---
title: "“Simmered” Health Waters: A New Billion-Yuan Sugar-Free Beverage Trend"
description: "This year, “Chinese-style health waters” have become a hot trend in the sugar-free beverage sector. These drinks, based on traditional Chinese food therapy, are typically simmered or extracted from ingredients like red beans, coix seed, red dates, and tangerine peel. With zero sugar and zero fat, they appeal to young consumers seeking health benefits, serving as a daily “water substitute.” Online sales data confirms the boom: from May to July 2024, concepts like “Chenpi Ginger Poria Drink,” “Smoked Plum and Hawthorn,” and “Refreshing Mung Bean Water” saw the fastest sales growth on Taobao's coffee/cereal/instant drink category."
author: "Leah"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2024-09-26"
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# “Simmered” Health Waters: A New Billion-Yuan Sugar-Free Beverage Trend

> This year, “Chinese-style health waters” have become a hot trend in the sugar-free beverage sector. These drinks, based on traditional Chinese food therapy, are typically simmered or extracted from ingredients like red beans, coix seed, red dates, and tangerine peel. With zero sugar and zero fat, they appeal to young consumers seeking health benefits, serving as a daily “water substitute.” Online sales data confirms the boom: from May to July 2024, concepts like “Chenpi Ginger Poria Drink,” “Smoked Plum and Hawthorn,” and “Refreshing Mung Bean Water” saw the fastest sales growth on Taobao's coffee/cereal/instant drink category.

This year, “Chinese-style health waters” have become a major trend in the sugar-free beverage sector.
Chinese-style health waters, in the mainstream market view, are beverages based on traditional Chinese food therapy concepts, typically simmered or extracted from ingredients with medicinal value such as red beans, coix seed, red dates, and tangerine peel.
These zero-sugar, zero-fat drinks, which feel healthy to consume, cater to the current health-conscious needs of young people, becoming a daily “water substitute” for many at home and in the office.
Online transaction data for related products also confirms the popularity of this track.
From May to July 2024, high-growth concepts in the coffee/cereal/instant drink category on Taobao platforms
Image source: Magic Mirror Growth Radar
**Magic Mirror Growth Radar shows that in the past three months, the three concepts with the fastest sales growth in the coffee/cereal/instant drink category were “Chenpi Ginger Poria Drink,” “Smoked Plum and Hawthorn,” and “Refreshing Mung Bean Water.”** Among them, the latter two bottled ready-to-drink beverages correspond to products like Qingshang's “Oriental Supplement” series sour plum drink and Genki Forest's “Zizai Shui” series refreshing mung bean water.
According to the latest report from well-known financial media “LatePost,” Genki Forest's “Zizai Shui” is expected to exceed 1 billion yuan in sales in 2024, becoming the brand's third major product after sparkling water and electrolyte water.
Chinese-style health waters are not a new concept; years ago, Keyang had already launched ready-to-drink red bean and coix seed water, and sour plum drinks have a long history. Why has this category become a top trend this year? With more players entering, what are the future trends for the track? This article will provide an in-depth analysis.
**Health Water Track Heats Up, Genki Forest Leads**
**Multiple Brands Rush In**
The development of bottled Chinese-style health waters can be traced back to 2018 when Keyang launched red bean and coix seed water, but it truly entered the public eye and gained sustained attention after Genki Forest officially launched the “Zizai Shui” series in February 2023.
After Zizai Shui became popular, the track quickly heated up. As of May 2024, more than 10 brands, including Genki Forest, Keyang, Haowangshui, Douding Daily, and Qingshang, have entered the Chinese-style health water market, with competition intensifying.
**Magic Mirror Analysis+ data shows that from August 2023 to July 2024, sales of Chinese-style health waters, 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%.**
From August 2023 to July 2024
Sales trends of Chinese-style health waters on mainstream e-commerce platforms
Image source: Magic Mirror Analysis+
Genki Forest, leveraging its channel and first-mover advantages, holds over 50% of this market share. Keyang, the originator of “red bean and coix seed water,” and Haowangshui, which quickly followed the health water track in 2024, rank second and third.
Currently, Genki Forest's Zizai Shui has completed the layout of three major categories: red bean and coix seed water, red date and wolfberry water, and mung bean water. Keyang, in addition to red bean and coix seed water, began laying out products like Wuhong Soup (red beans, red dates, roses, wolfberries, peanuts) and mung bean water in 2022. Haowangshui's “Care” series, on the other hand, starts with relatively niche pure coix seed water and longan water.
From the overview of ingredients and product names, it is not difficult to see that **“health” is the main theme of Chinese-style health waters**, with “zero sugar, zero fat, zero calories” being almost a common claim across these products.
In terms of process, besides Keyang emphasizing “extraction” technology, the new generation of health waters almost all revolve around “simmering.” Building on the previous trend of young people using health pots to boil soups for wellness, the concept of simmering in Chinese food therapy can more efficiently capture consumer mindsets.
According to data from the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the core consumer group for Chinese-style health waters is mainly young white-collar workers in first-tier cities, with female users accounting for over 65%.
Consumer profile analysis of Chinese-style health waters Image source: Prospective Industry Research Institute
In the fast-paced, high-pressure work and life in high-tier cities, the younger generation's demand for health and wellness is growing. They not only pay attention to basic product information like sugar-free and clean ingredients but also focus on the core efficacy claimed by health waters. **Data shows that 65.5% of consumers purchase Chinese-style health waters for effects like weight loss, dampness removal, and blood enrichment.**
**Simmered “Water Substitute”**
**New Generation Health Waters Focus on Taste and Health**
In its “2024 China Chinese-style Health Water Industry Development Trend Insight Report,” the Prospective Industry Research Institute stated that the market size of Chinese-style health waters in China reached 450 million yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of over 350%. Red bean and coix seed water is nothing new, so why has it still ignited the market?
First, look at the demand side. After the pandemic, people's emphasis on health has reached an unprecedented level. More and more young people are joining the health brigade. They are no longer satisfied with traditional health products and medicines; beyond efficacy, they pay more attention to experience. Thus, more convenient and tastier food therapy methods are gradually gaining their favor.
Previously, the Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine launched a 2.0 version of plum soup, selling 1.15 million doses in one day. Later, “Zhongjing Life” bakery and other Chinese-style health breads were in short supply. Following the wave of traditional culture revival in recent years, the concept of “medicine and food homology” in TCM theory is gaining popularity.
**According to Magic Mirror Social Listening, from August 2023 to July 2024, the content volume on mainstream social platforms about “food therapy and health” reached 240,000, a year-on-year increase of 91%.**
From August 2023 to July 2024, content volume trends of “food therapy and health” on mainstream social media
Image source: Magic Mirror Social Listening
Ingredients like red beans, coix seed, longan, tangerine peel, red dates, and wolfberries are both traditional foods and have certain medicinal value, with a large consumption base in China. Applied to beverages, these ingredients combine traditional TCM health concepts with modern beverage forms, providing young people with a new healthy choice.
More importantly, for young consumers who seek experience, beyond health, they also need a “water substitute” with light burden and good taste to relieve the boredom of drinking plain water.
Once there is demand in the market, keen brands always smell business opportunities. Turning to the supply side, the sugar-free tea beverage track, where health waters belong, had already reached a market size of 10 billion yuan in 2023. Intense market competition and the Matthew effect have increased the difficulty for new players to enter.
In 2023, Genki Forest, which rose on sparkling water, saw its revenue growth slow down, and the brand urgently needed innovative categories to drive market growth. Genki Forest's Zizai Shui came from an innovative idea at the “Genki Universe Conference”—starting from the “health and wellness” needs of contemporary young people, combined with the concept of “Oriental food therapy,” to develop a product that could replace daily drinking water.
The above image is from the brand's official flagship store and is not related to Magic Mirror Insights; it is used only for description.
Haowangshui also noticed this trend, hoping to expand consumption scenarios beyond dining through its “Care” series of coix seed water, longan water, and other “water substitute” products.
“Simmering” is a product highlight of the new generation of health waters. Taking Zizai Shui as an example, the production process is divided into three steps: boiling over high heat, slow simmering over low heat, and residual heat stewing. The time for each step must be precisely controlled to avoid affecting the taste.
In addition, around the concept of health and wellness, brands not only strive for “clean” ingredient lists but also follow the popular “medicine and food homology” concept in raw material selection. Besides the most common “dampness-removing partner” red bean and coix seed, there are also ingredients like five-finger fig for strengthening the spleen and lungs, and tangerine peel for clearing the lungs and resolving phlegm.
Currently, the hot-selling Chinese-style health waters on the market also have a very notable feature compared to the past: “light taste.” As a qualified “water substitute,” overly strong flavors may give consumers a stronger perception of efficacy, but they are not suitable for frequent drinking. The product manager of Zizai Shui also stated that “lighter” makes consumers feel “no burden,” thereby increasing repurchase.
**Homogenization and Quality Control Issues Emerge**
**How Can Brands Break Through?**
However, the rapidly developing Chinese-style health water track also has hidden concerns.
On one hand, there is the control of raw material ingredients. Some health waters claim to be zero sugar, but a closer look at the ingredient list reveals the presence of sugar substitutes. In recent years, empirical studies on sugar substitutes have increased, including research proving negative effects on the human body. Adding sugar substitutes to products raises questions about the healthiness of health waters.
Secondly, due to the low R&D threshold for “simmering technology,” the current market has a mix of good and bad products. According to the Prospective Industry Research Institute report, only 21% of companies have independent production capabilities, while the rest rely on commissioned OEM production, making quality control difficult to guarantee. At the same time, it is difficult for different brands to differentiate through process barriers, and it is not easy to establish brand mindshare in a short time.
High-growth ingredients in the health supplement and nourishing industry in 2024
Image source: Magic Mirror Insights Analysis Report
At this stage, the Chinese-style health water track has not yet entered a white-hot competitive phase, and traditional beverage giants have not yet entered. The future competitive landscape is unknown. However, it is certain that for players in the track, the next battle will be a contest of channel power and product innovation.


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