Crowds Return to Milk Tea and Coffee Shops One Month After COVID Policy Easing!

The first short holiday after restrictions were officially lifted has come and gone. Did you spend it lounging at home—or standing in line outside?

The 2023 New Year's holiday coincided with the "recovery period" in cities across the country. People emerged from their homes, life edged back toward normal, and the cities buzzed with renewed energy. Beverage shops slowly regained their former business: many brands reproduced the long queues of years past, and some were outright overwhelmed with orders.

On social media, netizens have been sharing their holiday "queuing journeys." Some spent four hours in line just to get out for the day, then another two hours waiting for food. Others described streets so packed that if not for the masks, you'd forget a pandemic was still on. The holiday's booming food-and-beverage consumption set an upbeat tone for the new year.

Anyone who went out probably spent half their time in a queue. Even those staying in wanted delivery milk tea—and had to wait. Around 1 PM on January 2nd, this writer tried ordering a cup of milk tea on my phone, only for the app to warn that more than 150 drinks were ahead of mine in the queue. That successfully killed the craving.

According to media reports, Liu Xinliang, public relations director of Hushang Ayi, revealed: "On December 31st, overall sales across all stores nationwide rose sharply compared with the previous week. The first day of the holiday saw nearly a 60% increase over ordinary days, with the North China region posting the largest growth—revenue more than quadrupled."

Last weekend, several cities hit the convergence of "recovery + weekend + Christmas." A trending Weibo topic reported that a shopping mall in Zhengzhou drew 100,000 visitors in a single day, and the post has since racked up 200 million views. The news sparked talk of post-pandemic "revenge consumption." Some vendors reported selling tens of thousands of candied hawthorns in a day, with long queues forming; one tea beverage brand said both of its stores at the mall each exceeded 1,000 cups in daily sales.

Media reports from across the country indicate that in cities such as Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Zhengzhou, customer traffic and revenue during the New Year's holiday recovered to 60–80% of the same period in previous years. Most stores are posting continued week-over-week growth—enough to give the industry real hope, with everyone looking ahead to a full recovery by spring and a return to normal rhythms of life and work.

In the week before the holiday, reports noted that customer traffic at all Nayuki stores nationwide had already shown a marked recovery. North China, Central China, and Southwest China posted strong growth, with orders up more than 35%. In North China, for example, order volume rose 35.7% over the prior week, and of the top ten stores by sales, all but the MixC World store in Shijiazhuang, Hebei were in Beijing.

After three years of pandemic suppression, the food-and-beverage recovery won't be perfectly synchronized, and the road back won't be traversed overnight. For every shop with hours-long queues, another closes early and heads home for the New Year. We're still in a phase of "seemingly warm but still cold"—but the overall trend is pointing upward, and the vibrancy of the cities is gradually returning.

Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If all that queuing has you dreaming of great coffee at home instead, FrontStreet Coffee recommends these entry-level specialty beans:

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Guji Hambela "Hua Kui" (Natural) — a tropical-fruit powerhouse: strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, and lychee aromatics with pronounced sweetness and almost no bitterness. Often described as "the coffee that doesn't taste like coffee"—perfect for converts from milk tea.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Guodingding (Washed) — bright citrus, berry, and jasmine florals with a green-tea finish. Its acidity is soft and fruit-like rather than sharp, making it the friendliest possible introduction to specialty pour-overs.

FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon — smooth, balanced, and low in acidity with rich nut and cocoa aromas plus clear caramel sweetness. Works for pour-over, espresso, or moka pot, and won't break the budget as an everyday cup.