Recently, Luckin Coffee announced Liu Yifei as the global brand ambassador and chief recommendation officer for tea drinks, which to some extent opened the prelude to Luckin Coffee's expansion into a new product category of light milk tea.
About a year ago, we noticed that the market was shifting from thick milk to light milk tea, which also meant a more prominent tea flavor, "said a person in charge of a tea beverage supplier in an interview with 21st Century Business Herald.
Not only is Luckin Coffee a cross-border coffee brand, but also brands such as Ba Wang Cha Ji, Cha Yan Yue Se, and Cha Li Yi Shi, which already specialize in light milk tea, continue to accelerate their efforts to capture consumers' attention. Brands such as Heytea, Nayuki Tea, Shanghai Auntie, and Guming have also launched their own light milk tea series drinks. From the rise of HEYTEA, with a focus on rare milk, cheese, etc., the tea base is still simple green tea, oolong tea, black tea, but now it is further divided into jasmine tea, Tie Guan Yin, Pu erh tea and other tea bases, with a greater emphasis on the concept of "original leaf tea".
Compared to fruits, tea has stronger stability in terms of price, transportation, and storage, more controllable costs, and more labor-saving. "The market manager of a certain tea beverage brand pointed out that" light milk tea also has more profit margins compared to fruit tea. "It can be seen that tea, as a perennial crop, has more stability in production and price than seasonal fruits, making light milk tea, which is mainly made from tea, a new favorite of tea beverage brands competing to develop.
With the rise of light milk tea, many consumers have begun to complain about "the same taste when drinking". On Xiaohongshu, many bloggers have evaluated light milk teas that netizens consider to have similar taste, among which the most popular ones are various "Boya Juexian" flat substitutes. When each brand has its own "Boya Juexian", how to establish a moat is the next challenge that enterprises face.
Luckin Enters the Game
When I woke up, the light milk tea track became crowded again.
Luckin Coffee has officially entered the light milk tea industry with its new product "Light Jasmine". However, many customers who are keen on trying new things have rated it as "Boya Juexian Pingti" or "Boya Juexian Mini Edition" after drinking it, and some customers have also expressed on social media that it is "too bland".
Although the taste is similar to Boya Juexian, there is a sense of separation between the milk and tea flavors, and even with light coffee added, I couldn't taste it, "said consumer Xiao Liu." Anyway, I won't buy it back. "Some new tea drink shops also said," I was quite nervous at first, but now that the stone has fallen, I feel okay
Compared to Boya Juexian and Qingmao Jasmine, there is not much difference in their ingredients. Qingmao Jasmine adds green coffee liquid and original flavor seasoning syrup. Although there is not much difference in the perception of taste between the two products, it is not difficult to see from the details that Luckin is secretly competing.
Compared to traditional milk tea and fruit tea, light milk tea maintains a rich tea aroma and smooth taste while reducing cream and sugar content. This not only meets the health needs of contemporary consumers, but also allows more tea beverage brands to see new profit growth points. Compared to fruits, tea has stronger stability in terms of price, transportation, and storage, more controllable costs, and more labor-saving, "said the marketing manager of a certain tea beverage brand." Light milk tea also has more profit margins compared to fruit tea
However, while the light milk tea, which focuses on "original leaves" and "tea aroma", was playing the lead role, there were also many voices of doubt. As early as May this year, a blogger reported experiencing palpitations after drinking "Wanli Mulan" by Bawang Tea Lady.
If palpitations are occasional events, then the widespread insomnia is even more concerning. I drank Boya Juexian in the afternoon, and my cerebral cortex was still very excited at two or three in the middle of the night. "There are many comments like this on Xiaohongshu.
At present, there are over 2.45 million notes on Xiaohongshu about "unable to sleep while drinking light milk tea", among which products from brands such as Bawang Tea Lady, Guming, Heytea, and recently tested light milk tea, such as Luckin Coffee, have not been spared from such feedback. Some netizens have analyzed that the reason for not being able to sleep may be due to the high levels of tea polyphenols and caffeine in tea drinks.
According to official data from the Ba Wang Cha Ji mini program, a medium cup of "Wan Li Mulan" tea has a polyphenol content of 292.8 milligrams and a caffeine content of 149.5 milligrams. And HEYTEA has recently released the caffeine content of its freshly made drinks on sale, and referred to relevant research on caffeine metabolism in the human body and its possible impact on sleep, using the "caffeine traffic light" health label.
According to the "Assessment of Dietary Caffeine Intake Levels and Risks among Chinese Residents", caffeine is a common natural compound found in various plants such as tea and coffee beans, and is also a food additive. By searching and analyzing the toxicity research data of caffeine, the safe intake of caffeine for healthy adults was determined to be 5.7mg/kg BW (400mg/d).
Not only coffee, but also tea, certain carbonated beverages, functional drinks, cocoa, chocolate and other foods contain caffeine, "Duan Shuli, chief nutrition expert and national registered nutritionist of Yiyao Network, told 21st Century Business Herald reporters." It is safe for normal adults to consume no more than 400mg of caffeine per day. However, excessive intake of caffeine can easily lead to decreased sensitivity of the body to it, as well as symptoms such as increased heart rate and breathing, insomnia, irritability, headache, and stomach discomfort
It can be seen that seemingly healthy "real tea" is not suitable for everyone. When light milk tea breaks out of the tea beverage market halfway and is questioned, how can the new tea beverage market compete?
The importance of tea base is highlighted
Freshness has always been one of the important driving forces for the development of the new tea beverage market. But in recent years, whether it is fruit tea or light milk tea, the speed of product launches has been getting faster and the degree of product homogenization has also been increasing.
In order to maintain brand activity and attractiveness, many new tea beverage brands choose to launch new products frequently, and some even reach the speed of launching new products every month or even every week.
According to public information, Chabaidao will launch 48 new products in 2023 and upgrade the formulas of 13 classic products; Shanghai Auntie has launched an average of over 100 new products per year in the past three years; Guming launched 107 new products in the first three quarters of 2023.
From the perspective of light milk tea, the changes and innovations in tea are the key to maintaining product competitiveness. The research and development direction of fruit tea and light milk tea is quite different. The quality and aroma of tea determine the flavor of light milk tea, "said the person in charge of Guming R&D Center
With the acceleration of new tea beverage brands and relatively limited consumer ability to try new things, product competition is no longer limited to broad health concepts and the restoration of tea flavors. Nowadays, it has penetrated into every aspect of tea varieties, processes, and flavors. Previously, as the foundation of lemon tea base, Duck Shit Fragrance has been introduced by no less than 20 chain brands in the market. Recently, following coconut, tangerine, and lemon, new tea beverage brands have once again popularized gardenia. According to public reports, the main origin of edible gardenia flowers is Sichuan. Compared to the early five or six yuan per kilogram, the peak market price of gardenia flowers has risen to 40 yuan per kilogram this year.
We usually choose tea drinks with high recognition and full aroma, such as jasmine and gardenia, "said the person in charge of Guming R&D Center." If the aroma is not full, it is difficult to come out of drinks with added juice or milk. "Public information shows that the tea production areas of domestic new tea beverage brands are mostly in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Fujian and other places.
Zhu Mingxing, Director of the Tea Baidao R&D Center, stated that in the process of tasting traditional tea, flavors such as bitterness, astringency, and some excessive tea flavors need to be avoided. But in the new tea beverage industry, these things may be the source of tea flavor, "because they combine with fat and protein to produce new flavors
He further explained, "When making light milk tea, it needs to have a tea flavor, but when making fruit tea, too much tea flavor will overpower the fruit flavor. Therefore, in fruit tea, more is needed for its aroma, freshness, and a little tea feeling. Too much tea feeling will also affect the smoothness and experience of the whole cup
The innovation of tea base is not only reflected in tea selection, but also in how to cleverly blend it. At present, the main tea base categories are still jasmine tea and black tea, because these two types of tea bases have a good historical foundation in tea beverage production, "said the person in charge of Guming R&D Center." Other tea types show more seasonal and regional characteristics. China already has six major tea types, and on this basis, a series of emerging tea products have been born through modern reprocessing technology or innovative fusion processes
Xue Huayun, Managing Director of Cargill Food Solutions in North Asia, Australia, and Greater China, also pointed out that after judging the trend of light milk tea, the R&D team will conduct product debugging. Taking flavor syrup as an example, it is important to ensure that it blends perfectly with light milk, highlighting its lightness without being obscured. We will make some advance predictions, but it's difficult to truly lead
Competition spreads to tea producing areas
Furthermore, the ability of tea base innovation ultimately depends on the uniqueness and stability of the supply chain.
In the current era of accelerated development in the new-style tea beverage market, competition among various new tea beverage brands is fierce. According to a research report by Zheshang Securities, the field of freshly made tea drinks in China is accelerating its concentration. Currently, there are 380000 freshly made tea drink stores nationwide, of which over 3000 have chain brands; From 2020 to 2022, the proportion of brands in over 5000 stores increased threefold, reaching 15%.
Tea Baidao purchases over 2000 tons of Fujian tea annually; Bawang Tea Lady purchased approximately 4916 tons of tea from various production areas in 2023. According to earlier data, Naixue's tea purchased approximately 700 tons of tea throughout 2021 and nearly 900 tons in 2022.
In this context, while developing the diversity of tea base, various tea beverage brands have also turned their attention to the upstream of the supply chain, actively extending the industrial chain to the source of tea production.
This year, Chabaidao's own original leaf tea production base has been put into operation in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. With the official production of the base, the tea produced by the base can supply more than 8000 tea shops across the country, and the tea varieties cover all beverage tea bases.
51% of the funds raised from the listing will be used to improve overall operational capabilities and strengthen the supply chain, "said Gu Jilin, co-founder and vice president of Chabaidao." This is to further enhance the core competitiveness and moat of Chabaidao's entire brand, and also to support us in making going global the second increment of the brand in the future. "Currently, Chabaidao has established a complete chain of tea raw materials" production, production, processing, research and development, and sales ", ensuring the quality of tea raw materials and stable production of beverages throughout the entire chain.
Coincidentally, Guming's digital light food beverage raw material research and production base located in Zhuji, Shaoxing was officially completed and put into operation this year. It is reported that after the project is fully put into operation, it is expected to produce over 10000 tons of tea and 50000 tons of healthy fruit drinks annually, achieving sales revenue of approximately 2.9 billion yuan.
Not only that, Guming also has its own tea factory in Guangxi. The head of Guming R&D Center pointed out that the emergence of explosive products has caused significant pressure on the supply chain. On the one hand, in response to market trends, brands must quickly and diversely develop new products, expanding product lines around popular elements such as gardenia. On the other hand, the backend of the supply chain needs to work closely together to ensure efficient collaboration at every stage from the source of raw materials to production, in order to cope with the surging demand and complex and ever-changing supply environment.
When consumers become accustomed to the flavor of tea, there will be a sustained demand, or addiction. Of course, it is not as strong as coffee, "Lin Hong, the general manager of Fuzhou Qingkou Tea Industry Co., Ltd., further pointed out." For new tea beverage companies, the selected tea base needs to have a stable flavor and be able to be produced in bulk. Therefore, jasmine tea is more suitable for new tea beverages than black tea because black tea requires fermentation and cannot achieve a very stable flavor