From milk tea to chili sauce: Can Sexy Tea (茶颜悦色) catch up with CHAGEE (霸王茶姬)?
Founded in 2013 in Changsha, Hunan, Sexy Tea (茶颜悦色) built its brand around “New Chinese-style Fresh Tea”(新中式鲜茶) focusing primarily on light milk tea (轻乳茶). Thanks to its distinctive flavor and exclusive local business model, it quickly gained popularity. However, while its reputation soared, Sexy Tea remained cautious about expansion and only ventured beyond Changsha […]
From leaves to lifestyles: How are young consumers influencing the tea market in China
China hailed as the birthplace of tea with a rich history spanning over 4,000 years, stands as the epicenter of the world’s largest tea market. There are 7 types of tea in China: green tea, yellow tea, white tea, oolong tea, black tea, dark tea, and floral tea. In 2022, the production in the tea […]
“Duk Haan Yum Cha”: Chali and Chua Lam’s Dim Sum Rejuvenate the Tea Trend with Zao Cha Culture (早茶文化)
“得闲饮茶” (Duk Haan Yum Cha), a popular greeting in Cantonese-speaking areas, meaning “let us go for tea together when we have time”. This is one of the most representative expressions under Cantonese Zao Cha Culture (早茶文化). Chali, a tea brand based in the Guangdong Province, is utilizing this culture to present a joint program with […]
“土” is in: How a beverage brand makes corny rural-style advertising cool again
Starting with a viral popularity of its corny theme song, MXBC (Mi Xue Bing Cheng 蜜雪冰城), a beverage brand known for its cheap drinks, became a phenomenal hit among Chinese Gen Z in 2021. MXBC infused a brainwashing jingle and catchy lyrics into their theme song, triggering a wave of parodies and short videos on […]
How LELECHA broke into China’s milk tea market with two “dirty” products
In 2017, the new-style “milk tea” exploded out of the blue into China’s tea market. In Shanghai, many internet-famous (wang hong 网红) milk tea brands, such as Hey Tea (喜茶) and LELECHA (乐乐茶), have become a big hit. The new LELECHA opening in Xintiandi (新天地) went viral on social media. The lineup was no less […]
What the success of bubble tea in China reveals about Chinese consumers
With more than 140.5 billion RMB of annual sales made by milk tea shops in 2019, the success of bubble tea in China is well proven. If you are lost among all the new entrants to the market, the latest innovations and the dynamics of the sector, this article retraces the history of bubble tea […]
The success of Nayuki, the Chinese new-style tea store going global
In contrast to the downfall of the Chinese coffee-based beverage company Luckin Coffee, China’s new style tea market did not cease to expand during the pandemic which caused major economic recessions across the globe. Nayuki, A local Chinese new style tea company, announced its new round of funding this June, which was a nearly 100-million-dollar […]
Business turnaround in China: What is the future for Luckin Coffee?
On April 2, 2020, Luckin Coffee (Ruixin Kaffei瑞幸咖啡) confirmed that its sales numbers were inflated by a total of CNY 2.2 billion (USD 310 million) in 2019. This number represents approximately 45% of its projected final sales. Suspicions of fraud had already been hanging around for several months after the investment firm Muddy Waters released […]
American entrepreneur competing in the healthy tea market in China: China Paradigm transcript #27 with Martin Papp from Papp’s tea
This transcript is based on our interview with Martin Papp. Martin has been active in the healthy tea market in China for more than 5 years. He has been developing his beverage company since 2014. PAPP’S TEA is headquartered in Beijing. They sells their healthy tea drinks through private channels but also through Wagas and […]
Podcast transcript #15: The challenging Chinese coffee industry
Find here the China paradigm episode 15. Learn more about Carol Liu’s story in China and find all the details and additional links below. Full transcript below: Matthieu David: Hello everyone and welcome in this new episode of China Paradigm, the China business podcast where we interview entrepreneurs in China. Today I am with Carol […]
[Podcast] China Paradigm #27: How to succeed in China’s tea market while starting from scratch
China Paradigm interviews Martin Papp, CEO and founder of PAPP’S TEA, a contemporary tea brand based in Beijing dedicated to be THE premium tea brand for healthy trendsetting lifestyles. With products ranging from loose leaf tea leaves and bags, to kombucha, Martin Papp has found that China was lacking a fun tea brand. Martin started […]
Local tea brands in China
LOCAL TEA BRANDS IN CHINA Overview of the Chinese tea market With an annual tea production of 1.89 million tons and an annual consumption of 1.235 million tons in 2013, China is the world’s biggest tea producer and consumer. Indeed, tea has always been part of the Chinese culture and of its population daily life. […]