Bubble tea craze in China transformed by penny-pinching youth

This photo taken on August 29, 2024 shows people drinking at bubble tea chain Mixue Bingcheng's shop at an office building in Beijing. Sweet, milky and colourful -- bubble tea is wildly popular in China, where people sipping through straws from large plastic cups is a common sight in high streets and shopping malls across the country. — Photo: JADE GAO/AFP

Sweet, milky and colourful – bubble tea is wildly popular in China, where people sipping through straws from large plastic cups is a common sight in high streets and shopping malls across the country.

But there's fresh competition brewing in the vast market, characterised by ultra-cheap products that are striking a chord with China's increasingly frugal young consumers.