On 23 August, Chinese tea chain CHAGEE announced that it would be releasing commemorative cups and paper bags to celebrate the sales of its Jasmine Green Milk Tea. Also in honour of the “pet-friendly month” of August, the 6 packaging designs will include illustrations of cats and dogs on C and paw monogram pattern backgrounds. As is typical with collaborations, badges, themed pet-friendly branches and even a decorated bus will be available for your “check-in” (打卡) needs.
The Jasmine Green Milk Tea was among the first drinks CHAGEE released. Its Chinese name is “伯牙绝弦” (bo ya jue xian, lit. Bo Ya stops playing), a chengyu idiom about a guqin zither player Bo Ya who stopped playing after his soulmate Zhong Ziqi died. The idiom is usually used to mean it is hard to find a true friend who understands.
CHAGEE’s celebratory campaign also calls to friends who bought and drank the jasmine milk tea together, as well as individuals’ first time having the tea or even trying CHAGEE. With CHAGEE’s “Let’s CHAGEE together” slogan, the tea becomes a token of friendship between the brand and its customers. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Jasmine Green Milk Tea together every day” (#伯牙绝弦天天在一起#) gained 14 million views.
Some on social media noticed that the combination of the illustrated cats and dogs and the monogram background was reminiscent of Louis Vuitton’s 2018 collaboration collection with Grace Coddington. A journalist contacted Louis Vuitton for comment and was told that there has been no collaboration between the French luxury brand and the Chinese tea chain. It also reminded many netizens of CHAGEE’s past controversy over very similar designs with luxury brands such as Dior, Gucci and Valentino.
As CHAGEE is on its way to rapid expansion, including global markets such as Southeast Asia and Paris, it is also necessary for it to go back to its roots with the jasmine milk tea. With even Luckin getting into the jasmine milk tea arena, it might be time for CHAGEE to remind consumers that they had created the sector.
