This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on October 27, 2023.
According to Value Planet, Chinese fresh-tea chains are moving quickly into Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest market for the category. During China's 2023 National Day holiday, Sweet7 opened six stores in Jakarta, its first overseas outlets. The company had said it planned to develop Southeast Asia more fully in November 2023 and open 60 stores in Indonesia by year-end.
The appeal is straightforward: Indonesia is Southeast Asia's largest economy, has a young population, and has a growing middle class. Although overall consumption levels remain relatively low and local competitors are active, Chinese value-positioned tea chains led by Mixue have found room to grow by offering low prices, clean and attractive stores, and a comfortable dine-in environment. Fresh fruit tea is becoming another everyday drink option alongside coffee and bubble tea.
Sweet7 is still less known than major Chinese tea brands, but in China's lower-tier markets it has become a serious challenger to Mixue. Its core products are fresh fruit teas priced around RMB 10, ice cream starting from RMB 2, and a flagship One Bucket Fruit Tea priced at RMB 10, with cumulative sales reportedly above 100 million cups.
Like Mixue, Sweet7 relies on franchising in China. It has also built its own orchards and tea bases to support supply quality. Its store base is more weighted toward lower-tier cities: close to 40% of stores are in third-tier cities, and around 70% are in third-tier-and-below cities.
Sweet7 is following Mixue into Indonesia. Other Chinese tea brands have also entered or explored the market:
Mixue moved earlier, entering Indonesia in 2021. By March 2022, when it submitted its IPO prospectus, Mixue had 317 stores in Indonesia, with revenue of RMB 25.4108 million and net profit of RMB 2.2355 million.
Indonesia is already a major beverage market. It is the world's fourth-largest coffee-bean producer and the seventh-largest coffee market. Starbucks has operated there for more than a decade and has more than 400 stores. Since 2017, local Indonesian coffee chains have also grown quickly. Against that backdrop, Mixue helped make fruit tea a more fashionable daily drink.
Historically, Indonesia was not the first stop for most Chinese tea chains going overseas. Many preferred Singapore and Malaysia. In 2018, Heytea and Nayuki both chose Singapore for their first overseas moves, while Chagee later gained traction in Malaysia with its Chinese-style branding and fresh milk tea made with whole tea leaves. Mixue, by contrast, took a value route in Indonesia and Vietnam. At the time of the article, Mixue had more than 300 stores in Indonesia and more than 1,000 in Vietnam.
Data cited in the article put Southeast Asian new-style tea consumption at USD 3.66 billion a year, with Indonesia accounting for USD 1.6 billion, or 43% of the total.
Indonesia's broader economy also supports the case. In 2022, the rupiah was one of Asia's better-performing currencies and the local stock market reached a record high. As the world's largest nickel producer, Indonesia was also expected to benefit from growth in the new-energy sector.
The middle class is expanding. Boston Consulting Group data cited in the article put Indonesia's middle-class population above 90 million, or 35% of the population, with middle-class households spending more than IDR 2 million per month on daily expenses, about RMB 930.
For Chinese tea chains, Indonesia offers something the home market no longer does: faster growth. By 2022, China's fresh-tea market had become intensely competitive, especially in provincial capitals and commercial districts where multiple brands, and sometimes multiple stores from the same brand, compete within a few hundred meters. Discounting and pushing further into lower-tier cities have become less effective.
Southeast Asia has been a priority since Heytea opened in Singapore in 2018. The region is geographically close to China, has some overlap in consumption habits, and has hot weather year-round, supporting high cold-drink demand. Some consumers buy two to three cold drinks a day.
Different Chinese brands have chosen different overseas routes. Premium brands such as Heytea went to higher-ticket markets such as Singapore. Value brands such as Mixue chose lower-ticket but faster-growing markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Chagee expanded across Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
By store count, Mixue's model appeared stronger at the time. After five years in Singapore, Heytea had opened only five stores. Chagee had 11 stores in Singapore, 56 in Malaysia, and two in Thailand. Mixue, meanwhile, had expanded heavily in Vietnam and Indonesia, with store counts in both markets exceeding 1,000 according to the article.
Mixue's advantage came from low prices and localization. Compared with Heytea's fruit-led products or Chagee's whole-leaf milk tea, Mixue's ingredients may be less premium, but its sweeter drinks fit consumer preferences in Indonesia and Vietnam. In Southeast Asia, fruit is inexpensive, so consumers may prefer eating fruit directly rather than paying a high price for fresh fruit tea. When buying fruit tea, they often care more about sweetness and refreshment than fruit quality.
Mixue reportedly raised sweetness levels in Indonesia and Vietnam. Industry sources said that level of sweetness would be hard to sell in China but was accepted by Southeast Asian consumers.
Sweet7's product mix and operating model are highly similar to Mixue's. At a recent partner conference, Sweet7 said it planned to open 60 stores in Indonesia by the end of 2023, develop Southeast Asia in 2024 with a conservative target of 500 overseas stores, and enter North America, Europe, and the Middle East in 2025.
As more Chinese tea chains target Indonesia, the market is becoming more contested. Mixue gained an early lead with lemon tea and ice cream, but some industry observers said it had not built Starbucks-level brand loyalty. Its appeal came from relatively low prices, hygienic products, local flavor fit, attractive stores, and comfortable seating.
WEDRINK, Sweet7, and other brands also have fruit tea and cone ice cream as signature products. Their offers overlap with Mixue's while adding some differentiation, which could reduce Mixue's dominance in overseas fruit tea and ice cream.
Local Indonesian brands are also moving fast. Esteh Indonesia, founded in 2018, began as a roadside stall with a simple menu of lemon iced tea, lychee iced tea, milk tea, and similar drinks. In November 2019, it shifted to franchising. By 2023, it had 550 stores on Java and 310 stores on other islands. It later added products such as avocado iced tea, priced around IDR 8,000-9,000 per cup, about RMB 4. Its franchise fee was around RMB 130,000, slightly lower than Mixue's.
Indonesia also has premium local tea brands such as Ban Ban, positioned closer to Heytea. Its menu includes fruit cheese tea and black pearl milk tea, with prices around RMB 20, which is high for the local market. Ban Ban had opened eight stores in top-tier malls in Jakarta.
Chinese tea chains also compete with coffee and bubble tea. Bubble tea has a long history in Indonesia: Taiwanese brands such as Gong Cha, Xing Fu Tang, and Chatime entered the market from the 1990s onward. While China's beverage market has largely shifted from early bubble tea to fresh fruit tea, Indonesia's preference for high-sugar drinks means bubble tea still has a large audience. Chatime and other brands that have faded in China remain influential in Indonesia.
Haus, founded in 2018 by former Indonesian banker Gufron Syarif, built a value-focused chain around bubble tea, chocolate milk tea, baked goods, and chips. A medium bubble tea or chocolate milk tea cost around IDR 14,000, about RMB 6.7, roughly 25% cheaper than Mixue's Indonesia pricing. Haus operated directly owned stores to control product quality and added dining services as it upgraded stores. Four years after launch, it had 230 Indonesian stores and expected to reach 400 in 2023.
Coffee remains a major force. Starbucks is still one of Indonesia's leading beverage chains, while local coffee brands such as Kopi Kenangan, Fore Coffee, and Kopi Janji Jiwa grew after 2016 as the middle class expanded. These chains filled the gap between Starbucks and instant coffee or street stalls.
Kopi Kenangan, often described as Indonesia's Luckin, focuses on takeaway. It attracted capital through an USD 8.5 million angel round, USD 20 million Series A, USD 109 million Series B, and USD 96 million Series C, with investors including Sequoia India, Kunlun Tech, and Horizons Ventures. Its valuation exceeded RMB 1 billion, and its store count grew from 20 in 2017 to 868 by summer 2023.
For new Chinese entrants, replicating Mixue's trajectory will not be easy. They face fast-growing local brands, established beverage categories, and Mixue's existing base.
Indonesia's geography also raises the operating bar. The country has more than 17,000 islands, and inter-island transport depends heavily on flights and ferries. That creates higher demands on logistics and supply-chain management.
Still, China's domestic tea market is highly saturated. Mid-tier brands such as Chabaidao, GoodMe, and Auntie Shanghai have announced moves toward 10,000 stores and are pushing into lower-tier markets such as Shandong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Anhui, and Hebei. For brands rooted in lower-tier markets and with limited room to move premium, such as Shuyi, Mixue, and Sweet7, Indonesia may look like a more attractive second growth curve than defending share at home.
Note: IPO, financing, valuation, store-target, and forward-expansion figures are historical, based on information available in the original 2023 article.