In recent years, drink prices have generally risen, with milk tea going from 3 yuan a cup a decade ago to as much as around 30 yuan today. After the New Year, mid- and low-end brands such as Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, Yidian Dian, and CoCo都可 raised their prices one after another, while high-end brands such as Heytea and Nayuki were already positioned above 20 yuan. Rising costs and the impact of the pandemic have left the tea beverage industry facing a reshuffle, and consumers have reacted differently to the price increases. At the same time, cola may also face upward price pressure because of Canada's tax on sugary drinks, but in the domestic market, given the duopoly competition, the likelihood of price increases is relatively low. This article sorts out the phenomenon of tea beverage price increases and the industry logic behind it. [more…]

The COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for more than two years, and rising prices have spread to the beverage industry. Xiangpiaopiao announced on the evening of January 4 that it would raise prices for solid instant milk tea by 2%-8%, and Sexy Tea also raised most of its milk tea products by 1 to 2 yuan starting from January 7. This article sorts out the price increase details of the two brands, netizens' reactions, and the deeper reasons such as coffee futures doubling, shipping prices climbing, and raw material shortages. When coffee freedom was lost in 2021, will milk tea freedom also face a threat in 2022? What is left of the happiness of office workers? The article also mentions related product information from Front Street Coffee for readers' reference. [more…]

Anhui-based brand K.W.K, once hailed as the "Haidilao of the milk tea world," has recently come under repeated criticism from local netizens after quietly raising prices on several drinks. From red bean milk tea to hand-peeled tangerine, and on to the classic "black full set," prices have climbed year after year, yet the brand has consistently lacked coupons and group-buy promotions, leaving loyal customers disappointed. Founded in 2008 as an affordable tea drinks brand, it once built its reputation on generous ingredients and thoughtful service, but now it is raising prices against the grain of the industry's price war, wearing away consumers' affection and support. This article reviews K.W.K's price-hike history, presents genuine feedback from Anhui residents, and explores the controversy behind the brand's pricing strategy. [more…]

Recently, many consumers have noticed that once-affordable milk tea brands have been raising their prices one after another. From Yidiandian to Mixue Bingcheng, and then to CoCo都可, the wave of price increases among mid- to low-end tea beverages has drawn widespread attention. At the same time, Coca-Cola, the ever-green player in the beverage world, has also been rumored to be considering a price hike. Behind this round of price adjustments lie not only the cost pressures brought by the pandemic but also deeper changes facing the tea beverage industry. As consumers become more price-sensitive and competition from mid- to high-end brands intensifies, how tea beverage companies find a balance between quality and cost will be key to determining their future development. [more…]

From a three-yuan cup of bubble tea on the street to today's premium tea drinks that routinely cost thirty yuan, the price shifts in the beverage market reflect profound changes across the entire industry. Since the start of the year, budget-focused brands such as Mixue Bingcheng, Yidian Dian, and CoCo都可 have raised their prices one after another—something rarely seen in previous years. Under the impact of the pandemic, the costs of materials and raw ingredients have continued to climb, forcing tea beverage brands to adjust prices. Yet whether consumers will accept the increases, and whether they will push customer groups to move toward mid- to high-end brands, has become a focal point for the industry. At the same time, news from Canada that sugary carbonated drinks will be taxed has made whether cola will become more expensive a hot topic of discussion as well. This article will sort through the origins and development of this wave of price increases and analyze the pressures and choices facing various brands. [more…]

In the sweltering heat of summer, beverage consumption reaches its peak. On street corners and in alleys, young people are holding either tea drinks or coffee. But upon closer observation, one will find that new-style tea drinks and coffee are embarking on entirely different development trajectories: brands like Heytea and Nayuki are cutting prices, while Luckin Coffee and Starbucks are raising them. The coffee sector's popularity is soaring, with giants such as Huawei, Li-Ning, and China Post making cross-industry forays, intensifying competition to a fever pitch. At the same time, new-style coffee is increasingly resembling milk tea, with ingredients like cheese, matcha, and brown sugar crystal boba appearing frequently. This prompts the question: will new-style coffee repeat the mistakes of irrational involution in the new-style tea drink sector? This article will analyze from perspectives such as price changes, market positioning, and product innovation, and bring professional observations from Front Street Coffee. [more…]

Starting in January 2024, Heytea quietly lowered the prices of several popular products, including Cheese Strawberry, Pure Grape, Pure Milk Tea, and Pure Green Tea, with reductions ranging from 3 to 7 yuan, and the cheese milk cap also became 1 yuan cheaper. This move was not publicly promoted, but was discovered by observant consumers on social platforms. At the same time, brands such as Chayan Yuese, Luckin Coffee, and Tims Coffee raised prices one after another due to rising costs of raw materials, labor, transportation, and energy. Why could Heytea cut prices against the trend? Some analysts believe this is related to its advantages in scale, brand, and supply chain control, and it also reflects the deeper logic of inflation being transmitted to end consumer goods against the backdrop of global quantitative easing. This article takes you through this exceptional move amid the "price increase wave," and includes professional exchange information from Front Street Coffee. [more…]

At the start of 2022, office workers lost both their milk tea freedom and coffee freedom in quick succession. But then new-style tea drink brands proactively cut prices, with Heytea and Nayuki even offering cups for 9 yuan, while coffee brands such as Starbucks and Luckin raised prices one after another due to rising raw material costs. Behind this divergence—one cutting prices, the other raising them—lies the reality that consumers are returning to rationality, the traffic dividend for new-style tea drinks is fading, and the coffee market is still in its early stage of expansion. This article sorts out the logic behind the price divergence between the new-style tea drink and coffee industries, and looks ahead to the future market landscape. [more…]

Milk tea has once again become a hot topic, this time because Guangdong's milk tea consumption has jumped to first place nationwide. Alipay's spring report shows that warmer weather has driven an overall 10% increase in milk tea consumption, with online orders from middle-aged and elderly groups surging by 25%. From the fact that southern provinces account for 80% of consumption to Guangdong residents drinking 2.5 more cups per week per person than those in the Northeast, the data behind this reflects the deep penetration of milk tea culture. This article will trace the thousand-year evolution of milk tea from Mongolian butter tea to Hong Kong-style and Taiwanese-style, and then to new-style tea drinks, analyze the capital layout and brand echelons under a market scale of hundreds of billions, and remind readers: although milk tea is good, do not be greedy. [more…]

Since the pandemic, costs in the tea beverage industry have been climbing, and many brands have raised their prices, to the point that office workers have to weigh their wallets before buying a cup of milk tea. Yet Heytea has gone against the grain, not only lowering its menu prices but also publicly promising not to raise prices this year and to stop launching products priced above 29 yuan. This move quickly sparked a consumption boom, with orders surging and even overwhelming several stores, and queues exceeding one hour during peak times. Consumer reactions have been mixed: some applaud, feeling the prices are finally affordable; others worry whether the price cuts will come with shrunken ingredients and declining quality. Heytea responded that the recipes and production standards remain unchanged, and that it is simply giving consumers more choices. How far this price-cut wave can go is worth watching. [more…]

The new-style tea beverage market has been stirring recently. High-end brands Heytea and Nayuki have successively announced price cuts, with the lowest dropping to 9 yuan. Nayuki launched a "Relax" series priced at 9-19 yuan, promising to launch at least one "single-digit" product every month, while Heytea announced it will not raise prices this year. Consumer reactions have been mixed, with some cheering and others questioning reduced cup sizes and lower quality. This article reviews the price-cut moves of the two major brands, netizen feedback, and industry data, analyzes the consumption trends and market logic behind the involution in new-style tea beverages, and includes related news about Front Street Coffee. [more…]

Once upon a time, a cup of milk tea was a staple of young people's daily consumption, and the tea beverage sector was once regarded as a hotbed of entrepreneurship. However, the latest data shows that in the past year, about 130,000 milk tea shops across the country quietly exited the market, with an average of more than 350 operators choosing to close their stores every day. Even leading brands such as Heytea and Nayuki's Tea have found it hard to escape store closures for their first outlets in some cities. A peak season that is not peak, cutthroat price competition, and rising franchise risks have plunged this once-booming industry into a deep round of reshuffling. This article, drawing on data from multiple sources including Zhaomen Catering and Jihai Brand Monitoring, analyzes the multiple reasons behind the large-scale contraction of tea beverage stores. [more…]

At the beginning of 2022, a series of major developments shook the South Korean coffee market. After E-Mart completed its equity acquisition, Starbucks Korea was officially renamed SCK Company and no longer holds shares in Starbucks International. Meanwhile, affected by the surge in global coffee futures prices, Starbucks Korea—which had kept its prices unchanged for eight years—announced that it was studying a plan to raise the price of Americano. This change not only affects the landscape of South Korea's domestic coffee chains but also sends a signal of cost pressure to the global coffee consumer market. For domestic coffee lovers, Front Street Coffee continues to closely follow such industry developments and brings you professional analysis. [more…]

Milk tea brands are shouting about price cuts while charging separately for toppings, delivery fees, and insulated bags—is that cup in consumers' hands really cheaper? This article starts with the ordering experience on Heytea's GO mini-program, breaking down the actual unit price of a 9-yuan Pure Green Tea after adding toppings, delivery fees, and other extra charges, and, in light of tea shop density, delivery efficiency, and the industry's cost structure, analyzes how this round of price cuts looks more like a marketing move than a genuine giveback. It also cites estimates from a researcher at the Guangdong Tea Beverage Industry Committee on the costs and gross margins of high-end milk tea, helping coffee and tea enthusiasts see the ledger behind the price. [more…]

Recently, Xiangpiaopiao launched a freshly brewed light milk tea priced at 16 yuan, or 98 yuan per box, with the per-cup price nearly five times higher than its traditional products, quickly trending on social media. This new product, called "Pre-Qingming Premium Longjing Freshly Brewed Light Milk Tea," has drawn attention for using high-quality Pre-Qingming Premium Longjing tea. Some netizens argue that if the tea cost is really as high as 12 yuan as estimated, the pricing is still reasonable; but others question whether using premium Longjing for milk tea is wasteful, and worry about passing off inferior goods as superior. Official customer service responded that the tea bags carry a QR code for verification. Meanwhile, some consumers feel that at 16 yuan they still have to brew it themselves, which is not as good as buying freshly made milk tea in a store. This article will sort out the ins and outs of the incident and present the views of all parties. [more…]

What are the Starbucks drink menu prices in 2023? Which hot and cold coffee drinks are the most popular? This article compiles a detailed price list of the entire Starbucks menu, including espresso, Frappuccinos, shaken iced tea, and the cold brew series, and reviews the specific price increases after the February 2022 adjustment. Whether you prefer the classic Americano, latte, or are fond of Frappuccinos or cold brew, you can find the latest prices and popular recommendations here, helping coffee lovers order easily without any missteps. [more…]

Starbucks Japan has announced that it will raise the prices of coffee beans and beverages starting April 13, with coffee beans increasing by about 90 to 300 yen and beverages by about 10 to 55 yen, while soy milk, almond milk, and oat milk lattes will be reduced in price by more than 10 yen. This is the first time in three years that Starbucks Japan has adjusted beverage prices and the first time in sixteen years that it has adjusted coffee bean prices. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, inflation, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, coffee futures first rose and then fell, while supply and demand remain tight. Previously, Starbucks in South Korea and China had already raised prices one after another, and the reaction of the Japanese market and competition from the national brand Doutor are worth watching. Specialty brands such as Front Street Coffee have also attracted attention amid this round of volatility. [more…]

In 2022, Starbucks underwent a round of price adjustments, and entering 2023, the global coffee bean supply situation remains full of uncertainties. As a major coffee-producing region in the world, Brazil's new crop production estimates are still unclear, which directly affects international coffee futures trends and means that retail coffee prices may continue to fluctuate. This article compiles the complete price list of Starbucks' different series of drinks in 2023, covering four major categories: espresso, Frappuccino, iced shaken tea, and cold brew iced coffee, listing the prices for Tall, Grande, and Venti one by one, for coffee enthusiasts to refer to. At the same time, at the end of the article, Front Street Coffee's specialty bean recommendation channel is also attached, for friends who want to recreate Starbucks flavors at home to purchase. [more…]

Heytea's sub-brand Xixiaocha recently closed its last store located in Guangzhou City Investment Building. From the opening of its first store in April 2020 to its complete withdrawal now, only two and a half years have passed. Xixiaocha once deeply cultivated six cities in the Pearl River Delta and opened 22 stores, focusing on affordable drinks priced from 8 to 16 yuan. Before closing, most stores were still profitable. At the same time, Heytea's main brand has continuously lowered prices since the beginning of this year, announcing that it will no longer launch products priced above 29 yuan, and all new products will be priced no higher than 20 yuan. The product positioning and price ranges of the two brands are increasingly overlapping. The last update on Xixiaocha's official WeChat public account remained on July 20, 2022, and its mini-program can no longer be searched. Heytea has not yet responded. This article reviews the rise and fall of Xixiaocha and analyzes its connection with the strategic adjustments of the main brand. [more…]

Recently, the food delivery competition between JD.com and Meituan has yet to subside, and Ele.me has now joined the fray with a large number of coupons and subsidies. While delivery users enjoy low-priced milk tea, staff at brands like Molly Tea are under unprecedented order pressure. Drinks that originally cost a dozen yuan per cup have seen their prices plummet to five or six yuan after platform subsidies, or even just a few cents, causing order volumes to instantly double or surge, with some stores handling as many as five or six hundred orders per day. Understaffing, material shortages, riders urging them on, and customer complaints have become the daily reality for these coffee and milk tea workers. This article will take you behind the scenes of this delivery subsidy frenzy to see the real working conditions and helplessness of frontline employees. [more…]