Heytea

Heytea (Chinese: 喜茶; pinyin: Xǐ Chá; Jyutping: hei2 caa4; Cantonese Yale: Héi Chàh; lit. 'Happy Tea') is a popular Chinese tea drink chain. It started in 2012 in a place called Jiangmen in Guangdong Province and was first named "Royal Tea". Because of some problems with the name, it was changed to "Heytea" in 2016. Today, Heytea has grown to have more than 4,000 shops, mostly in China, but also in other countries like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Heytea is loved by many people because of its cool store designs, pretty packaging, and fun drinks. One of its most famous drinks is cheese tea, which mixes New Zealand Anchor cheese with milk, cream, and salt to make a tasty tea. The company is also known for being very popular on social media, where many young people share photos and videos of their Heytea drinks.

The brand has become a modern and stylish choice for tea lovers, offering many different kinds of fruit teas and other creative drinks. With its bright shops and delicious drinks, Heytea continues to grow and attract customers around the world.

History

Heytea started in 2012 in Jiangmen as Royal Tea but changed its name because of trademark problems.

By 2015, it had grown to big cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen. In 2016, Heytea got help from investors and expanded to Guangxi. In 2017, it opened a store in Shanghai at Raffles City, which got lots of attention online. That same year, Heytea also started a bakery idea called "Heytea Mix" in Guangzhou.

In 2018, Heytea opened its first store in Hong Kong at New Town Plaza and later added more places there. Now, Heytea has shops in many big Chinese cities and also in Singapore.

In 2020, Adidas worked with Heytea to make a special shoe, and Heytea also worked with Fenty Beauty on a beauty product. In 2021, Heytea made a special milk-tea drink using Eisbock milk.

In December 2023, Heytea opened its first store in New York City in the United States. By January 2025, it had 15 stores there.

Stores

Types of stores

Heytea has several different types of stores. There are standard stores, and special ones like the Heytea Lab, which was the first of its kind and opened in Shenzhen in October 2016. Other unique stores include Heytea Black, with a black and gold design, and Heytea Mix, which sells freshly baked bread. These stores offer different themes and products to suit various customer preferences.

Controversies

Food safety issues

As Heytea grew, some of its stores had problems with keeping food safe. Between December 2018 and June 2019, there were reports of four different issues.

In December 2018, a customer in Shanghai at the HKRI Taikoo Hui store found something unusual in their drink. The company said they didn’t use anything like that in their packaging or tools, and thought it might have happened during delivery.

In 2019, it was found that some milk tea drinks, including Heytea’s, had a lot of caffeine — about as much as in three and a half cans of Red Bull.

Also in 2019, a pregnant woman in Suzhou found a fly in her drink from a Heytea store. After talking to the company didn’t solve the problem, she told the media and authorities. On May 31, the store was closed because of hygiene problems. The same day, another Heytea store in Suzhou was also closed for similar reasons.

A check at a Heytea store in Xiamen found water on the kitchen floor and fruits stored in a way that wasn’t safe.

Violent dispute

In September 2019, a video showed a fight between Heytea staff and a delivery rider at a store in Jinan. The company said it started from a misunderstanding about an order.