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Tea or coffee? not to dress it up with Chinese fad.”
Her words speak for many others.
The second decade of the 21st century saw two trends As a general rule, anything that’s widely in trend can
growing side by side. One is specialty coffee, the other one hardly be related to taste and class, and history has taught
is new-style tea beverages. us that trends would come and go. Therefore, when tradi-
Though both are categorised as freshly-made bever- tional Chinese culture transformed to fashionable Chinese
age, in a market dominated by tea for thousands of years, fad, those who were loyal to the origin would not agree and
the boom belonged to new-style tea. Brands including Hey follow easily.
Tea and Nayuki led the new-style tea market to become a The foundation of a trend is the acceptance and adop-
US$15 billion giant. Typical features of a new-style tea tion by the public. In order to include more people, a poten-
brand normally include fresh ingredients, healthy combi- tial trend often needs to modify to some extent to better suit
nations, fast update of seasonal drink menus, and Insta- the public’s preference.
gram-friendly design of both the products and the shop. So did Chinese fad. One defining feature of traditional
Coincidently, the second decade was also when Chi- Chinese philosophy is the pursuit of balance and harmony.
nese fad blossomed. It is not surprising that the new-style When interpreted into daily practices, it includes being
tea market is in a better position to benefit from Chinese reserved and low key. Obviously, the way Chinese fad is
fad. According to the editor-in-chief of KAMEN, the lead- currently represented contradicts this philosophy.
ing new media focusing on new-style tea and specialty Generally speaking, many businesses simply haven’t
coffee markets, there are 2 reasons behind it. made enough efforts in joining this trend. Most of them took
“First of all, tea is part of the Chinese culture. The the easy route by adding some loud Chinese-style patterns
union of the 2 (tea drinks and Chinese fad) is natural and on the product packaging, and then call themselves a Chinese
logical, and there are many sides that they can work to- fad brand.
gether, such as the space, the visual design, the product, That might catch some eyes and even gain some pop-
and the event organising. Second, tea drinks started to ularity, but that doesn’t have much to do with the culture.
borrow (ideas and elements) from Chinese culture much In contrast, a real fusion is well interpreted in TEASURE’s
earlier (than coffee)... Nowadays, using Chinese culture brand philosophy.
has become an industry standard for tea drinks.”
The Changsha based bubble tea chain, Sexy Tea is a
typical hybrid. The way it combines traditional Chinese
elements and fashionable modern design made it not only
one of the most successful new-style tea brands, but also
a model followed, imitated, and even copied by many oth-
ers.
Data shows that by the end of 2021, the market size In addition to the function of coffee From Chinese fad to Chinese culture
of fresh tea beverage grew to nearly 11 times bigger than itself, speciality coffee is also a part
that of fresh coffee. Though continuously compared with of the aesthetics of life, which be- As many benefits Chinese fad has brought to various
each other, the two beverages are never complete compet- longs to the same category of beauty industries and brands, the market and the society have always
itors. as the aesthetics in the field of art.— kept a rational eye on it.
KAMEN told us that the new-style tea market should Café by the Forbidden City It is agreed that the current stage of Chinese fad has
be recognised as a contributor to the development of spe- been influenced by street fashion, a style that has been
cialty coffee. dominating the fashion industry for over a decade. While
“Freshly-made beverage is one single market. When street style is often considered as the opposite to timeless
people are getting used to having a glass of fresh fruit tea classic, Chinese fad is also questioned on whether it is ex-
in a tea shop, they will be even more interested in walking pressing the real Chinese culture.
into a stylish coffee house and taste a cup of coffee.” TEASURE is a new-style tea brand well known for a
On the other hand, many new-style tea brands are strong focus on tea and a world-class visual design. Its
also seeking to merge specialty coffee into their business founder, Liu Fang, never thought there’s any connection
strategy. Many are releasing a coffee menu in store, some between TEASURE and Chinese fad.
are investing in existing specialty coffee companies, and a “What we do is bring traditional culture and modern
few are establishing their own coffee brands. lifestyle together, and then express it in the most suitable
“The boundary between tea and coffee on a brand manner.” She said, “We are not followers of any fashion or
level is getting vague.” KAMEN said. trend. Our value is to keep the core of Chinese culture, but

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