---
title: "Chinese-style health drinks go viral, with a 10-billion-yuan track and fierce competition among new products"
description: "Chinese-style health drinks, such as red bean and coix seed water, are gaining popularity among young urban professionals as a convenient way to maintain health. The market is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan by 2028, with major beverage companies and new retail platforms entering the fray."
author: "零售商业评论"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2025-05-25"
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# Chinese-style health drinks go viral, with a 10-billion-yuan track and fierce competition among new products

> Chinese-style health drinks, such as red bean and coix seed water, are gaining popularity among young urban professionals as a convenient way to maintain health. The market is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan by 2028, with major beverage companies and new retail platforms entering the fray.

**Source** | Retail Business Review
A white-collar worker picks up a bento box for dinner at a convenience store and grabs a bottle of red bean and coix seed water on the way. This is the new dining combination for some office workers today. This generation of young people, staying up late while trying to "save themselves," has turned Chinese-style health drinks into the new "life-saving神器."
Currently, on the shelves of major convenience stores, red bean and coix seed water, longan and red date soup, and tangerine peel and Poria cocos drinks—these Chinese-style health drinks, marketed with the concept of "medicine and food homology"—are seizing consumption from traditional beverage categories and becoming the new favorite of urban white-collar workers.
According to the "2024 China Chinese-style Health Drink Industry Development Trend Insight Report" released by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, in 2018, the market size of Chinese-style health drinks was only 0.1 billion yuan. By 2023, it had grown to 450 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 350%. The Chinese-style health drink market is showing explosive growth, with a projected compound annual growth rate of over 88% from 2024 to 2028, and the market size is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan by 2028.
From being ignored to occupying the "C-position" in convenience stores, this consumption revolution, driven by both traditional medicinal food culture and modern health anxiety, is rewriting the landscape of the beverage industry.
## **Chinese-style health drinks usher in an explosion, becoming the new favorite of young people**
Following sugar-free tea, Chinese-style health drinks are becoming the "new star" on beverage shelves.
Health drinks are ready-to-drink plant-based beverages made from ingredients such as red beans, coix seeds, red dates, longan, goji berries, and cassia seeds, which are both food and medicine, through processes like boiling and extraction. The pursuit of effects like dampness removal and blood nourishment by "fragile young people" has made products like red bean and coix seed water and red date and astragalus water quickly become "office essentials" and the new "overtime companion" for young people.
Data from Mashangying shows that the plant-based beverage category, which includes Chinese-style health drinks, grew 37.64% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024, ranking first among all beverage subcategories, far higher than the 4.1% growth of ready-to-drink tea (sugar-free tea). Magic Mirror Insight data also shows that from August 2023 to July 2024, sales of Chinese-style health drinks, represented by red bean and coix seed water, on mainstream e-commerce platforms exceeded 200 million yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 162%.
So how did health drinks become popular? The rise of Chinese-style health drinks can be said to be the result of the resonance between consumption trends and traditional culture.
On one hand, there is an increase in health awareness. Under the general health trend, young people's "health preservation blood" is awakening. Their health preservation methods are no longer limited to goji berries in a thermos or brewing flower tea in a health pot; they want to achieve the best health with the least time.
Nowadays, more and more young people are joining the health preservation army. According to iiMedia Consulting's 2024 consumer profile of Chinese-style health tea drinks, consumers aged 25-35 account for 37.6% of the health tea drink consumer group, and those aged 36-45 account for 32.2%.
In addition, according to the "Z Generation Health Consumption Trend Survey Report," 68% of Gen Z consumers agree with the concept of "medicine and food homology." They pursue the efficacy of health preservation while also focusing on the palatability and convenience of products.
Bottled Chinese-style health drinks emphasize natural, healthy, and convenient, precisely catering to young people's "hardcore health preservation" philosophy of "stay up the latest, drink the most nourishing water," as well as the convenience of ready-to-drink. Compared to traditional nourishing products that require steaming and boiling, ready-to-drink health drinks, with their lightweight experience of "open the cap and health is on," precisely hit the time-scarce urban population, instantly becoming the new "life-sustaining water" for young people.
On the other hand, the cultural gene of "medicine and food homology" also provides a natural trust endorsement for health drinks. The concept of medicine and food homology has been沉淀 for thousands of years and has been revitalized under the background of the revival of national trends.
Currently, consumers' awareness of "cultural confidence" in traditional Chinese medicine is emerging, which is an important trend in the development of health products. This cultural identity allows Chinese-style health drinks to penetrate quickly without large-scale market education. For example, ingredients like red beans, coix seeds, and goji berries have a thousand-year history of consumption in China, and their health benefits are deeply rooted in people's minds. On social platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu, we can see many bloggers sharing content about health drinks.
The author believes that the demand for health has given rise to incremental consumption of health drinks. Health drinks use the label of "medicine and food homology" to alleviate consumers' psychological anxiety about sub-health, while replacing high-sugar beverages with "flavored water" to meet health needs in ready-to-drink scenarios. Judging from the shelves of major supermarkets and convenience stores, the proportion of health drinks will continue to increase.
Brands accelerate entry, and the health drink market competition intensifies
In the face of the 10-billion-yuan market, various players are also rushing in. Let's look at some data: in 2023, the market size of Chinese-style health drinks grew by over 350%; Keyang's sales on Douyin increased by 293% year-on-year; and Yuanqi Zizai Water exceeded 1 billion yuan in 2024. Through the data, we can see the market dividend.
From a competitive perspective, before 2022, there were only 4 brands in the domestic health drink market, but by December 2024, there were more than 40, including beverage giants like Genki Forest, Master Kong, and Uni-President. According to our observation, the current Chinese-style health drink market has formed a competitive landscape of three major camps, each relying on its core advantages to expand its territory.
First, traditional KA beverage giants are entering the market one after another. For example, Suntory, the leading brand in sugar-free tea, also targeted the health drink market and announced the launch of a new sub-brand "Suntory Huanfang" this year, introducing two health drink products: Five Red Drink and Rose Astragalus Drink.
However, unlike competitors that emphasize 2-3 core formulas, and in the face of the widely existing homogeneous beverage formulas such as red beans, coix seeds, and goji berries, Suntory Huanfang has taken a different path, choosing to find inspiration from "ancient formulas" and innovating them according to modern consumption tastes and efficacy needs, striving to create a distinctive brand positioning: "One formula, one product; open the bottle and nourish."
Image source: Xiaohongshu @CC
Uni-President has introduced Korean-style "herbal" plant beverages such as Woongjin corn silk and Hovenia dulcis, with the slogan "0-series plant drinks, easy to drink morning and night." Master Kong has also launched a new Chinese-style health series: Cassia Seed and Barley Drink and Goji Berry and Chrysanthemum Tea. Master Kong stated in its promotion that the Chinese-style health series deeply explores traditional herbs and the "medicine and food homology" concept, using "dual herb" formulas and "clean" ingredients to achieve "healthy enough, nourishing enough, tasty enough, and burden-free." As early as the beginning of 2023, Genki Forest launched the "Yuanqi Zizai Water" series, covering common Chinese ingredients such as red bean and coix seed, red date and goji berry, and mung bean. The series exceeded 1 billion yuan in sales in 2024, with a market share of 58.6%, becoming another growth hit after sparkling water.
Second, new retail platforms represented by Hema are leveraging their supply chain advantages for reverse customization. For example, Hema's apple and astragalus water, developed through "medicinal food formulation + big data product selection," became a hit within two months of launch. Recently, Hema also launched new health drink products in cooperation with the time-honored Chinese medicine enterprise Li Liangji. Combined with previously launched private-label products such as fig and flaxseed water, five-finger fig and brown rice water, and double leaf double melon water, its shelves now feature more than 20 types of "Chinese-style health drinks." Xiaoxiang Supermarket, Dingdong Maicai, and Qixian have also launched their own private-label Chinese-style health drink SKUs. Among them, Dingdong Maicai launched a 1L x 4 bottle boiled gift box, more suitable for sharing during New Year gatherings. We found that these channel players use "private-label products + data insights" to quickly iterate SKUs, delivering a dimensionality reduction strike against traditional brands.
Third, time-honored pharmaceutical companies represented by Tongrentang are playing the "professional trust" card. For example, Tongrentang's Zhima Health stores launched a "stay-up-late water" at 29 yuan per bottle, using "ginseng + monk fruit" to strengthen the trust of pharmaceutical companies. The sour jujube seed calming drink, with formula guidance from professional pharmacists, is priced three times higher than ordinary products and is still in short supply. Suzhou Li Liangji has transformed its century-old decoction process into HPP ultra-high-pressure sterilization technology, and its ready-to-drink paste series has a high penetration rate among traditional Chinese medicine enthusiasts in the Yangtze River Delta.
In this multi-dimensional competition, differentiated breakthrough paths are gradually becoming clear. Genki Forest relies on channel density to build scale barriers, Hema leverages new retail channel advantages to create hit products, and time-honored brands use professional endorsement to attack the market.
## **In the 10-billion-yuan market, where are the breakthrough points for brands?**
From a market perspective, the Chinese-style health drink market is further expanding. According to statistics, the number of new products in the Chinese-style health drink category in the first half of 2024 exceeded the total of the past six years, and the compound growth rate is expected to exceed 88% in the next five years.
But competition in the health drink market is also becoming more intense. Health drinks are not a category with high barriers to entry. Since this year, many brands have flooded into this market, and the problem of product homogenization has become increasingly prominent.
We observed that most health drink products currently on the market still revolve around well-known ingredients such as red beans, coix seeds, mung beans, lilies, and snow pears, resulting in similar products. Among them, red bean and coix seed water has the highest duplication rate, with at least a dozen brands offering the same product.
The excessive homogenization of products directly leads to price wars. In convenience stores, brands like Guozishule and Genki Forest have launched promotions such as "second bottle half price" or even "add 1 yuan for one more." Especially when channel players like Hema and Sam's Club make their own private-label products, pushing the unit price of health drinks below 3 yuan, the profit margins of small and medium-sized brands are sharply compressed.
A deeper dilemma lies in the "efficacy trust crisis." The industry lacks unified standards, and there are no clear regulatory norms for raw material quality, production processes, and ingredient proportions, leading to uneven product quality. This also raises more consumer concerns. For example, research by the Hongcan Industry Research Institute shows that 69.1% of consumers worry about poor taste and fear making a bad choice; 61.3% are unsure whether health tea drinks are suitable for their own constitution.
So how can Chinese-style health drink brands break through?
First, product innovation: new product development should evolve from "ingredient stacking" to "functional segmentation." Current products mostly stay at the level of general efficacy and lack precise positioning. The core of breaking homogenization lies in precisely positioning segmented needs.
The "2024 China Chinese-style Health Drink Industry Development Trend Insight Report" points out that among the factors influencing consumption decisions for Chinese-style health drinks, ingredient selection (48.7%), process (30.1%), and efficacy (25.6%) are key variables, far higher than attention to health concepts like "sugar-free" and "clean label." 65.5% of consumers say they choose health drink products for "specific efficacy."
For example, the boiled series co-branded by Leyuan Health and Hema set a record of 94.5% year-on-year sales growth in the summer of 2024 alone. Its ingredient list includes "dark plum, hawthorn, licorice," directly replicating the ancient formula from the Qing Dynasty's "Supplement to Compendium of Materia Medica." This strategy of "new interpretation of ancient formulas" not only leverages consumers' trust in traditional Chinese medicine but also solves the problem of taste standardization through industrial production.
Second, multi-scenario penetration. Brands cover more consumption scenarios through ingredient combination innovation and packaging design. For example, Hema, leveraging its own channel advantages, has launched multiple series of products to cover seasonal and scenario needs. For instance, in summer, it focuses on the "Shuqing" and "Wuzhi" series, while in autumn and winter, it will launch boiled line products that are more "turbid juice type." In the first half of 2025, the category will further extend to typical winter needs like nourishing yin and moistening the lungs. "Different consumption scenarios and different consumer groups still have significant consumer markets and innovation space," said an industry insider.
Third, shelf competition and penetration into lower-tier markets. In terms of sales channels, more segmented channels are being fully explored by brands, and the operational efficiency of single products within channels is being improved. Currently, health drinks mainly rely on convenience stores, supermarkets, and other mass circulation channels offline. Data from Mashangying shows that since 2024, in the three major channels of large supermarkets, small supermarkets, and convenience stores, sales of Chinese-style health drinks account for approximately 36.45%, 28.14%, and 19.59% of Asian traditional beverages (mainly including herbal tea, sour plum soup, and Chinese-style health drinks), respectively, while grocery stores (typical representatives of traditional channels) account for 4.63% in the same period. Of course, shelf competition in first-tier cities has become intense, while lower-tier markets are still a blue ocean. However, consumers in lower-tier cities prefer homemade health tea and are sensitive to unit prices of 5-6 yuan. Previously, Genki Forest adopted a "rural surrounding the city" strategy, distributing the Zizai Water series to 1.2 million terminal outlets. Next, cooperating with regional distributors and entering community group buying remain breakthrough points for channels.
The author believes that the explosion of Chinese-style health drinks is both an inevitable result of health consumption upgrading and a microcosm of the revival of traditional culture. However, the health drink market is still in its early stages of development, and the competitive landscape is far from being formed. **Whether it can go from "internet-famous" to "long-lasting popularity" depends on whether brands can overcome the homogenization trap and truly solve consumers' core pain points such as long-term efficacy and taste.**


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- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 零售商业评论
- Published: 2025-05-25
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- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/K2W1VIy-Z4BB32tmFqD0_w

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