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"I learned to drink milk tea healthily in Xiaohongshu", which is becoming a new trend.
In Xiaohongshu, many young people are happy to order a cup of healthy milk tea, which should not only taste good, but also have low calorie sugar. Some netizens are enthusiastic about popularizing health strategies and ordering strategies, indicating that "no milk tea is okay, but in addition to pursuing happiness, we must also strive to take care of health".
iiMedia Consulting data shows that on the one hand, young people's love for milk tea is increasing unabated, and the scale of the new tea drink market is still growing steadily;
But on the other hand, "unhealthy" has surpassed "high calorie" and has become the main entanglement factor in the consumption of milk tea, and even choose to reduce the number of consumption times because of the fear of unhealth.
In other words, health has become a new demand for milk tea consumption.
In the field of milk tea, what are the new trends of the clichรฉd "health"? What are the new changes in young people's view of milk tea health? Based on the new changes, what are the new actions of the brand? DT Business Insight takes a look at the data from a data perspective.
What is the "milk tea health" pursued by young people?
People's attitudes towards milk tea have gone through a path that Maslow's demand level must go through. At first, it was to meet physiological needs such as taste and satiety, and later pursued higher levels of emotional and spiritual satisfaction.
With the popularization of health awareness, young people have more diversified requirements for the health of tea. Not only should it have the health benefits of sugar-free ingredients, but also the flavor that soothes the tip of the tongue and tastes delicious.
Based on social media discussions, DT Business Observation sees 4 new trends in the health of milk tea.
Trend 1: Raw materials should be "real", with less additives
After iterations of powder brewing, bubble tea and other versions, an unavoidable topic is raw materials.
For young people who brew instant PTSD, the biggest demand for milk tea health is not 0 sugar, but "no additives".
According to the "2023 Market Opportunity Research Report of the Ready-made Tea Industry", "additive-free" occupies the first place in the health of ready-made tea, surpassing low-calorie and fat reduction.
In 2024, the results of the 3ยท15 new tea drink questionnaire survey of "Daily Economic News" show that 54.1% of the survey subjects have the demand of "real milk, 0 creamer/original leaf tea, and 0 tea powder", and more than 40% of the survey subjects "prefer products with 0 trans fatty acids and less sugar and sugar-free options".
Common unhealthy additives in milk tea include non-dairy creamer, creamer, flavor, fructose syrup, etc., which are known as the "technology and hard work" in the milk tea industry.
For example, non-dairy creamer is a kind of dairy imitation product, which is used to increase the flavor of milk, and is the mainstream choice to replace fresh milk. Artificial flavors, instant tea powder, and fructose syrup are often used to replace tea, real fruit, and real sugar, mainly to add tea flavor and fruity flavor to drinks, so that the taste is better.
In other words, the important reason for the inclusion of unhealthy additives in milk tea is that "the raw materials are not real enough".
Under this trend, the "authenticity" of raw materials has become the key promise of new tea brands.
Although some tea brands have upgraded their raw materials and advertised their products as "0 creamer, 0 non-dairy creamer, and 0 hydrogenated vegetable oil", there are still unhealthy raw materials such as flavor and fructose syrup.
Recently, according to the requirements of more than 10 years of brand products, Heytea has put forward a standard known as the most stringent "four true seven zero" healthy tea drinks - the new tea drink should be made on site with "real tea, real milk, real fruit, and real sugar" as raw materials, and the products must meet the requirements of "0 creamer, 0 flavor, 0 fructose syrup, 0 non-dairy creamer, 0 hydrogenated vegetable oil, 0 trans fatty acids, and 0 instant tea powder".
Driven by the head brand, the new tea drink is vying to promote real milk and other raw materials, focusing on "pure natural, zero addition".
Trend 2: Not only low sugar, but also good sugar and slow sugar
In addition to the real material, "low sugar" has become the default standard for young people's health needs.
According to data from Meituan, in the portrait of tea consumers, only about 40% of customers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen choose "normal sugar". Options such as less sugar and slight sugar have become mainstream choices.
Not only that, but young people have become more demanding about sugar, not only wanting to have a low sugar content, but also paying attention to the type of sugar and the glycemic index (i.e., a measure of how quickly carbohydrates from a source will be digested by the body and absorbed into the bloodstream).
On Xiaohongshu, the total number of views on the topic of "glycemic index" has soared to more than 30 million. The unknown amount of "sugar" became a source of anxiety. Young people want to get the knowledge of sugar, and they also want to avoid encountering "health assassins".
Fructose syrup, on the other hand, is a common sugar found in freshly made teas, providing sweetness, flavor and texture to the product.
However, studies have shown that excessive intake can increase the risk of gaining weight, as well as an increased risk of fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes and gout.
In order to meet the sugar control needs of young people, new tea beverage brands have launched different sugar control strategies. It is common practice to reduce sugar from various dimensions and use natural sugar substitutes. For example, Heytea took the lead in launching low-calorie stevia to replace sucrose, Nai Xue's tea and Lele tea have launched the option of replacing 0 calorie sugar, and Tea Baidao officially announced that small ingredients reduce sugar.
Different from "simply using sugar substitutes and using good sugar", now Heytea has begun to develop natural and healthy sugar substitute raw materials.
For example, the launch of self-developed low GI sugar raw material "slow sugar". This slow candy is made with L-arabinose flavored syrup, which is custom-formulated with L-arabinose and real cane sugar, which is close to the "natural sweetness" in taste, without losing the flavor, and makes the sugar rise slower and the burden lighter.
The trend of sugar control on the consumer side has forced tea brands to make changes and spawned innovation. Tea brands have also used their own volumes to cultivate the consumption awareness of "healthy sugar", which has raised consumption expectations and industry benchmarks.
Trend 3: Be healthy and drink good
Today's young people are good at "both wanting and wanting", hoping to leverage the maximum value with the minimum cost.
The same is true for the demand for milk tea, which is healthy and low in sugar, but also has a good taste and taste.
Searching for "milk tea health" on Xiaohongshu, DT Business Observer found that there are two main types of posts: one is to share their own DIY health milk tea, and the other is to recommend a certain low-calorie, light-burden freshly made tea.
But without exception, in addition to health, the taste of milk tea cannot be bad - the keyword "delicious" is mentioned most frequently.
Based on this trend, the new tea beverage brand strives to balance taste and flavor to make a good product with low calorie, low fat and sugar control.
Heytea has put forward the concept of "healthy and delicious, scientific and sustainable" - from raw materials to formula, intake to absorption, balance good taste and health, and also strive to control sugar scientifically and sustainably, creating a healthy and delicious cup of fruit tea.
This kind of product innovation, which is based on taste and health, has become the common pursuit of new tea drinks.
Trend 4: Milk tea with sports has become a new way of life
Once upon a time, a cup of milk tea was a happy item on the table, and it was also a social currency to gather and talk about. When you want to pamper yourself, take a sip to decompress and continue your life; When you team up to order and find a partner, you can form a subtle human relationship.
Nowadays, a cup of healthy milk tea is changing from a daily drink to a personal lifestyle.
It can be seen from the popular notes of Xiaohongshu that the photo sharing of holding milk tea after exercise has increasingly become a pop culture symbol.
The most fashionable young people are beginning to look forward to making milk tea a healthy companion to their diet, balancing the identity labels of "heavy tea lovers" and "beginner fitness lovers". Some people want to "restart a lighter, fuller and healthier version of themselves, from diet to exercise".
(Source: Screenshot of Xiaohongshu)
Where there is a need, there is a response. Heytea emphasizes "lightness and light burden", and invites fitness blogger Pamela to serve as a health recommendation officer; Other tea brands are starting to focus on "refreshing and low burden" to make themselves a healthy choice.
Driven by consumer trends, the head tea brands have begun to snatch the mind of "their own milk tea = healthy life".
The advanced concept of tea health is a "conspiracy" between consumer awareness and brand
How is the health concept of milk tea formed by consumers? "DT Business Observer" found that this is the result of the collusion between brands and consumers.
On the one hand, health awareness is constantly awakening. Posts on social media about milk tea recommendations and calorie sugar evaluation are becoming more and more popular, and young people are voting for healthy milk tea with practical actions.
On the other hand, more tea brands have started to make healthy moves.
"DT Business Observation" further sorted out the health measures of tea brands, and saw that there are three main stages of development:
In the first stage, the entry-level gameplay of fresh fruit real milk requires real materials.
At that time, freshness and authenticity became the foundation of freshly made tea brands. Heytea took the lead in launching real milk, real tea, and real fruit products, breaking the original "powder" brewing era and capturing young people.
In the second stage, key information such as raw material formulas, ingredient calories, etc., is disclosed for transparent traceability.
Heytea discloses the traceability information of formula raw materials, nutrients, and raw materials, as well as testing details such as calorie calculation and nutritional ingredients, so that consumers can have an intuitive perception of raw materials and calories.
Bawang Chaji imprints the heat components on the cup body in a parametric and visual way; Jasmine yogurt chooses to post the ingredient list.
This kind of open traceability and ingredient labeling is a kind of product confidence. At the same time, it shows that the new tea beverage brand is more and more respectful of consumers' right to know, breaking information barriers, and allowing consumers to drink a cup of milk tea with a low psychological burden.
The third stage is to upgrade to a road of "establishing health standards".
The essence of the health of freshly made tea is the competition between quality control and supply chain capabilities, and it is also the snatching of the right to speak on health standards. Brands want to offer better products to advance their categories.
For example, Heytea has worked self-research, based on its own product quality requirements for more than ten years, and pioneered the healthy tea standard of four truths and seven zeros, which is a force in this regard. To this end, Heytea has set the standards more strictly, basically involving the health problems of the main raw materials that consumers are concerned about.
The reason why this standard was put forward by Heytea is because as the originator of the health of new tea drinks, it has a sense of health and professional recognition in the industry and consumers.
NCBD data shows that in the 2024 new tea beverage brand rankings, Heytea ranks TOP1 with a score of 88.9 in the comprehensive evaluation of "consumer satisfaction, online emotion, and corporate strength".
Social media reviews also corroborate this. Judging from the high-frequency words related to Xiaohongshu's "Hey Tea", there are three main reasons why young people like Hey Tea: the co-branded periphery is interesting, the taste and flavor are online, the real material and can control sugar.
Whether it is the surprise of "from a cup of fleshy bayberry to drinking real bayberry", or the preference for the tea fragrance of Hey Tea, or even the willingness of "fat loss people choose a cup of low-calorie Hey Tea...... These real evaluations and trust are closely related to the strict standards of Heytea products.
It can be seen that Hey Tea, which has always adhered to health standards, and young people's expectations for milk tea are going both ways.
When young people talk about Hey Tea, in addition to discussing delicious products and fun co-branded peripherals, there is also a new Title: healthy milk tea that is genuine, suitable for fat loss people, and has the need for sugar control.
Write at the end
From the perspective of the linear development of milk tea, in the 1.0 "powder era" dominated by bubble milk tea, good taste is the core appeal.
In the 2.0 "street era" of "tea + milk + fruit", breakthroughs have been made in raw materials and processes; The 3.0 "real material era" based on real tea, real milk and real fruit is a qualitative leap, and consumers have begun to pay attention to taste and "drink well".
Now, tea drinks have opened the 4.0 "ingredient era" of health and refinement.
From the perspective of consumption trends, people pay attention to specific dimensions and parameters - they favor healthy tea products that meet the requirements of 0 creamer, 0 flavor, 0 fructose syrup, and 0 hydrogenated vegetable oil, and they also care about healing the body and mind through a cup of drinks with "taste, happiness and healthy added value".
In other words, through the health standard of "four truths and seven zeros", milk tea can achieve the scientific matching and precise calculation of data such as "ingredients, raw materials, formulas, calories", etc., so as to become a lifestyle integrated into daily life.
For the competition of tea brands in the future, the core is still the competition on the product side - who can lead the standard demand for health through health value, manage consumption expectations, and even lead the standard demand for health in advance, and have as much user loyalty as possible.
In this regard, the pioneering nature and uniqueness of Heytea have provided a steady stream of inspiration for the tea industry.
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