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Building on its long-standing tea culture, China is developing a unique beverage culture that reinterprets traditions in a modern way. A surprising variety of variations exist, including tea topped with cheese foam, tea with rice cakes, and drinks blended with fresh fruit. These teas offer a distinct aesthetic experience from the sugary milk teas commonly found in Korea.
For China's Gen Z, milk tea has become a sensual "small luxury" and a mood-booster. As the saying goes, "the lifeblood of working people," milk tea has become an inseparable part of daily life in China. Its visual appeal on social media—pretty cups, layered colors, and stylish shopping bags—encourage spontaneous sharing and viral marketing, further expanding brand power.
However, as the market becomes saturated, simply offering "delicious milk tea" is no longer enough to differentiate a brand. Brands must capture consumers' hearts through a fusion of design, emotion, storytelling, and experience. This article introduces five Chinese milk tea brands that are gaining attention for establishing their own unique aesthetics amidst this shift: Amasujak, Hey Tea, Pawang Chaxi, Molly Tea, and Yehu Tea House. Let's explore how each brand infuses sensory, cultural, and identity into a single beverage.
Ama Sujak, a premium Chinese milk tea brand, is gaining attention for its emotional branding that stylishly combines tradition and modernity. The brand name, "阿嬷手作" (Ama Sujak), means "Grandmother's Handmade," and conveys a warm and affectionate image, reminiscent of a grandmother's lovingly crafted beverage. Unlike typical milk tea brands, Ama Sujak emphasizes the artisanal touch of craftsmanship and premium ingredients, leaving a deep impression on consumers with its clean yet warm visual identity. The menu features a variety of unique beverages, from classic brown sugar milk tea to homemade pudding, rice cakes, and cheese cream toppings. The store interior also utilizes natural materials like wood and fabric to create an emotional experience. Based on the brand philosophy of "a cup of sincerity," Ama Sujak redefines the value of premium tea, establishing a unique position in the Chinese milk tea market through differentiated storytelling and design.
Ama Handmade is a chain tea beverage brand under Guangxi Handmade Xingchun Catering Management Co., Ltd. Founded in Guangxi in 2018 by Deng Qian, Ama Handmade specializes in freshly brewed teas and ice cream. Characterized by its "freshly made" products, Ama Handmade has gradually expanded since opening its first store in Guangxi, incorporating Guangxi-specific elements like rice cakes and green cloth liang into its products. The company opened its first store in Shanghai in 2022, and by September 2023, it had operated 34 stores nationwide.
The Amaskusujak logo design focuses on visually capturing the brand's core sensibilities: "sincerity and handcraft." The Chinese characters "阿嬷手作" (Amaskusujak) are used throughout the logo itself, directly conveying the brand's identity. The word "手作" (handcrafted) in particular emphasizes the craftsman's dedication and skill, making the product feel like a handmade piece, rather than machine-made.
The logo uses a handwriting style reminiscent of traditional calligraphy, creating a warm and human impression. The logo's font features a lively style with slight tremors and soft curves, reminiscent of a grandmother's handwriting. The logo appears on a variety of media, including cups, packaging, and menus, often featuring a handcrafted texture, a stamp-style border, and a retro layout.
The colors are mainly milky beige, warm brown, and dark brown, and harmonize with the color of the drink itself.
Some stores or packages also use icons that indirectly represent handcrafted elements, such as grandmother characters, tea leaves, embroidery frames, and hand shapes.
HEYTEA (喜茶) is a leading brand in China's premium milk tea culture, and is known as an innovative brand that pioneered the "new tea beverage" trend. Founded in 2012 in a small teahouse in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, HEYTEA has rapidly grown by combining traditional tea culture with modern sensibilities and design to provide a new tea experience for the younger generation. The brand name "喜茶" literally means "enjoying tea happily," embodying the brand philosophy of delivering a pleasant tea culture and gustatory satisfaction to customers.
HEYTEA has consistently reinforced its brand value of "premium + sensual" by offering differentiated beverages that combine freshly brewed, high-quality tea with real fruit, cheese foam, cream, and toppings. The menu includes cheese tea (芝士茶) topped with cheese foam, fruit tea (果茶) with fresh fruit, brown sugar milk tea, pudding, and jelly, all of which combine to create a rich blend of toppings.
The store interior pursues a minimal yet sensual atmosphere, embodying a "new tea-drinking lifestyle" throughout the space through modern design language. Beyond being a simple beverage brand, HEYTEA has established itself as an icon of youth culture, encompassing design, space, and content.
HEYTEA's brand design is grounded in sophisticated minimalism, visually expressing a "reinterpretation of tea." Launched in 2012 as "Royal Tea," the brand rebranded to appeal to a younger generation in 2016, changing its name and logo to HEYTEA. Since then, the brand has expanded its worldview through collaborations with artists and fashion brands, as well as modern reinterpretations of traditional patterns.
The logo, a single-line icon depicting the profile of a tea drinker, is a powerful visual asset, recognizable even without text. Inspired by the characteristic 45-degree angle of a cream cheese-topped beverage, the logo was simplified into a single-line silhouette representing the profile of a tea drinker. This symbolizes the brand's pursuit of youth, modernity, and comfort, and even led to the "HEYTEA cup and profile photo" trend on social media.
The logo is consistently applied across various touchpoints, including cups, packaging, uniforms, and menus, and is coordinated with neutral colors like white, black, silver, and nude beige to create a refined brand experience. Seasonal limited-edition products feature vivid colors as accents, adding visual rhythm.
Pawang Chaxi is a premium new tea beverage brand that originated in Yunnan Province, China. Based on the philosophy of “reviving the essence of tea,” the brand offers high-quality loose-leaf tea and a modern interpretation of traditional tea culture. The brand name is derived from the ancient Chinese historical drama “Xiang Yu and Yu Ji,” where “Pawang” (霸王) represents Xiang Yu and “Chaxi” (茶姬) represents a beautiful female character who loves tea. This name, which harmoniously captures strong masculinity and delicate femininity, expresses the balanced beauty and strong identity that the brand pursues. In particular, the authentic tea base using Yunnan large-leaf tea leaves emphasizes the premium value of “brewed tea” rather than instant powder, adding authenticity to tea culture.
Paewang Chahee differentiates itself from typical milk tea brands by minimizing sugar and preserving the natural flavor of the tea. Its signature menu features loose-leaf tea-based beverages like oolong cheese tea, black udon tea (brown sugar + oolong), and grapefruit green tea. The brand is characterized by a fusion of traditional teas and modern toppings. Since its founding in 2017, it has expanded into markets throughout China, Southeast Asia, and Korea, growing into a global brand.
Pawang Chahee's brand design is based on a harmonious blend of classical beauty inspired by traditional Chinese culture and modern minimalism. The logo, featuring the calligraphic Chinese characters "霸王茶姬" (Chahee), is combined with silhouette icons depicting traditional women or mythological goddesses to express "elegance within strength." The visual emphasis on the word "茶姬" (Chahee) highlights the feminine sensibility, and the brand's visual identity is established by actively utilizing traditional Chinese patterns and seal styles on tea cans, cups, and packaging. The color palette, centered on luxurious black, gold, and deep reddish brown, simultaneously conveys a traditional yet premium image.
In late 2022, Pawang Chahee was criticized for some of its packaging and tote bag designs being similar to Dior's classic tote bags or representative print designs. In particular, the print style utilizing animal, forest, and jungle elements (lions, tigers, trees, etc.) was compared to Dior's "Toile de Jouy", and there were concerns voiced online that the brand, which promotes "Chinese style" (中式风格), was copying luxury designs. Some netizens used the expression "撞脸 (zonglian)"—an expression meaning similar to each other—to point out the design similarity, which led to criticism that it could cause confusion in the brand image.
In response, Paewang Chahee stated that the design was not a copy of Dior, but was based on a "national style concept" that the company independently developed, while some supporters argued that it was simply a modern reinterpretation of traditional patterns. Some interpret this design similarity as part of a deliberate luxury strategy, a visual strategy to influence consumer emotions and increase brand value. The controversial tote bag design is currently unused, and the brand has replaced it with a new design.
Yehu Tea House is a premium Chinese tea beverage brand founded on the philosophy that "tea is courtesy (礼)", combining the unique spirit of tea culture with a modern sensibility. The name, which translates to "a place of profound courtesy (礼厚) and a gathering place for tea (茶集)," transcends the mere beverage itself and embodies the symbolic meaning of "heartfelt exchanges between people." The brand name centers on the concepts of courtesy (礼) and politeness, both of which originate from classical Confucian philosophy, conveying a philosophical message within the brand itself.
What sets Yehuchajip apart from typical milk tea brands is its emphasis on a refined aesthetic that revives the inherent value of tea. They eschew instant powders and instead brew premium tea leaves themselves, infusing each drink with a storytelling message: "We serve tea like a ritual." The menu features a delicate blend of Eastern and Western sensibilities, featuring traditional teas like Geumjunmi, Baekho Eunchim, and Oolong, topped with salted cheese foam and handmade confectionery. The brand has rapidly expanded its franchise network, maintaining a teahouse-like atmosphere in each location, offering a truly emotional experience.
The brand design of Lihou Tea House is built on a foundation of formal beauty and restrained sensibility that reinterprets "Chinese etiquette and culture" in a modern way. The logo features the calligraphic Chinese characters "礼厚茶集" (Lihou Tea House) arranged vertically or combined with a seal, emphasizing the brand's elegance and sophistication, incorporating the spirit of the Four Guardians of Traditional Chinese Literature. The logo's brush strokes, composed of neat yet powerful strokes, evoke the aura of a classic book. At the same time, the English sub-logo ("LIHOU TEA HOUSE") utilizes a serif font to convey a luxurious and refined impression to global consumers.
Yehu Tea House garnered significant attention, particularly for its first store design. Its first flagship store, opened in Nanjing, China, showcased a completely different concept from other tea beverage brands, with an interior reminiscent of an ancient academy and displays featuring the Four Treasures of the Study (brush, inkstone, ink, and paper) as objects. Visitors felt as if they had entered a small tea house or art gallery, leading to nicknames like "the quietest milk tea shop" and "a meditation space where the scent of tea leaves begins." In fact, at some stores, managers even performed a performance where, upon receiving an order, they bowed to the customer and offered tea (茶奉上), demonstrating how brand design and philosophy intersected. Thanks to this comprehensive branding, Yehu Tea House established itself as a unique brand that conveys politeness through tea.
Molly Tea (摩莉茶室) is an emerging premium milk tea brand in China, combining classic sensibility with fairytale-like imagination to create a unique identity. The brand name "Molly" is not derived from a real person, but rather a Western-style female name that evokes a sentimental character. The expression "茶室" (tearoom) was added to this to create a concept that reinterprets the traditional tea house in a modern way. "Molly" embodies the lyrical and cozy atmosphere that the brand pursues, and signifies a small comma in everyday life.
Molly Tea is different from other franchise milk tea brands in that it Emphasize 'character sensibility' and 'storytelling-based product experience'Rather than simply selling beverages, the brand infuses the fictional character Molly's worldview into its stores, packaging, and menus, creating a truly immersive "brand universe" for customers. Key menu items feature narrative-driven names like "Molly's First Love," "Dream Tea," and "Chocolate's Confession," creating a tea-drinking experience reminiscent of a novel.
Molly Tea's brand design is Fairytale-like worldview and sensory character brandingIt is built around the logo. The logo features the English typography of 'Molly Tea' written in a soft round font and the often appearing Illustration of a girl character named 'Molly'The character is depicted with a cute and innocent round face, a retro one-piece dress, and a pose holding a teacup, symbolizing the brand's pursuit of "peaceful tea time." The overall color palette consists of soft hues such as pastel pink, light mint, and creamy beige, which are consistently applied to the store and packaging design, providing consumers with a "warm and sweet worldview."
Molly Tea has expanded its "Molly Universe" by collaborating with popular Chinese illustrators and fashion brands, and has cultivated a dedicated fan base through the release of limited-edition seasonal packages and gacha-style character merchandise. Some of these merchandise items have become so popular that they command a premium on the secondhand market, demonstrating Molly Tea's evolution beyond a simple beverage brand into an "emotional content brand."
When Chinese milk tea brands first emerged, many visual elements were clearly borrowed from other brands. Pawang Chaxi copied graphic patterns from high-end fashion brands almost verbatim, while Mollytie blended Louis Vuitton's monogram sensibility with Labubu's illustrative flair. Heytea evoked the clean, linear character style common in Taiwan and Japan, while Amasujak and Yehuchagi actively borrowed design elements reminiscent of traditional Japanese matcha brands.
But over time, these brands began to break free from the mold of copycats. With rising consumer expectations and intensifying discussions within China about copyright and brand identity, a movement to establish their own identity emerged. Pawang Chaxi offers a modern interpretation of Chinese-style textures inspired by constellations, while Mollytie establishes a visual impression with color-centric, sensual branding. Heytee exudes a youthful, unadorned vibe, while Amasujak and Yehuchagi incorporate the rough yet elegant textures of traditional Chinese teas into their brands, cultivating a more mature image.
Chinese milk tea possesses a unique charm that cannot be easily imitated by any other country. It will be exciting to see how Chinese design will visualize this exquisite flavor and develop its own unique brand language in the global market.
