For today's young people, autumn without milk tea is incomplete. It is also the blowout period of the launch of new products by major tea brands, while the official categories and collocations are constantly updated, the hidden menus of various milk tea shops are played with by consumers who pursue freshness.
How popular is the milk tea hidden menu? Searching for "Milk Tea Hidden" on the Little Red Book shows a total of more than 40,000 notes, with a total of 15.592 million reads and 14,000 discussions under the Weibo #Milk Tea Hidden Menu How Delicious # topic. "Often go to the store to verbally order hidden menus." Cherry, a post-95 hidden menu enthusiast in Hangzhou told me.
Based on the recommendation of Cherry and Little Red Book, we went to 3 familiar tea brand stores to try it out.
Three hidden cups were ordered at three tea brands
The clerks who received hidden money orders reacted differently
Yesterday afternoon, my colleagues and I came to Chabaidao, a little bit and coco on Stadium Road.
First of all, according to the recommendation of the Little Red Book blogger, we ordered a hidden item that is said to be "the work of the gods of the tea hundred ways".
When I asked the clerk with trepidation, "Can I order a hidden money?" When the demand was demanded, the two clerks inside looked puzzled and said that they did not understand what was hidden and could not do it.
"Then I'll show you the ingredient list, so I should be able to make it?" I said again to the clerk who had lowered his head to make the takeaway order.
After spending 5 seconds to show the ingredient list, we finally saw the clerk's "suddenly cheerful" expression: "It's sea salt matcha cheese with a lot of ingredients, yes!" ”
Then, a little bit, we ordered a cup of cocoa milk tea as a base, plus ice cream and Boba's hidden "ballet cocoa".
In the face of hidden money, the clerk looked a lot calmer, and after skillfully completing the order, she said: "There are many people like you who have ordered orders, as long as they tell us what the ingredients are, they can do it." ”
Finally, we came to coco duke and asked the clerk if there was a recommended official hidden drink, the clerk paused for 3 seconds, as if digesting the meaning of our words, and then told us: "Go to the Internet to search, a lot." ”
Since the double ball ice cream was already sold out, we had to give up all the hidden models that needed to add ice cream, and instead chose the hidden version of "Miss Red Fruit". The clerk who read the ingredient list was relieved and said that it was not as difficult as he thought: in fact, it was a normal version of "Miss Red Fruit" plus pearls.
After tasting, from the taste point of view, we think that the three cups of hidden milk tea are sweet, because there are more small ingredients, compared to the ordinary milk tea on the menu, it needs more chewing. On social media, netizens have mixed evaluations of the taste of these three milk teas, but they have been more consistently recognized in appearance.
Hidden menu = milk tea + a random combination of small ingredients
Customized, personalized drinks are nothing new
After some actual testing, we found that in fact, the essence of the hidden menu is to make different arrangements and combinations of different milk teas and small ingredients, even if they are niche hidden models, the ingredients in them must be the existing raw materials in the tea shop.
But that doesn't affect how popular hidden menus are among young people. "If the milk tea that you have made yourself tastes delicious, it is as pleasant as a surprise when you open a 'hidden model' in a blind box." Cherry said.
After unlocking and punching in the hidden menu, many young users like Cherry will post their evaluation experience on social media, thus attracting more netizens to order hidden models in stores, triggering a new round of discussion about hidden models and tea brands.
Some people say that hidden money is absolutely unique, and some people say that they don't understand it
Many tea brands have paid attention to the social value of hidden menus, and have also participated in the carnival of hidden menus.
For example, the raw coconut ice cream coffee of Xi Tea, the Spring Milk Tea of the Four Seasons of White Moonlight, the grape cold green coffee of Nai Xue's tea, and the hidden strategy of cheese and succulent grapes of ancient tea are all officially recommended hidden point methods. However, these tea brands do not limit the hidden point method to this, consumers can still increase the amount of materials and replace the tea base according to their own tastes and needs, and complete their own customized drinks.
Simply put, the hidden menu is the customized and personalized products launched by the tea brand according to the needs of customers.
In fact, customized and personalized products have long been nothing new in the beverage industry. Long ago, Starbucks was "invincible" on social media because of customized drinks, and Starbucks officially launched a number of personalized services.
For example, it allows users to save their favorite drinks and customized preferences, explore drink recipes, and try out "self-created" recipes for relatives, friends, and celebrities.
Do you usually have the habit of drinking milk tea and coffee? Will you go to the tea shop to unlock the hidden menu, or will you follow the menu order?
Source: City Express