China's tea brand inWe makes tea culture hip for youth

Miao Qin (left), founder of inWe, investor Zhang Zetian (center), and one of the store designers, Wang Yuheng, at the opening ceremony of inWe store in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China's tea brand inWe, which targets young consumers and has been dedicated to repackaging Chinese tea as hip to the West, opened its eighth store in Beijing on Thursday night.

Unlike the traditional way of drinking Chinese tea, where delicate tea sets and complicated tea etiquette are required to brew a good cup, inWe uses modern high-tech tea machines to ensure a consistent quality and taste of tea. Besides that, the stores are designed with a simple, modern aesthetic and a green environment for young people to gather and chat.

"Tea is the daily life of 1.3 billion Chinese people, but there are no famous chain store brands yet in China, which is a pity," Miao Qin, founder of inWe, who has more than 20 years of experience in the catering management.

InWe now offers almost all kinds of Chinese tea, such as green tea, white tea, Oolong tea, black tea and dark tea. Miao says that he would expect to open more than 300 stores in Chinese cities in the next few years. Apart from the offline stores, inWe will also put its products online.

Zhang Zetian, an investor, says China's tea market is valued at more than 100 billion yuan, so investing in the tea industry is a smart choice.

"Using a modern approach to help tea culture reach to more people, especially the younger generation, is also key to the development of China's tea culture," she says.