Exploration and Cultural Innovation: Oriental Aesthetics Enables the High-quality Development

In recent years, the new-style tea beverage industry has continued to grow explosively in China’s consumer market, and the deep integration of brand and Chinese culture is becoming a new trend in the development of the industry. From product design to spatial experience, from cultural symbols to intangible heritage , the enterprises integrate traditional culture into modern consumption scenes through innovative means, which not only improves the brand cultural heritage, but also injects the vitality of sustainable growth into the industry.

At the beginning of 2025, CHAGEE, the domestic head tea brand, jointly launched with the Chinese Institute of Intangible Cultural Heritage a new series of “Oriental Elegant”, integrating traditional opera mask, ink painting and other elements into the drink packaging, and launched a limited edition of “blue and white porcelain “. In the first week of its launch, the sales volume of the series exceeded 5 million cups, and the social media topics were read more than 300 million times, becoming a phenomenal cultural consumption case.

In February 2025, HEYTEA and the Palace Museum jointly launched the “Forbidden City Afternoon Tea” series, which developed tea drinks inspired by the Qing Dynasty court snacks, and also launched a limited edition palace-style cup set, which quickly became a hot search list on social media platforms. Nie Yunchen, founder of HEYTEA, said, ” We hope to make it easier for young people to access and understand the essence of intangible cultural heritage through modern beverage language.”

With the acceleration of Chinese tea brands going overseas, the cultural integration strategy has become the key to expand the international market. In February, ChaPanda opened its first European store in Barcelona, Spain. With the “Silk Road” as the theme design space, it launched a combination of Chinese and Western products such as “Dunhuang Mural Latte” and “Changan Flower&Fruit Tea”, attracting more than 2,000 local customers on the first day of opening. Overseas consumers generally feedback: ” This cup of tea has both Oriental mystery, and in line with the European taste preference.”

Data show that in 2025, China’s market size of new-style tea is expected to exceed 400 billion yuan, among which the market share of brands with cultural attributes increased by 12 percentage points year-on-year. This trend confirms consumers’ enthusiasm for “China-fashion” consumption, and also indicates that the integration of new tea and Chinese culture will move to a higher stage.