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Starbucks has long been a leading coffee brand in
China. There was a time when white-collars were proud
to redeem points for free coffee. However, the brand is
obviously not that popular anymore, as customers no
longer play by its rules and instead shift to Luckin, A
Little Tea and Heytea. Though some may still be excited
at the Starbucks’ cat paw cup, the brand struggles to
compete with its domestic peers due to low-cost perfor-
mance, no fresh SKU, and failed multinational decisions
to catch local marketing trends. Then Chinese fad came
with emerging domestic brands and varied options.
Do Chinese people really need coffee? A few years
ago, the answer may have been “no”. The Chinese did not
fancy this one of the world’s biggest addictive drinks. For
traditional Chinese customers, tea culture is much sexi-
er. Luckin was like a catfish that stirred up the water.
Through price war and rapid expansion, the brand allowed
every Chinese to clip coupons from capitalism. Then,
Saturnbird, YongPu and other brands brought new tech-
nologies to the market, enhancing the public coffee
consumption habits. As a result, coffee is becoming as
normal as soy milk. At the same time, brands for tea
drinks mushroomed everywhere. On the 5 weekdays,
consumers can order takeaway drinks from ten different
coffee and tea brands. These brands have a short deci-
sion-making process, launching new products every week
to greatly capture the attention of young people.

When Chinese fad steps onto the coffee and
tea drinks track, the subdivision based on
local characteristics shows up

China boasts colorful food culture thanks to its
wide region and diverse ethnic customs. Based on
one’s preferences, we can infer where he’s from and
what identity he may hold. As for consumption be-
havior, Henan people may be more affectionate to
their local brand MIXUEBINGCHENG, while Changsha
people being proud of their Sexy Tea and Yunnan The youth are just
people of their coffee beans.
In Taste and Power, Dr. Guo Huiling suggests playboys who love
that food is a symbolic medium for the transforma-
tion between kinship and geo-identity. This also whatever they
applies to coffee and tea drinks. It started with rep-
utation collapse of international chains like Star- feel is fresh.
bucks and Costa.

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