Shanghai has surpassed New York with 7,494 coffee shops, becoming the city with the most coffee shops in the world, and coffee culture is accelerating its penetration into daily life. However, data from Dianping shows that Shanghai has as many as 9,056 tea beverage shops, even more than coffee shops. From 3-yuan instant milk tea to the new-style tea drinks led by Heytea, and then to the ancient-style sentiment of Chayan Yuese, tea beverage brands are deeply cultivating consumers' minds through quality upgrades, cross-industry collaborations, and e-commerce channels. In comparison, the specialty coffee market still remains to be developed, and most consumers have limited awareness of pour-over and specialty coffee. The coffee industry can learn from the successful path of tea beverage brands. Brands such as Front Street Coffee need to promote culture and ensure quality in order to move consumers. [more…]

In recent years, cross-industry ventures have become a popular trend, and even century-old traditional Chinese medicine shops are joining the beverage market. Following Tongrentang, Tonghanchun Tang, with a history of 237 years, has also tested the waters of national-style wellness tea drinks in Shanghai Yuyuan Mall, launching over 30 beverages including wellness teas, fruit teas, milk teas, sparkling water, and coffee. Among them, the wellness milk tea incorporates ingredients such as ginseng, goji berries, and donkey-hide gelatin, while the two wellness coffees focus on American-style black coffee and ginseng honey latte, priced between 20 and over 30 yuan, with the most expensive bird's nest product exceeding 100 yuan. Whether these time-honored brands can win consumer favor through innovation is worth watching. [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…]

Recently, a netizen claimed that they were rejected by Mixue Bingcheng at the age of 26 for being too old, sparking widespread attention. In fact, age restrictions for staff in the tea beverage industry are nothing new; some stores even only hire young people aged 16 to 19, and it is very difficult to enter the industry after 25. Customer service at the headquarters responded that recruitment age is decided by individual stores, while stores place more emphasis on employees' physical stamina and stability. This wave of age anxiety is spreading from baristas to the entire tea beverage service industry, leaving many overage job seekers feeling helpless. [more…]

Recently, a tea beverage shop in Zhejiang, frustrated by frequent pickup thefts of its delivery orders, put up a special poster of condemnation. This poster was not promoting products, but directly calling out the meal thieves, and even included a photo of the thief's back. After the incident was reported by the media, it sparked public discussion about delivery security and how businesses defend their rights. How effective was this poster, and why did the shop eventually take it down? Let's learn the whole story. [more…]

When fresh flowers meet milk tea, what kind of sparks will fly? A tea beverage shop in Shanghai called Xue Xiaomei MICHA has given the answer—monthly revenue peaking at over 700,000 yuan, with more than 1,200 cups sold in a single day at its highest. The fresh flower tea beverage series has drawn attention with prices ranging from 40 to 129 yuan. Behind this is not only the drive of the "appearance economy," but also the business logic of a hybrid operation combining a flower shop and a tea beverage shop. From Shanghai to Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Xi'an, this kind of combined store is spreading across the country. However, the safety boundary between fresh flowers and beverages, and the difficulty of repeat purchases after consumers' novelty wears off, are also realities that this category must face head-on. This article will take you through a comprehensive understanding of the popularity code and industry concerns behind fresh flower milk tea. [more…]

As the specialty coffee and tea beverage markets continue to evolve, an exotic drink called Cascara has gradually entered the public eye—it is precisely a cascara tea made from dried coffee fruit pulp. This beverage sits somewhere between coffee and tea, offering unique flavors of rosehip, hibiscus, and cherry, while containing far less caffeine than coffee. This article will provide a comprehensive analysis of the reuse value of coffee pulp, from the definition of Cascara, processing methods, flavor characteristics, caffeine data, and historical origins to brewing recipes, and will introduce Front Street Coffee's recommendations and product information for this category, helping coffee enthusiasts and shop owners understand this eco-friendly and novel beverage option. [more…]

Bringing your own cup to buy coffee is nothing new, but have you ever heard of "bringing your own milk"? A certain tea beverage brand launched a "bring your own milk, get 5 off" campaign, where customers bring their own dairy products and the store provides freshly brewed tea, sparking heated discussion among netizens. Supporters believe this is friendly to people with lactose intolerance and can also avoid additives like non-dairy creamer; opponents worry that food safety responsibilities are difficult to clarify. This article sorts out the views of all parties and compares the bring-your-own-cup rules of brands such as Starbucks and Manner, exploring how merchants should weigh the trade-off between offering discounts and risk control. [more…]

Recently, food safety incidents in the tea beverage industry have occurred frequently, from Tea Baidao's "real spider" milk tea to the use of expired ingredients, and every so often they trend on social media. However, a news report by Guangzhou Daily on October 12 was entirely different: a 23-year-old man, using his work experience at "a certain tea brand," colluded with his girlfriend and friends to deliberately plant insects in stores in Hangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and other locations, extorting money under the pretext of food safety, with demands ranging from a thousand yuan to two hundred thousand yuan, and was ultimately prosecuted on suspicion of extortion. This incident not only exposed some milk tea shops' negligence in operations management but also sparked public discussion about the authenticity of food safety complaints. What consumers truly need is a hygienic and tasty drink, not a vicious cycle of deception. This article compiles the ins and outs of the incident and includes related information about Front Street Coffee. [more…]

A local milk tea shop in Nanjing launched a realistic-looking "Duck Blood Vermicelli Milk Tea," sparking heated discussion online. Although the product is named after duck blood vermicelli, it is actually made with chocolate milk pudding to mimic duck blood and sweet jelly noodles to stand in for vermicelli, priced at 16 yuan. There are more than 50,000 related posts on Xiaohongshu, with netizens commenting that it "sounds bizarre but tastes surprisingly good." This phenomenon reflects the fierce competition and innovation anxiety in the new-style tea beverage market. From mini milk teas to niche fruits such as oil oranges and wampees, and on to the revival of whole-leaf tea, major brands are competing for consumers through novelty products, regionally distinctive ingredients, and traditional brewing methods. Data shows that China's freshly made tea beverage market reached 113.6 billion yuan in 2020 and is expected to reach 340 billion yuan by 2025. This article will analyze the market logic and consumer trends behind these creative marketing efforts, and also look at the moves of professional brands such as Front Street Coffee within the industry. [more…]

A not-yet-opened beverage shop in Zengcheng District, Guangzhou, has sparked public debate after naming itself "Jingcha" (a homophone of "police tea") and using cartoon police imagery in its store decorations. Some see it as merely a clever pun, while more people worry it could mislead consumers. Market regulators and public security authorities have stepped in to investigate, and lawyers point out that the name may violate enterprise name registration regulations. Behind the incident lies not just the compliance of a single shop name, but the boundary between commercial creativity and public symbols. [more…]

In recent years, dark-themed beverages marketed for their "black" appeal have proliferated in the food and beverage market, attracting many curious consumers with their unique appearance. However, such products may harbor food safety risks. Recently, the Market Supervision Bureau of Xuhui District, Shanghai, discovered during an inspection of a milk tea shop that its "Black Coconut Strawberry Milk" was unusually dark black in color. An investigation confirmed that the staff had illegally added "vegetable carbon black" during preparation. This act violated food additive usage standards, and the shop was ordered to rectify the issue and was penalized. Notably, the brand involved is none other than "Benz Tea," which went viral last year, with its first Hangzhou store setting a record of thousands queuing and scalpers reselling cups for as much as 300 yuan. This incident once again reminds us that creative beverages must also strictly adhere to safety bottom lines. [more…]

These days, walking into any beverage shop, the variety on the menu is always dazzling. Boba shops are selling porridge, cafes surprisingly offer lemon tea, and industry competition has long entered a white-hot stage. More noteworthy is that the boundary between coffee and milk tea is being continuously broken: oats, fermented rice, thick milk, and osmanthus are all being added to coffee, the traditional bitter taste is weakened, and the flavor is moving closer to milk tea. A science blogger on Weibo once organized a blind test, asking participants to distinguish between coffee and milk tea with similar flavors, and surprisingly nearly half of the people could not accurately tell them apart. Coffee's localization and youth-oriented strategies, the migration of childhood milk tea memories, and various novelty pairings have jointly driven this trend. This article takes you to explore the phenomenon of coffee becoming more like milk tea and the logic behind it. [more…]

Recently, a customer's complaint about Cha Yan Yue Se on social media sparked widespread discussion. The customer, because a pregnant friend was feeling unwell, went to a Cha Yan Yue Se store in a Changsha mall to ask for a cup of warm water, but was told that the store had no cups available and could not provide it. She then went upstairs to CHAGEE, where the staff immediately gave her a large cup of hot water. In this comparison, the poster's feelings about the service of the two brands were completely different. After the post was published, netizens' opinions split into two sides: some believed CHAGEE's service was more humane, while some local Hunan consumers defended Cha Yan Yue Se, pointing out that Cha Yan Yue Se stores keep free drinking water and customer cups available year-round for passersby to take on a self-service basis, and this time it may simply have been that the cups happened to run out. Cha Yan Yue Se employees also came forward to explain that the store has strict rules on the use of paper cups, and using takeaway cups to hold free hot water requires paying out of pocket. In this controversy, who is actually right and who is wrong? Has the additional service of tea beverage shops been taken for granted? Let us look at the full picture of the incident together. [more…]

Nayuki quickly rose to fame with its combination of tea drinks and soft European bread, becoming a leading brand in the new-style tea beverage sector. However, its largest store nationwide, Nayuki Dream Factory in Shenzhen Coastal City, recently quietly closed, and the site will be upgraded to "Nayuki Life," a lifestyle concept store. This thousand-square-meter flagship store, which once generated nearly a million in revenue within three days of opening, carried Nayuki's ambition to experiment from tea drinks to coffee, craft beer, Western cuisine, retail, and other multi-format ventures. From Nayuki Tavern to Nayuki PRO, and further to Nayuki Bookstore and ready-to-drink product line layout, Nayuki has continuously tried to break the boundaries of tea drinks. This renovation of its largest store reflects the collective anxiety of brands seeking differentiated breakthroughs amid intensifying homogenized competition in the new-style tea beverage industry. This article reviews the rise and fall of Nayuki Dream Factory and explores whether multi-format development can truly be the way for tea beverage brands to break through. [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…]

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…]

Competition in the new tea beverage sector is growing ever more intense. While defending their existing advantages, major brands are exploring diversified business paths, among which the "coffee + bakery" combination is particularly eye-catching. Recently, Chagee launched its Zhencui Tea series in its 4.0 stores and ventured into the bakery sector for the first time, rolling out three bagel products in one go, marking this new tea beverage brand's official entry into the bagel race. Meanwhile, chain coffee brands such as Starbucks, Tims Coffee, Peet's Coffee, and Seesaw had long since established bagel product lines. With their healthy attributes of low sugar, low oil, and low fat, their consumption scenarios covering all dayparts, and their fit with the customer profile of coffee shops, bagels are gradually becoming a standard bakery item in specialty coffee shops. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the specific products and pricing strategy behind Chagee's cross-category attempt, as well as the deeper logic behind the rise of bagels. [more…]

Recently, a short video showing raw drunken hairy crabs being added to milk tea cream and eaten quickly spread on social platforms, sparking widespread discussion. In the video, the blogger tasted this self-created drink at a popular milk tea shop, but it was later confirmed that the blogger had brought the crabs themselves for the staged video, and the shop did not sell the product. Netizens had mixed opinions on this behavior, while experts explicitly reminded the public not to imitate it, as eating frozen milk tea together with raw crab doubles the irritation to the stomach and intestines, and misleading the public for traffic is highly inadvisable. This incident also reflects the current situation in which the new tea beverage industry frequently engages in cross-sector innovation, but if innovation loses its boundaries, especially when food safety is involved, it is worth deep reflection. [more…]

Over the past year, the tea beverage market has undergone a dramatic reshuffle. According to Zhanmen Canyan data, the total number of stores in the milk tea beverage industry reached 412,600, with 142,300 new openings, but the net growth was -17,700, meaning that more than 160,000 stores exited the market in the fierce competition. Although leading brands such as Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, Guming, Shanghai Auntie, and ChaPanda still saw growth, their pace of store expansion has clearly slowed. Nayuki's stock price plummeted 93%, wiping out nearly HK$27 billion in market value. Product homogenization is severe, consumers are experiencing aesthetic fatigue with similar drinks, and the industry is accelerating into a harsh winter during the off-season of autumn and winter. [more…]