Heytea opens its first overseas teabar in NYC

With competition in the overseas new style tea market becoming increasingly fierce, Chinese brands are making every effort to win the hearts of consumers.

In June, Heytea, a leading Chinese new style tea brand, opened its first overseas teabar in New York, following openings in the domestic market in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen and Foshan in Guangdong province.

The teabar in New York offers nearly 30 new products, including Teamix, Deep matcha, Deep chocolate, pure tea, bottled tea, hand-brewed tea and tea ice cream.

Cheng Hao, vice-president of Heytea's public communication department, said: "New York has always been an important city for Heytea's overseas expansion. On the one hand, this place gathers consumer trends, cultural exchanges and brand innovation, providing richer user feedback and localized space for new store formats. On the other hand, Heytea has also continuously accumulated experience in store operation and local cooperation in New York, providing a foundation for the opening of this new type of tea house."

"Unlike the current tea beverage model in the United States market that heavily revolves around quick takeaways, teabar hopes to provide another rhythm: allowing consumers to stay and communicate in store, and more easily experience a cup of tea," he said.

Heytea first went global in Singapore in 2018, becoming one of the earliest Chinese new style tea brands to go overseas. In 2023, it accelerated its globalization process, and successively entered core markets such as the US, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Heytea owns more than 100 overseas outlets, with the number of overseas outlets surging nearly 600 percent in the past year. In mainstream cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne, Heytea has a presence.

In the US market, Heytea's growth is particularly prominent. Since the opening of its first store in New York at the end of 2023, it has expanded to other cities such as Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, Seattle and Boston. Heytea's total number of stores in the US currently exceeds 40, making it the fastest-growing new tea beverage brand in the US market.

"The US market will continue to be one of Heytea's key overseas markets for future development. As we expand our presence across more cities and communities, we hope to bring more consumers a new tea experience through our products, stores and brand expression.

"The US market is especially meaningful to us because it combines strong market potential with consumers who value product quality, creativity and brand experience. It also provides an opportunity for Heytea to connect with a broader global audience and share the possibilities of tea in a new cultural context," Cheng said.

On its opening day, the Heytea Lab flagship store in Times Square, New York, sold over 3,500 cups and quickly became a landmark consumer hotspot. The Flushing Main Street store, which opened in 2024, maintained a daily sales volume of nearly 3,300 cups on its third day of operation. The Broadway store in New York, which opened at the end of 2023, currently has a stable daily sales volume of over 1,200 cups, demonstrating sustained consumer demand.

On the west coast of the US, several stores in the Bay Area sold over 2,200 cups in the first three days of opening, with the San Jose Hostetter store still having higher daily sales than its initial level during the off-season of operation. In other countries, the Soho store in London, George St store in Sydney, Marina Bay Sands store in Singapore, and the Venetian store in Macao have all maintained daily sales of over 1,000 cups since their opening.

Speaking of the reason for Heytea's success in the overseas markets, Cheng said that Heytea has established multiple warehousing and logistics centers across key overseas markets, including the US, UK, Malaysia, Australia and Canada, ensuring that its stores can consistently deliver the same product quality and experience to consumers around the world.

"At the same time, we are continuously strengthening our global procurement capabilities and building deeper connections with local supply ecosystems. In North America, Heytea works with leading food suppliers to develop localized sourcing across categories such as milk and fruits, helping improve supply stability while allowing us to better adapt to local consumer needs," he said.

"For us, global expansion is not simply about opening stores overseas — it is about building a long-term brand presence, creating meaningful consumer experiences and bringing tea innovation to more markets," he added.

Lin Xianping, an associate professor at Hangzhou City University, said: "The globalization process of domestic new style tea brands continues to accelerate, and the layout of high-end markets in Europe and (North) America has become a new trend in the industry. To sustain roots in the high-end market of developed countries, they need to break away from the mindset of low-priced drinks and build core competitiveness through specialization, high-end branding and localization."