What are the top popular flavors in the Chinese drink industry in 2021? White peach and coconut.

It seems that almost all drink and bubble tea brands are developing relevant products. The 2020 Drink Consumption Trend Insight shows that lemon, white peach, orange, and coconut are consumers’ favorite flavors. A report from fragrance supplier Fona indicates that new products with white peach flavor increased by 63%, of which the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 83%.1 According to 2021Q2 Chinese Online High Consumption Market White Book, drinks with coconut flavor have the highest growth rate, 67.5%. The sales of coconut-flavored products reached 169.443 million yuan. Why are these two flavors so popular?

White Peach

The popularity of the white peach flavor was driven by Genki Forest’s ace product, White Peach Sparkling Water at the beginning. Later, as many brands took notice of its popularity, so many similar products sprung up. Pepsi launched a White Peach Oolong Soda; AHA Sparkling Water, a brand from Coca-Cola, also promoted a White Peach Oolong Tea Sparkling Water soon; Chinese bottled water brand Nongfu Spring also followed the trend, launching a white peach flavor sparkling water.

Because white peach has a sweet and soft taste, milky pink appearance, and a pleasant fragrance, it quickly gains consumers’ attention, especially young girls’ favor. Many white peach products do not use actual white peach as ingredients but use flavors to create a “white peach” taste. In the meantime, they make great efforts on products’ packaging to build a pink fantasy for consumers.

When searching “white peach (白桃)“ on Little Red Book, an emerging online shopping and social media platform in China, people can find over 350,000 posts sharing all kinds of white peach-related products, from drinks to lipsticks, attracting more and more girls to fall into this big pink fantasy.                                           

Coconut

Driven by the popularity of plant-based beverages, coconut flavor rose quickly in a short period. According to 2020 Plant-Based Drink Innovation Trend, the coconut flavor is the most popular one among all plant-based drinks, with an increased rate of 109%.

The coconut product line from Luckin achieved over 10 million units monthly sales. Heytea’s coconut milk jelly was among the Top5 popular products in the store. From February to July 2021, over 20 drink brands promoted about 160 new products with coconut flavor. 1

Different coconut water, coconut milk made of coconut flesh and coconut water, tasting more like coconut itself. The popularity of coconut milk also boosted relevant suppliers’ business, such as Fresh Yolo (菲诺). As a brand focusing on To-B business, its Tmall store sales also surged when consumers found that it was the supplier of many coffee and bubble tea brands, increasing by 394% in June 2021.

Luckin’s coconut milk latte(left) and Heytea’s coconut milk jelly (right)

What’s Next?

Popular flavor can be related to seasons most time. White peach was popular in spring, while coconut is obvious a flavor in summer. So what is the next popular flavor when golden autumn and white winter are around the corner?

Fona’s autumn flavor survey statistics show that 51% of consumers like autumn the most, and 32% will buy autumn products, such as pumpkin latte.

In most Chinese’s collective memory, the top1 flavor in autumn must be sweet-scented osmanthus. Based on this, many brands have promoted osmanthus products. The most popular one is osmanthus latte, which now can be found on many coffee shops’ menus, including Luckin, Starbucks, Manner, and Peets.

Some brands also pay attention to candied chestnuts. For example, Nayuki launched a new product named coconut caramel chestnut treasure bubble tea, which combines the flavor of chestnut and coconut, surprising its consumers.

Nayuki’s coconut caramel chestnut treasure bubble tea (left) and Coco’s caramel chestnut milk tea (right)

One thing to notice is that popular seasonal food doesn’t necessarily equate to a popular flavor. Chilean cherry is an example. When Chilean cherry was trending in China in the 2020 winter, some products with cherry flavor were surprisingly undesirable. Cherry cola from Coca-Cola even was recognized as one of the worst taste drinks among Chinese consumers.

Therefore, developing a popular flavor requires a good understanding of consumers’ preferences, many tests, and even a bit of luck. Now Chinese market is waiting for a fresh new flavor to surprise consumers.