On June 3, CHAGEE's newly established flagship stores—CHAGEE Flagship Store (Global Harbor, Shanghai) and CHAGEE Flagship Store (MetroCity, Shanghai)—were unveiled simultaneously. New products available only in Shanghai like Iced Tea and Teaspresso, as well as new tea spaces with the concept of "TEA BAR", made their debut.
In these two flagship stores, consumers can experience the exceptional flavors and extraordinary quality of CHAGEE tea drinks while also getting a close-up look at the innovative blend of traditional tea culture and modern tea-making techniques. Through the texture of a tea leaf and memories of a millennium-old tea road, they can seek harmony between the tea drinks and modern life.
From Kunming, Yunnan to Shanghai, the eastern gateway of China, the lingering aroma of tea has been spreading globally. The opening of the flagship stores in Shanghai unveils the rejuvenation and upgrade of the tea brand CHAGEE and its modern tea spaces and products.
New "TEA BAR" Concept Debut
Following the opening of the new flagship stores in Shanghai, "TEA BARs" as the new-generation space for quality tea made their first appearance. Inheriting CHAGEE's consistent Chinese style, the two flagship stores in Shanghai combine Eastern and Western design techniques while retaining the unique design language of the culture. By blending elegant and exquisite Chinese textures with metallic tea tones, they serve as new modern tea houses.
According to the historical records, "The drinking of tea was revealed by Shennong, and became renowned under the Duke of Zhou of Lu. It thrived in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and developed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties." In the flagship stores in Shanghai, CHAGEE has upgraded its iconic "C" brand pattern to a typical glaze style from Tang culture. Against the glaze-toned lighting backdrop, each cup of tea seems to carry the lingering aroma of tea from the Tang Dynasty. In the TEA BARs, the "Tea Horse Road" painted wall symbolizing the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations echoes the brand pattern. Drawing inspiration from the Dunhuang grotto culture, the mottled painting depicts the ancient road through which the camel caravans carrying Chinese tea departed from the Yangguan Pass to enter the Western Regions, passed through Loulan and finally reached Rome. From here, the tea was transported globally. Thus, it narrates a history of tea and half of the civilization history.
The design concept of the TEA BAR spaces not only emphasizes the aesthetic attribute of tea culture, but also highlights practical functional scene design. For the shopwindow design, the stores choose the "upward-opening" folding windows commonly seen in bars and cafes. This not only enhances the transparency of the stores but also serves both business and leisure purposes.
In terms of details, the two flagship stores feature unique designs. For example, the CHAGEE Flagship Store (Global Harbor, Shanghai) uses the "middle island + green plants" landscape and intricate lighting arrangements to reasonably divide the whole space into boutique tea-making, dine-in ordering, takeaway window, and leisure tea-tasting areas. On the other hand, the CHAGEE Flagship Store (MetroCity, Shanghai) utilizes its building's spatial structure to connect the interior functional spaces with the outdoor stall and leisure spaces. This approach greatly expands the store's sense of space.
Enjoying the classic process of face-to-face tea-making is a highlight of the TEA BAR spatial experiences. In terms of production process design, unlike traditional tea drink stores, each of the two flagship stores features an iconic over-8-meter-long bar counter, which allows consumers to closely observe each step from grinding, extraction to the infusion of the tea. This setup lets them experience the meticulous process of making the Teaspresso and Iced Oriental Tea series and appreciate the charm of carefully made tea drinks.
The TEA BAR conceptual spaces, as a new concept store type for the Shanghai flagship stores, embody CHAGEE's years of exploration and innovation in tea drinks. Starting with tea as the original point, the two flagship stores visually present the elements of Eastern tea culture while integrating the sounds of grinding tea leaves and extracting tea, the lingering tea aroma inside, the unique feel of holding a tea drink, and the taste enjoyment of the true essence of tea. They blend five senses into one space, allowing consumers to have an immersive experience in new tea spaces.
Taking "Tea" as the Root, CHAGEE Is Ushering in a New Era of Tea Drinking for the Next Millennium.
From a single tea leaf to a cup of tea, tea has gone through generations of tea-making methods such as boiling, roasting, whisking, and steeping. Looking towards the next millennium, CHAGEE has developed new techniques for making tea.
With a spirit of continuous exploration of new tea drinks, CHAGEE innovatively employs the "Fast Pressurized Extraction" technology to expand the tea-making techniques from boiling, roasting, whisking, and steeping to "extraction". By extracting tea leaves to make tea concentrate, the new product series Teaspresso is born. As a limited product series of the Shanghai flagship stores, the Teaspresso series retains the original functionality of tea while completely retaining its aroma, carrying a richer, silkier taste and a lingering aftertaste.
Alongside the launch of the Teaspresso series, CHAGEE has also upgraded and reshaped its product menu. With "tea" as the root, it emphasizes the natural tea flavor of the tea drinks. One of the most representative new product series is Iced Tea, which is only available in Shanghai, and represents CHAGEE's innovations in ingredients, production and packaging.
The Iced Tea series strictly selects famous and premium tea from places of origin, such as Jasmine Snow Bud Tea, Mandarin Orange Pu'er and Glutinous Rice Fragrance Green Tea. Through the precise adjustment of the tea-making parameters and strict control of the water quality, the fragrance and charm of the freshly brewed original leaves have been retained to the greatest extent. Take JASMINE GREEN ICED TEA for example. After undergoing the jasmine flower scenting process seven times, the snow bud tea fully absorbs the jasmine aroma, earning a reputation of being a perfect combination of aroma and tea water. The Iced Tea made with the seven-scented jasmine snow bud tea offers a long-lasting tea taste, with a subtle hint of jasmine aroma that is fragrant yet not overpowering, refreshing yet not cloudy.