Heytea draws hours-long queues at Thailand debut

Chinese tea chain Heytea attracted crowds of customers to its first store in Thailand on Friday, with consumers queuing for more than three hours despite heavy rain, showing a growing demand for China's premium tea brands as they accelerate international expansion.

The store, located at Bangkok's CentralWorld shopping mall, marks Heytea's entry into Thailand, one of Southeast Asia's most competitive beverage markets.

According to the company, some customers began lining up before 5 am, while the queue stretched about 300 meters at its peak, despite heavy rain, while local tourism authority welcomed the arrival of the Chinese brand on its social media channels.

The Bangkok outlet is also Heytea's first overseas Heytea lab 2.0 store, a concept designed to showcase new products beyond its core tea menu.

Alongside signature drinks such as Coconut Mango and Triple Matcha, the store features three experimental formats — tea lab, bake lab and gelato lab — and debuted teaAir, a new "tea cloud" concept introduced globally for the first time.

The launch also includes several products developed specifically for the Thai market, including teaAir · Rock Oolong Jackfruit, Thai Milk Tea Croissant Egg Tart, and Lime Thai Milk Gelato.

Heytea is among a growing number of Chinese beverage brands expanding overseas as competition intensifies at home.

China's premium tea market has become increasingly crowded in recent years, with leading chains including Mixue, CHAGEE and Heytea competing aggressively for market share.

For Heytea, the Bangkok opening builds on earlier international expansion in North America and other Asian markets. Previous Heytea lab stores in New York and Toronto also attracted long queues when they opened.

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn