China's new-style tea captivates global consumers with innovative flavors, trendy elements

Chinese tea, once a treasured symbol of ancient global trade, is making a vibrant comeback with a modern twist, driven by innovative brands that blend traditional ingredients with fresh, trendy elements.

New-style tea drinks, featuring fresh fruits, tea leaves, milk, and cheese, are captivating young consumers with their rich flavors and vibrant colors.

Chagee, a prominent Chinese milk tea brand, debuted in Indonesia this March, selling over 4,000 cups on its first day, an impressive six cups per minute. Four months on, the brand remains immensely popular, with consistent lines of eager customers.

With its stylish interiors, flavorful drinks, and affordable prices, Chagee's stores are a hub for young patrons eager to savor the distinctive brand experience.

"For me the drink is very good. The pricing is okay too. The people that are serving are very friendly," said one of the customers.

In just four months, the tea brand has expanded to its fifth store in Jakarta.

Another tea beverage brand Mixue, which entered the Indonesian market four years ago, now boasts over 2,000 physical stores across the country.

Chinese brands have given full consideration to Southeast Asian consumers' preferences, tailoring specific flavors to meet the demand of local consumers. In addition, a comprehensive end-to-end supply chain system has been crucial for cost control and ensuring product quality.

"We have two warehouses in Indonesia, enabling free delivery across the entire island of Java. Basically, we can deliver within five days, and have an ample supply system," said Han Wenchao, head of operations for the Indonesian branch of Mixue.

The popularity of tea beverage stores has also generated more employment opportunities for the local community. Storefront positions of Chinese brands alone have directly created about 12,800 jobs.

Analysts say that these stores are not just selling drinks - they're shaping cultural conversations through modern tea experiences.

"In fact, the cultural attributes of tea enable it to break down cultural barriers across nations. It is not simply a matter of exporting a product. The fact that new-style tea beverages are gaining popularity overseas demonstrates the strong appeal of Chinese tea culture to the world. At the same time, it represents an embodiment of China's traditional culture, and also reflects our country's growing influence," said researcher Chen Fuqiao from Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

This summer, an increasing number of new-style tea brands have introduced drinks featuring ingredients such as kale and bitter melon.

The trend of green fruits and vegetables in the new-style tea industry is bringing new development opportunities for farmer owners and is also driving the growth of the industrial chain.

China's new-style tea captivates global consumers with innovative flavors, trendy elements

Artists have reimagined ancient themes through a modern lens at the 60th Venice Biennale China National Pavilion Exhibition, now underway in Shanghai.

The main feature of the exhibition is a fully immersive project by artist Che Jianquan, who has placed consecutive screens placed side by side to present his two-decade-long documentation of the same pavilion since 2003.

Through his lens, the artist captures the pavilion, as it emerges and disappears amidst mist and clouds, evoking the aesthetic of misty landscapes in traditional Chinese ink paintings.

"At the beginning, I wanted to use painting to document my feeling, but later I realized that painting was somewhat powerless. So, starting in 2003, I began using the earliest video equipment to start recording. What I care about more is a place—a very small location—and the unique connection it has within that field to history and to the culture of that region. I think this is something I hope to achieve: through a seemingly ordinary scene, to uncover the stories behind it, as well as its possible influence on both the past era and the present," said Chen.

Established in 1895, the Venice Biennale is one of the premier events in the global art world. This year, the China National Pavilion Exhibition, under the theme "Atlas: Harmony in Diversity," presents not only the documentary archives of 100 Chinese paintings held overseas, but also seven contemporary artworks created by seven Chinese artists exploring themes, such as architecture, landscapes, figures, flora and fauna.

"The core of the Venice Biennale is contemporary art, reflecting the spirit of the present era—yet the present and history cannot be separated. This exhibition is rooted in the tradition of Chinese painting across dynasties, drawing from over 20,000 individual works that took us twenty years to collect globally," said Wang Xiaosong, an artist and the curator of the exhibition.

"Notably, we discovered that more than 3,000 of these paintings had been lost overseas, which we spent two decades retrieving through digital tools. This is how we engage with traditional art: through each artist's reflection and a new understanding of the relationship between the ancients, the present, and the future," he added.

Wang drew special attention to a piece by the modern artist Qiu Zhenzhong, who he said merges the art of Chinese gardens with calligraphy using traditional methods to showcase contemporary issues such as environmental and ecological change.

"It's like a dialogue with nature," Wang said.

The exhibition in Shanghai is the final stop of the national tour, following the legs in the southwest Chinese city of Chongqing and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and will run until May 31.

Exhibition in Shanghai bridges contemporary art with centuries of Chinese artistic tradition