---
title: "Chinese Herbal Wellness Drinks Enter the Second Half: Master Kong Uses Professional Strength to Unlock New Channel Growth"
description: "In recent years, with the promotion of the 'medicine and food homology' concept, Chinese herbal wellness drinks have indeed become popular. Products such as red bean and coix seed water, longan and red date tea, and ginseng anti-all-nighter water have emerged rapidly, and the market was once highly active. However, as the heat gradually returns to rationality, the real feelings at the channel level have begun to surface: products look abundant but are highly homogeneous; efficacy claims remain at the conceptual level, lacking more systematic support; consumers try new things quickly, but repurchase is unstable. On the surface, it is a sales problem, but in essence, it is a trust issue—the market lacks a capability system that can support products long-term and withstand scrutiny."
author: "杨玉琳"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2026-03-30"
categories: "Management & Methods"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/chinese-herbal-wellness-drinks-enter-the-second-half-master-kong-uses-pr-7decb214/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/chinese-herbal-wellness-drinks-enter-the-second-half-master-kong-uses-pr-7decb214.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Be_KOVUxVquTY9t_RuS6fA"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E4%B8%AD%E5%BC%8F%E5%85%BB%E7%94%9F%E9%A5%AE%E8%BF%9B%E5%85%A5%E4%B8%8B%E5%8D%8A%E5%9C%BA-%E5%BA%B7%E5%B8%88%E5%82%85%E7%94%A8%E4%B8%93%E4%B8%9A%E5%AE%9E%E5%8A%9B%E5%BC%80%E8%BE%9F%E6%B8%A0%E9%81%93%E6%96%B0%E5%A2%9E%E9%95%BF%E5%8A%9B-7decb214.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/chinese-herbal-wellness-drinks-enter-the-second-half-master-kong-uses-pr-7decb214/"
citation: "杨玉琳. “Chinese Herbal Wellness Drinks Enter the Second Half: Master Kong Uses Professional Strength to Unlock New Channel Growth.” New Distribution, 2026-03-30. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/chinese-herbal-wellness-drinks-enter-the-second-half-master-kong-uses-pr-7decb214/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Chinese Herbal Wellness Drinks Enter the Second Half: Master Kong Uses Professional Strength to Unlock New Channel Growth

> In recent years, with the promotion of the 'medicine and food homology' concept, Chinese herbal wellness drinks have indeed become popular. Products such as red bean and coix seed water, longan and red date tea, and ginseng anti-all-nighter water have emerged rapidly, and the market was once highly active. However, as the heat gradually returns to rationality, the real feelings at the channel level have begun to surface: products look abundant but are highly homogeneous; efficacy claims remain at the conceptual level, lacking more systematic support; consumers try new things quickly, but repurchase is unstable. On the surface, it is a sales problem, but in essence, it is a trust issue—the market lacks a capability system that can support products long-term and withstand scrutiny.

In recent years, with the promotion of the 'medicine and food homology' concept, Chinese herbal wellness drinks have indeed become popular.
Products such as red bean and coix seed water, longan and red date tea, and ginseng anti-all-nighter water have emerged rapidly, and the market was once highly active.
However, as the heat gradually returns to rationality, the real feelings at the channel level have begun to surface: products look abundant but are highly homogeneous; efficacy claims remain at the conceptual level, lacking more systematic support; consumers try new things quickly, but repurchase is unstable.
On the surface, it is a sales problem, but in essence, it is a trust issue—the market lacks a capability system that can support products long-term and withstand scrutiny. What distributors want is not a short-term hit, but 'certainty' for long-term operation.
Against this backdrop, New Distribution observed that Master Kong, a leading company in the food and beverage industry, has begun to proactively explore a more sustainable development model for the herbal wellness drink market.
On March 24, Master Kong and Zhejiang Chinese Medical University held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony in Hangzhou, announcing the joint establishment of a Medicine and Food Homology Research Institute, using hardcore scientific research to build a foundation for the industry and give channel partners a 'reassurance pill'.
**Strong Alliance Between University and Enterprise:**
**From 'Industry Pain Points' to 'Systemic Breakthroughs'**
Currently, the Chinese herbal wellness drink track is in a stage of 'high heat, low threshold.' Although new products are emerging endlessly, the core shortcomings remain obvious: insufficient professional support and a lack of a scientific research system. Most brands remain at the primary stage of 'competing on concepts and piling up ingredients,' making it difficult to form core competitiveness.
This is also why the hotter the market, the more cautious the channels become—products without professional support find it hard to survive cycles.
From an industry perspective, the contradiction lies in the disconnect between R&D and the market—front-end new product iterations are frequent, but the back-end research system, standard methods, and scientific verification have not been established simultaneously.
At the same time, the policy side is pushing this field toward a more standardized development path. During the 2026 National Two Sessions, 'medicine and food homology' became a hot topic in the health field, and 'Healthy China 2035' continues to strengthen the long-term value of health consumption.
In such an environment, relying solely on experience and concepts to drive products is clearly no longer enough.
The cooperation between Master Kong and Zhejiang Chinese Medical University is precisely aimed at solving this core pain point.
As the first attempt in the ready-to-drink beverage field to conduct in-depth joint research with a professional institution, the two parties will jointly build the 'Medicine and Food Homology Research Institute,' taking the lead in establishing a professional platform that continuously empowers the industry.
On this platform, the two sides will focus on the four key technical links of raw materials, formulas, processes, and efficacy, promoting the full-chain integration of medicine and food homology from traditional concepts to market implementation.
This deep layout reflects Master Kong's profound insight into the market: the long-term vitality of FMCG products stems from professional strength and trust accumulation.
When technical capability is no longer a single-point breakthrough but forms a reusable, verifiable, and scalable R&D system, the core competitiveness of products has a foundation. This not only resolves the doubt of 'whether products are reliable' but also, through the certainty of R&D, paves a standardized path for the industry that can be implemented.
**Value of Cooperation:**
**Master Kong's Strength Leads and Promotes Industrial Upgrading**
Looking at the entire food and beverage industry, university-enterprise cooperation is not uncommon. However, most remain at the superficial stage of brand naming or short-term project cooperation. They cannot truly solve the chronic problem of the disconnect between scientific research results and industrialization, nor can they eliminate the widespread professional anxiety in the industry.
In contrast, the alliance between Master Kong and Zhejiang Chinese Medical University builds a 'Great Wall of Trust' for the market through 'dimensional reduction' professionalism.
On the one hand, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University has leading scientific research strength in the field of medicine and food homology in China, with an outstanding TCM research team that has been deeply engaged in the functionality and industrialization key technologies of health foods and medicinal meals for nearly 20 years.
A mature scientific research system and rich theoretical accumulation are the strongest guarantees of product professionalism and authority.
On the other hand, as a leading food and beverage company, Master Kong has strong industrial transformation capabilities and channel layout, enabling scientific research results to be efficiently transformed into 'credible' and 'reliable' products.
With such a combination, the significance of this cooperation goes far beyond joint product development; it is also driving a deeper upgrade and evolution of the industry.
**Track Upgrade: From Concept-Driven to System-Supported.** Through the deep empowerment of the scientific research system, the industry's current situation of 'having concepts but no system' will be changed, allowing Chinese herbal wellness drinks to break free from the traffic dilemma and achieve long-term sustainable development.
**Method Upgrade: From Experience-Based Development to Scientific Verification.** Relying on the university's scientific research resources, through scientific experiments and data verification, product formulas and processes will be optimized, and a complete R&D theory will be established, setting professional standards for the industry that can be referenced and replicated.
**Supply Upgrade: From Being Able to Make Products to Making Good Products.** Jumping out of the low-end involution of 'repeatedly combining a few ingredients,' the entire chain from raw materials, R&D, production, to quality control will be improved, promoting the entire Chinese herbal wellness drink industry toward standardization and high quality.
As a professor from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University said at the press conference: 'Currently, products on the market are highly homogeneous, mostly prioritizing taste. We hope that through this strong university-enterprise alliance, we can launch the first product endorsed and deeply involved in R&D by a university. This is not only to fill a market gap but also to provide consumers with more scientific, authoritative, and higher-quality choices.'
**From a Channel Perspective:**
**Long-Term Operation Becomes More Important**
In the past, the opportunity for Chinese herbal wellness drinks lay in being 'easy to sell,' but the difficulty was in 'selling for a long time.' Products could quickly gain volume with new concepts, but once consumer enthusiasm waned, products lacking support found it hard to form stable repurchase, directly leading to low repurchase rates and short life cycles.
This 'fast in, fast out' rhythm has caused distributors great hardship. 'The biggest fear is that a product will be popular for a while and then disappear,' many distributors said frankly in interviews with New Distribution. Although they are optimistic about the track, they remain cautious when expanding volume, fearing that a hit product might become inventory.
For this reason, at the current stage, when distributors evaluate a product, their focus is shifting from 'whether it can quickly gain volume' to 'whether it can be sustainably operated.'
As the industry begins to shift toward capability, changes at the channel level are also happening simultaneously. Joint scientific research is not only becoming a plus for brands but also providing distributors with confidence for long-term operation.
As a distributor in North China said: 'Previously, when promoting wellness drinks, consumers always asked, "Does it really work?" and we couldn't explain clearly. Now with university scientific research endorsement and data tracking verification, we have confidence in promotion, and consumers feel more at ease buying.'
From an operational perspective, the changes brought about are mainly reflected in: product selection is based on scientific research endorsement, no longer relying entirely on market heat; supply is more stable, reducing risks from frequent adjustments; sales have professional support and brand empowerment, with stronger sustainability and more opportunities to form repurchase.
Moreover, through the establishment of a professional scientific research system, not only can consumers say goodbye to concept chaos and buy truly scientific and reassuring health drinks, but it also reshapes the logic of brand competition to a certain extent. Now, it is no longer about who can squeeze into the golden position on supermarket shelves, but who can truly enter consumers' hearts and become the 'no-brainer' choice.
Only this visible certainty can let distributors see clearly: what kind of products are truly worth long-term investment.
Final Thoughts
In the view of New Distribution, what the market currently needs is not a batch of 'trendy' new products, but a deep, long-term exploration direction. Through continuous co-construction and collaborative R&D, gradually refining raw materials, formulas, and process systems, and in the future, continuously optimizing product capabilities through data tracking, this is the inevitable path for Chinese herbal wellness drinks to return to their value essence.
With scientific research, there is confidence; with a system, there is longevity; with certainty, channels dare to enter and operate long-term.
It is foreseeable that as similar capabilities gradually improve, the industry will enter a stage that emphasizes professionalism and systems.
The business of Chinese herbal wellness drinks will truly move to the next stage.


---

## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 杨玉琳
- Published: 2026-03-30
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/chinese-herbal-wellness-drinks-enter-the-second-half-master-kong-uses-pr-7decb214/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Be_KOVUxVquTY9t_RuS6fA

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671