SEOUL: In recent years, Chinese bubble tea chains have seeped into South Korea’s cafe landscape at a slow but steady pace, carving out a small yet vivid foothold in a market long dominated by coffee.
South Korea may seem like just another waypoint in the global march of China’s tea giants, but industry officials say its “trend-sensitive and demanding” consumers make it a pivotal testing ground for global ambitions – so much so that a milk tea boom a few years ago has already fizzled out.
