The Chinese tea and coffee market witnessed significant activity today, driven by a massive digital promotion and ongoing strategic moves from major brands. From unprecedented sales volumes triggered by platform initiatives to international expansions and seasonal product innovations, today’s news reveals important patterns in consumer engagement, supply chain evolution, and corporate strategy that HORECA professionals should note.
Alibaba’s “Qianwen” App Promotion
The Move: Alibaba’s AI platform “Qianwen” launched a “Spring Festival 3 Billion CNY Free Offer” campaign, distributing free milk tea vouchers redeemable at brands including Mixue(蜜雪冰城), Luckin Coffee(瑞幸咖啡), and ChaPanda(茶百道). The promotion generated over 1 million orders within 3 hours of launch, escalating to 10 million orders within 9 hours.
Market Signal: Digital platform-led promotions can generate unprecedented, immediate volume spikes for participating beverage chains, demonstrating the immense power of aggregated traffic and discount incentives in driving consumer behavior.
Cotti Coffee(库迪咖啡) European Expansion
The Move: Cotti Coffee(库迪咖啡) has opened its first stores in the United Kingdom, following previous entries into France, Germany, and Spain. The brand operates with a primarily online-focused model and smaller store formats, competing on price.
Market Signal: The aggressive European expansion of value-oriented Chinese coffee chains indicates a strategic export of a competitive, asset-light retail model, targeting price-sensitive consumers in established Western markets.
Seasonal乌龙茶(Oolong) Launches
The Move: CHAGEE(霸王茶姬) launched a new “Da Hong Pao” series featuring two oolong-based drinks, while Goodme(古茗) introduced a “Camellia Oolong” series with three new items. Both series utilize specific blends of oolong tea varieties as their base.
Market Signal: Leading tea chains are competing on sophistication by highlighting premium, named tea varietals and complex blending recipes, moving beyond generic flavors to cater to more discerning palates.
Heytea(喜茶) Experience-Driven Store
The Move: Heytea(喜茶) opened a newly upgraded “DREAMER PROJECT” store in Guangzhou’s Shamian area. The store features European-inspired architecture, extensive bamboo weaving design, and location-exclusive products like fresh beancurd stick soy milk and ice cream.
Market Signal: Top brands continue to invest heavily in high-concept, experience-driven flagship stores that combine architectural design with localized product offerings to strengthen brand prestige and attract customers seeking ambiance.
CoCo(都可) Product Focus & Promotion Impact
The Move: CoCo(都可) is currently promoting new products featuring tapioca and coffee, such as Tapioca Milk Bowl and Orange Americano. Furthermore, the brand reported a 3-4 times week-over-week increase in delivery orders today, attributed to the aforementioned Qianwen voucher campaign.
Market Signal: Brands are innovating with non-traditional ingredients (e.g., tapioca in bowls) while also benefiting massively from third-party platform promotions, highlighting the critical impact of external traffic surges on daily operational volume.
Kunshan’s Coffee Bean Import Hub
The Move: Kunshan, Jiangsu, a region that does not grow coffee, has become a major import and distribution hub for green coffee beans from Africa and South America. Kunshan Customs reported imports valued at 2.56 billion CNY in 2025, a 56.4% year-on-year increase.
Market Signal: Specialized logistics and supply chain hubs in China are efficiently channeling global coffee bean production into the domestic market, ensuring stable supply and variety to support the growing local coffee roasting and retail sector.
Nestlé’s Strategic Reorganization
The Move: According to the Financial Times, Nestlé’s new CEO is planning a major corporate restructuring around four global “pillars”—Coffee, Pet Care, Nutrition & Health, and Food & Snacks—abandoning its previous geographic business division structure.
Market Signal: A global FMCG giant is prioritizing “Coffee” as a standalone, globally managed strategic pillar, signaling intensified focus and potential for increased investment and innovation within the global coffee segment.
About Cuploom
Cuploom provides custom packaging solutions for HORECA professionals. We publish weekly market analysis on tea and coffee industry trends.