Experts interviewed:
Ding Gangqiang is the director of the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Chen Wei is the chief physician of the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Peking Union Medical College Hospital
Zhao Ran is a professor at the Department of Psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics
In 1987, the first cup of bubble tea was born. After experiencing the brewed milk tea of the 2.0 era and the trend of fruit drink milk cover drink in the 3.0 era, the new tea drink 4.0 era, milk tea consumption has a new trend of sugar reduction and "porridge".
During the National Nutrition Week in May, the People's Daily Health Client, Health Times and Meituan Takeaway jointly released the "2021 New Tea Drink Trend Analysis Report". The report shows that in 2020, the number of users who choose milk tea without sugar or sugar substitute has increased significantly, and diversified accessories such as miscellaneous grains and potatoes have become new favorites.
Milk tea tea has become a "decompression artifact" for people in the workplace
In 2020, the number of new tea drinks in the country increased by 80% year-on-year. Under the trend of frequent explosions of new milk tea, fresh milk pure tea, fruit tea and fresh milk juice have become the top three in the milk tea market. Fresh milk pure tea, fresh milk juice, and yakult fruit/probiotic drinks are the fastest growing types. Ice Boke milk tea, thick milk milk tea, vegetarian milk tea have become the "new generation of milk tea", ginseng milk tea and Traditional Chinese medicine milk tea and other "strange milk tea" have also successfully entered the circle.
Who drives the new milk tea? According to the report, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Suzhou, Dongguan and Foshan have become the top 10 cities in the country that love to order milk tea in 2020. Judging from historical data, Guangzhou has been at the top of the list for two consecutive years, and Chongqing has entered the top ten for the first time.
Young people are still the main force in milk tea consumption. The report shows that the people who love milk tea the most come from users in the 20-30 age group, accounting for 59%. The post-00s love fresh milk pure tea, the post-95s love the fruit Yakult/probiotic drinks, and the post-80s love herbal tea. From the perspective of gender, women are the main group of milk tea consumption, accounting for more than 60%. Although men account for less than half of them, they are also moving towards the milk tea army year by year, an increase of 84% year-on-year. In terms of choice preferences, girls prefer to drink fresh milk pure tea and fresh milk juice, and boys prefer to drink fruit tea and pure tea.
Nowadays, milk tea has gradually become a decompression artifact for "beating workers". More than 30% of users believe that milk tea can help improve happiness and relieve stress. Why is milk tea a source of happiness? Zhao Ran, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the Central University of Finance and Economics, pointed out that since childhood, we have been accustomed to rewarding ourselves with food, especially those that are fragrant and sweet. In ancient times, when food was extremely scarce, high-sugar and high-fat foods meant better chances of survival. In our subconscious, milk tea still performs the duty of biological evolution.
Sweet milk tea is the "happy water" of many contemporary professionals, which comforts every tired heart at the same time, but also brings us the enjoyment of taste buds and inner satisfaction.
The public's health awareness has increased, and they love low sugar and low calorie
In the era of new tea drinking 4.0, milk tea is gradually "porridge", and tea drinking with "healthy nature" has become a new consumption trend.
The report shows that when ordering milk tea, about 62% of users said they would pay attention to product information such as main ingredients and accessories. In the proportion of milk tea ingredient types, grains and potato excipients grew the fastest, 22% and 20% respectively. Oats, peanuts, red beans, pumpkins and other accessories have become the "fashion items" of the milk tea circle, and there is a trend of "accessories gradually attracting the eye".
Speaking of this trend, Ding Gangqiang, director of the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out that grains, potatoes, nuts and other foods are rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and other nutrients, and scientific evidence shows that the risk of a variety of chronic diseases can be reduced. Consumers eat more for health.
For a large number of emerging "self-disciplined milk tea people", low-sugar or sugar-substitute milk tea has become a new choice. The report shows that in 2020, the number of users who chose seven-point sugar increased by 269.2% year-on-year compared with 2019; the number of users who chose three-point sugar increased by 229% year-on-year; and the number of users who chose not to add additional sugar increased by 169.7% year-on-year.
In order to adapt to this change, brands and merchants are also constantly innovating sugar substitute products. In 2020, more than 3,400 milk tea shops on takeaway platforms can provide sugar substitute drinks, an increase of 86.2% compared with 2019. Among the sugar substitute milk tea drinks, nearly 87% of the drinks are labeled as "0 calorie sugar", while 7% of the drinks are clearly labeled as sugar substitutes, mainly erythritol, xylitol and steviol glycosides.
Chen Wei, chief physician of the Department of Clinical Nutrition of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that for health reasons, it is recommended that consumers choose sugar substitutes or low sugar options when ordering milk tea, such as drinks with less sugar, microsaccharide, three-point sugar, etc., which can consume relatively less energy than whole sugar products.
In response to the call of Healthy China, advocate merchants to improve nutrition labels
"Encourage the whole society to participate in salt, oil and sugar reduction." On July 15, 2019, the "Opinions of the State Council on the Implementation of the Healthy China Action" issued by the State Council put forward the "three reductions" initiative. Chen Junshi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, once said that among the "three reductions", the better is to reduce sugar.
In recent years, the selling point of domestic beverage products has changed from sugary to sugar-free. The "2020-2024 China Sugar-free Beverage Industry Market Supply and Demand Status and Development Trend Forecast Report" shows that with the continuous improvement of the market penetration rate of sugar-free beverages, its growth rate has been much higher than the overall growth rate of beverages. This reflects the increasing focus on the concept of healthy consumption by consumers. Under the guidance of this concept, low-calorie, low-sugar, zero-sugar and other drinks continue to emerge, further promoting the new upgrading of beverage consumption.
The "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" issued by the National Health Commission advocates that by 2030, the per capita daily intake of added sugars should not be higher than 25 grams. With the support of national policies and the guidance of the concept of health, the market for sugar-free and low-sugar drinks has great potential and will usher in a new golden period of development in the future.
In response to the call of Healthy China, in 2020, the People's Daily Health Times and Meituan Takeaway established the National Healthy Life Promotion Research Institute, under the guidance of experts in the field of health, to carry out research on the direction of reasonable diet around consumer hotspots, and also launched health initiatives for takeaway platforms, merchants and users. On the one hand, catering businesses should take the initiative to conform to the new trend of consumption upgrading, innovate health drink categories in combination with market demand, and combine "good drink" with "health"; in addition, they should also advocate takeaway platforms and brands to improve the nutrition logo of drinks, so that consumers can drink clearly and at ease. On the other hand, the public should become their own "health gatekeeper", when purchasing milk tea and other drinks, try to choose less sugar, no sugar, reasonable combination of accessories and ingredients, learn to check nutrition labels, and achieve a balanced and reasonable diet.