At 8:30 a.m., Xiaohua, who works with words, begins her workday. To relieve work-related anxiety, she orders a cup of milk tea two or three days a week. "Compared to bottled drinks, freshly made milk tea tastes better, has more choices, and is updated more frequently. I also enjoy the process of choosing my own toppings and sweetness." In Xiaohua's eyes, "this is a sense of ritual in the lives of contemporary young people."
Young people like Xiaohua are not uncommon, and their enthusiasm is inextricably linked to the rapid development of the freshly made beverage industry. Among them, new tea drink brands using tea, fruit, and milk as main ingredients are emerging in large numbers. The "2022 New Tea Drink Research Report" released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association shows that by the end of 2022, the total number of new tea drink stores nationwide reached 486,000. However, at the same time, issues such as the lack of transparency regarding the types and dosages of additives in freshly made beverages and the low degree of standardization have repeatedly attracted attention.
So, what exactly makes freshly made beverages so appealing? And how can we balance "deliciousness" with "health"?
1. Unclear Ingredients: Hidden Concerns Behind "Freshness"
The history of beverages is long and rich. From the very beginning of civilization, humanity was no longer content with simply using water as its daily drink. Thousands of years ago, beer, fermented from surplus grains, stimulated the taste buds of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt and Mesopotamia. In ancient Greece and Rome along the Mediterranean coast, wine became a staple on the tables of the wealthy and powerful. In modern times, beverages made from plants such as tea, coffee, and cocoa have reached every corner of the world aboard the sails of European and American navigators. With industrialization, beverage production entered the era of assembly lines, resulting in a vast variety of options and the emergence of different "schools" of beverages, such as ready-made and pre-packaged, each with its own characteristics to satisfy the preferences and needs of different beverage lovers.
In today's fast-paced world, different enthusiasts have given their own answers to the appeal of freshly made beverages.
“I drink coffee almost every day. I order takeout on weekdays and go to coffee shops on weekends,” said Jiuli, who has been drinking coffee for many years. “Besides being energized, coffee can create a working state for me, just like I am more efficient at studying in a study room than at home.”
“For me, milk tea is something that’s not so common but is relatively easy to obtain, and it gives me a small sense of satisfaction, while buying bottled drinks doesn’t give me that feeling,” Xiaohua added.
"What attracts me most about freshly made drinks is probably their freshness. I feel like there shouldn't be as many preservatives," said Xuesong, who drinks milk tea every week. "And the frequency of new products and collaborations is also higher, which better satisfies my curiosity."
Novelty, ambiance, instant gratification... these are some of the key factors that respondents cited when discussing the appeal of freshly made drinks. Most also indicated that they generally choose sugar-free options when ordering freshly made drinks, citing reasons such as a dislike of sweets, a preference for the original flavor, and concerns about weight gain. It's clear that while enjoying beverages, young consumers also place considerable emphasis on health.
"Actually, I'm someone who cares a lot about whether food ingredients are healthy, but when I'm having emotional problems, I still tend to have a drink." Although she tries to choose sugar-free and simple ingredients when buying food, Xiaohua's weight and sleep have changed over the years.
“I occasionally encounter patients with dyslipidemia, especially women. During dietary surveys, I find that they may not like to eat meat, but they like to drink milk tea,” said Xu Yingxia, deputy chief physician of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at Beijing Tiantan Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University. “In fact, drinks like milk tea are quite high in calories and sugar.”
“I pay more attention to food ingredients, and I hope that freshly made beverages can also be labeled,” Cedar added.
2. Inconsistent standards: gradually disclosed ingredients
How many calories are in a cup of milk tea? What are the ingredients? Are the sugar content and other standards standardized across different milk tea shops?
"Four years ago, I led a small survey with my students and found that the quality control of these freshly made beverages was not good. Different people in the same shop could have very different understandings of what constitutes 30% sugar and 70% sugar. In our tests, we also found that a 30% sugar beverage had more added sugar than a 50% sugar beverage from the same shop," said Xu Yajun, Vice Dean of the School of Public Health and Professor of Nutrition and Food Hygiene at Peking University, in an interview. "The sugar content of '30% sugar' also varies greatly between different milk tea shops, which may be one of the reasons why it is difficult to clearly label the sugar content of freshly made beverages."
"Actually, I don't really recommend drinking milk tea often, because you don't know what you're drinking," Xu Yingxia said. "At least bottled drinks have their ingredients listed, so you know what's in them. But milk tea usually doesn't have that information."
Currently, my country has clear regulations on the labeling content of prepackaged foods, requiring the food name, ingredient list, net content, allergens, etc., but there are no strict regulations for freshly prepared and sold foods.
“Some catering brands have tried similar approaches before, but the results were not ideal. For example, how should a restaurant label the nutritional information for a dish like Kung Pao Chicken? There are still some implementation issues.” Zhong Kai from the China Food and Health Information Exchange Center suggested starting from the upstream of the industry chain.
"For example, it's difficult to make specific regulations for the final product, but the raw materials used can be monitored. There should be standards for the purchase of fruits, standards for the purchase of milk, and standards for the amount of additives. All of these should be purchased through formal channels. If the front end is well monitored, no matter how the merchants mix the ingredients within the safe range, the finished product is unlikely to have major problems," Zhong Kai said.
Nowadays, freshly made beverage brands are paying more and more attention to the health of their ingredients. Some brands are using slogans such as "real milk," "real tea," and "real cane sugar," while others are emphasizing the use of healthy natural sweeteners. For example, recently, a tea brand published the calorie and nutritional information of six of its products through its official account.
“Labeling the ingredients will make consumers understand what they are drinking better, which is highly commendable.” However, Xu Yajun admitted, “Before labeling, the amount added throughout the entire production process needs to be relatively ‘standardized,’ otherwise the numbers written on the label are meaningless.”
3. Controllable intake: Standardization process is accelerating.
Freshly made beverages cannot be separated from manual operation, and once manual operation is involved, it is difficult to be as precise as machines at all times.
Among the interviewees, Xuesong had worked at a chain of new tea beverage stores. According to her, "When I first started working, I would receive a form with the preparation process for various beverages, specifying how much of each ingredient to use. All I had to do was memorize it and strictly follow the process. At present, for larger chain brands, there is not much room for individual operation when preparing a beverage, and the degree of standardization is higher."
A review of relevant national standards reveals that several current national standards, including GB/T10789-2015 "General Rules for Beverages," GB7101 "National Food Safety Standard for Beverages," GB2759-2015 "National Food Safety Standard for Frozen Beverages and Raw Materials," GB2760-2014 "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives," and GB14880-2012 "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Fortifiers," specify the ingredients that may be involved in beverage preparation. For example, the sweetener aspartame is permitted in six types of beverages, including fruit and vegetable juices and protein drinks, with a maximum usage of 0.6 g/kg. For solid beverages, the usage increases according to the dilution ratio. However, freshly prepared beverages, as a separate category, currently lack specific national standards, and their regulation is largely based on the aforementioned standards.
"The 'General Rules for Beverages' were proposed by the China Beverage Industry Association and mainly target pre-packaged beverages; freshly made beverages are not included," Zhong Kai explained. "Strictly speaking, freshly made beverages are actually part of the catering industry. As long as it's done by people, it's difficult to achieve 100% standardization. However, for example, the dosage of full sugar, half sugar, and less sugar, and whether to use sugar or sweeteners, relatively unified standards can be established within companies or even within the industry to avoid situations where one store's half sugar is sweeter than another store's full sugar."
Although there are no national standards yet, in recent years, various social organizations have successively proposed group standards for the industry to follow in response to the rapid development of the freshly made beverage industry. In December 2019, the China Cuisine Association took the lead in releasing the group standard T/CCA 009-2019 "Operating Specifications for Freshly Made Beverages," which stipulates the terminology, classification, facilities, equipment, raw materials, and food additives for freshly made beverages. In March 2021, the Fujian Chain Store & Franchise Association released the group standard T/FJCFA 0001-2021 "Freshly Made Milk Tea." Subsequently, the Cross-Strait Tea Industry Exchange Association released the "Series of Group Standards for Tea Beverages," clarifying the scope, requirements, and inspection rules for five categories of products, including freshly made milk tea and freshly made milk foam tea, further subdividing specific indicators such as microbial limits, contaminant limits, and food additives. In recent years, the China Chain Store & Franchise Association has also successively released group standards such as "Terminology and Classification of Freshly Made Tea Drinks" and "Self-Inspection Guidelines for Food Safety in Freshly Made Tea Drink Stores," and the standardization process of the freshly made beverage industry is gradually accelerating.
"Generally speaking, processed foods are not as good as natural ones, especially those that are recommended for pregnant women and children to consume with caution. We suggest that everyone control their intake," said Xu Yingxia. "Limit it to a few times a week or a month, and stop when you can."
