Milk tea leads the way! This season's spring tea is selling like crazy overseas!

Ask AI · How can e-commerce platforms help China’s tea sell globally with one click?

(Article / Liu Yuanyuan Editor / Zhou Yuanfang)

Every year from March to before Qingming, is the golden period for the concentrated release of China’s spring tea. From early spring tea in Yibin, Sichuan, to white tea in Fuding, Fujian, and then to Biluochun and West Lake Longjing from Dongting Mountain in Suzhou, new teas from various regions are sequentially launched.

Surprisingly, this year’s tea season, in addition to the domestic market’s “spring tea craze,” is quietly seeing a more vigorous “going overseas” wave.

Observer Network recently learned from Taobao Tmall that the 2026 spring tea season shows two major trends: domestically, spring tea consumption is accelerating in “youthfulness” and “daily consumption,” with特色产地 (special origin) and niche categories “breaking out”; abroad, Chinese famous teas are leveraging e-commerce platforms to “go overseas with one click,” and are selling well in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and other places.

However, Chinese tea companies still face challenges in globalization, such as product standards, consumer habit adaptation, and brand recognition. Several industry insiders admit that for Eastern tea to truly integrate into local overseas life, long-term exploration by Chinese tea brands is needed, and this is not a short-term process.

Domestic Market Changes: Young People Drink “Niche Hot”

The spring tea season has always been the most important sales window for Chinese tea companies. Traditionally, the consumer group for raw leaf tea is often older. But in the past two years, a clear change has appeared in the domestic market: more young people are drinking tea, and their ways of drinking are becoming more “everyday.”

According to data from Taobao Tmall, among raw leaf tea consumers, young users aged 18 to 25 have increased by over 40% year-on-year, becoming one of the fastest-growing user groups.

Moreover, unlike traditional “old tea enthusiasts,” this group of young consumers does not insist on traditional concepts like “Mingqian” (before Qingming) or “Yuqian” (rain tea), nor do they blindly pursue high-priced gift boxes. They pay more attention to the “daily consumption” attribute of tea—meaning everyday drinking, high cost-performance ratio, and easy brewing.

This shift in consumption trends has directly driven a batch of特色产地 (special origin) and niche categories to “break out” quickly. Take Maojian as an example: in the past, Xinyang Maojian accounted for over 95% of sales on Taobao Tmall, but this spring,特色产地 such as Duyun Maojian in Guizhou and Yichang Maojian in Hubei doubled their sales.

Among them, Duyun Maojian’s production process has been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. Its core production area is located at an altitude of over 1500 meters. Due to its long育芽周期 (growth cycle) and明显的回甘 (obvious aftertaste), it has gradually become a “treasure tea” in the eyes of young consumers.

Similar cases also appear in rock teas and black teas. Data from Tmall shows that from January to March 2026, Phoenix Dancong increased by 32% year-on-year, Wuyi Mountain Rougui increased by 93%, and Qimen black tea increased by 30%.

Lin Xiaodong, head of the e-commerce department of Wuyi Star brand, told Observer Network that over the past three years, the average age of consumers in their Tmall store has decreased by 3 years. Young users prefer to buy “daily teas,” and because of its prominent aroma and high recognition, Rougui has become the first choice for young people entering rock tea.

“Many young people first encounter Rougui through milk tea brands. After being influenced, they switch to buying raw leaf tea, forming a transition from ‘fragrance’ to ‘water’,” Lin Xiaodong said.

Liu Xiaoyi, head of tea category at Taobao Tmall, believes that the reason特色产地 (special origin) can quickly “break the circle” on Tmall is partly due to the rapid growth of young user groups, whose consumption needs are more diverse and personalized; on the other hand, the platform directs more quality traffic to authentic原产地 (original production areas). “This year, through the ‘Taste the Mountains and Rivers’ spring tea traceability activity, we collaborated with local governments and top brands of特色产地 to help consumers find truly good teas from small产地 (origins).”

From “exclusive consumption” by “old tea enthusiasts” to the daily “口粮” (daily staple) of young people, China’s spring tea is undergoing a transformation in consumption structure. This transformation also lays the foundation for Chinese tea brands to expand into broader international markets, with a focus on product youthfulness and standardization.

One-Click Sell Globally: China’s Tea Opens a New Growth Channel Worldwide

Changes in the domestic market are adjustments in consumption structure, while changes in the international market mean: Chinese tea is moving into the world in a lighter way.

Last December, Taobao officially opened food category sales on its overseas sites, with tea, snacks, and dairy drinks as the first categories to be opened. So far, more than 30k tea merchants have sold through Taobao overseas, with nearly 3.5 million items covering traditional teas like Longjing and Pu’er, as well as new-style tea drinks like milk tea tea bags and cold brew tea powders.

“We used to focus on the domestic market. Taobao helped us sell tea overseas. I don’t need to do any overseas operations; just relying on a Tmall store, I have global sales revenue,” Xu Qijun, head of West Lake Tea Tmall flagship store, described the brand’s overseas expansion experience.

He revealed that during the recent Longjing new tea season, West Lake Tea’s overseas sales on Taobao increased by over 30% month-on-month, becoming the biggest growth driver for new tea sales this year.

Similar to West Lake Tea, Guojing, a state-owned enterprise in the core production area of West Lake Longjing, also joined Taobao’s overseas plan last December. He Lihua, deputy general manager of Guojing, said that their products have achieved stable sales through Taobao’s overseas channels, with overseas business accounting for one-fifth of the company’s total sales.

“We also export offline, but the biggest convenience of online overseas sales is that once I put the goods into storage, I don’t need to manage it afterward, just like domestic sales,” He Lihua said. The company has already achieved sales in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and other places, and plans to expand into Europe this year.

In terms of sales regions, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and South Korea rank among the top. Traditional teas still dominate, but herbal teas and reprocessed teas are growing rapidly. Reprocessed teas increased by over 40% year-on-year, especially new Chinese-style tea drinks like milk tea tea bags and cold brew teas, leading the tea category.

It’s worth noting that the export of tea not only boosts tea sales but also drives sales of related products like tea sets. Data from Taobao shows that sales of tea sets in Australia, Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and other places have doubled. Driven by overseas Chinese consumers, more and more foreign consumers are beginning to experience Chinese culture through tea.

Challenges and Breakthroughs: Globalization Still Faces Three Major Barriers

As platforms like Taobao’s overseas channels lower the barriers to entry, Chinese tea companies’ “going out” is rapidly reducing technical barriers. Logistics, translation, settlement, after-sales—previously daunting for small and medium tea companies—are now handled by the platform in a one-stop manner.

However, opening the channel does not mean the road is completely smooth. Several industry insiders told Observer Network that the real determinants of how far Chinese tea can go overseas still depend on three “hard gates”: product, brand, and culture.

First is the challenge of product standards. Domestic tea standards differ significantly from overseas markets, especially the EU and Japan.

He Lihua admitted that Guojing has started testing some products according to EU standards, which are “very strict, for example, pesticide residue limits—0.01% or 0.02%. We are also trying to find where our differences are.” She revealed that although the company plans to expand into Europe this year, meeting standards is not an easy feat, requiring upgrades across planting, processing, and testing entire chains.

This means that for tea companies that have not yet established international quality control systems, the first hurdle of going overseas is not whether they can sell, but whether they can get in.

Second is the difficulty of adapting to consumer habits. He Lihua observed that overseas consumers prefer small, exquisite packaging—20 grams or 150 grams in small cans are more popular than the common 250-gram large packages in China.

“Understanding local consumption habits is the most important,” she said. Xu Qijun also found an interesting contrast: domestic consumers are used to trying small “hook” products in small sizes, and then buying larger packages after satisfaction; overseas consumers tend to prefer buying directly.

This difference in consumer psychology and habits directly affects product selection, pricing, and marketing strategies. Currently, most overseas tea companies are still “simply transplanting popular domestic products,” lacking refined operations tailored for overseas markets.

Finally, brand recognition and cultural output remain long-term challenges. Unlike the domestic market, overseas consumers have lower awareness of Chinese famous teas like West Lake Longjing and Wuyi Rock Tea. He Lihua admitted that “brand sensitivity is not as high after going overseas,” and more relies on product quality and platform recommendations to close sales.

This indicates that Chinese tea has not yet built a global brand like Lipton. To cultivate overseas consumers’ tea-drinking habits, long-term cultural infiltration is necessary. He Lihua said the company promotes West Lake Longjing through exhibitions and cultural activities, “but I don’t think I can do one-on-one cultivation; it’s a process.”

Taobao’s overseas business center head, Yi Shan, also said that the food industry’s overseas expansion demands higher platform standards. Tea leaves are fragile during long-distance transportation, so the platform provides additional shipping solutions and conducts manual inspections and reinforcement at transfer warehouses. Meanwhile, the platform is reducing operational barriers for merchants through AI translation, multilingual versions, and human customer service.

But she also revealed that the platform can solve more of the “how to sell” problem, while “what to sell,” “to whom,” and “how to encourage repeat purchases” still require tea companies to explore themselves.

From “borrowing ships to go overseas” to “building ships for long voyage,” Chinese tea companies’ globalization has just begun. When e-commerce platforms lower the barriers to overseas expansion to the minimum, the real test has only just begun. Those who can lead in standards, products, and branding will have the chance to grow from “test waters” to “pioneers” in China’s tea going global in this spring tea wave.