather than addressing the condescending tone. The incident reflects broader tensions in coffee culture and street coffee, where brands often promote fresh, high-quality ingredients while trying to manage customer expectations and pricing. Regulators are now investigating the case.

A local tea beverage brand in Nanning, Guangxi, has caused a huge uproar on social media because of a consumer reminder in its mini-program that "three types of people should order with caution." The reminder listed three types of people as unsuitable buyers: those who "focus on packaging and blindly follow big brands," those who "lack awareness of the prices of high-quality fruit," and those with a "wooden tongue who think every shop is about the same." Netizens criticized it as condescending and as setting rules for consumers. The brand later issued an apology statement, saying the copy was written by an early operations employee who had already left, but the statement failed to calm public anger and was instead accused of "lecturing consumers." At present, the controversial reminder has been taken down, and the apology post has also been deleted, while market regulators have intervened to investigate. Front Street Coffee continues to follow developments in the coffee and tea beverage industry.

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Recently, a local tea beverage brand in Nanning, Guangxi, became the focus of heated discussion among many netizens on social media because of a consumer notice in its mini-program.

According to screenshots circulating online, this tea beverage brand, which markets itself on fresh, high-quality fruit, had a notice in its mini-program menu titled "The following three types of people should order with caution. Please take your seats accordingly~" When opened, it showed that the merchant listed three types of people unsuitable for buying its products: those who place excessive importance on packaging and blindly chase big brands; those with no basic concept of the price of high-quality fruit; and those with a "wooden tongue" who feel every brand is about the same.

This "three buy, three don't buy" reminder quickly sparked heated discussion among onlookers. Some netizens "translated" the rules from a different angle: "What they probably mean is: 1. No big-brand airs, the packaging is very ordinary. 2. Because they use 'high-quality fruit,' it's expensive. 3. The taste is about the same as others, but you can't say so. If you can't taste the difference, your tongue isn't precious enough."

In the view of many netizens, it is already the industry norm for tea beverage brands to use high-quality fresh fruit in their products, and there is nothing wrong with using genuine ingredients as a selling point. But setting rules for consumers in a "condescending tone" and ranking customers into different tiers made it hard for many people to accept. "This 'three don't buy' makes me feel it's very arrogant." "I belong to the fourth type: people allergic to pretentiousness. Not buying."

As the post gained traction and public opinion continued to ferment, the brand realized that the old copy with inappropriate wording in its mini-program had caused user dissatisfaction. On February 4, it posted an apology statement on social media, explaining issues such as the hotly discussed "three types of people should order with caution" and product price increases. It said the controversial "three don't buy reminder" was written by an early operations employee who had long since left, apologized for failing to discover and replace the copy in time, and stressed that it had no intention of "educating consumers."

However, this several-hundred-character statement did not calm netizens as expected. Instead, it intensified onlookers' dissatisfaction and anger. Many people flooded the comment section, saying, "We don't accept it. Anyone who didn't know better would think we forced them to post it," believing the copy conveyed not a sincere apology but a "lecture to consumers."

On February 6, reporters searched the tea beverage brand's mini-program and found that the "three buy, three don't buy" consumer reminder was no longer there. The reporter called multiple stores of the brand in Nanning, and staff all said that removing the reminder from the mini-program was a company operation. They did not know the specific situation and said only the company's relevant person in charge could provide details. However, the reporter was unable to reach the person in charge through the company's publicly available contact information or its official media account.

In addition, the apology post published on the official account was deleted on the same day it was posted, and the account's comment section was set to "The author has set it so only followed users can comment." A media outlet contacted the Market Supervision Administration of Qingxiu District, Nanning, as a consumer. Relevant staff said they had not yet received a complaint about the matter, but had asked staff from the regulatory office under its jurisdiction to visit the store on the afternoon of the 6th to verify.

Image source: Internet

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