Queueing for Whipped Milk Tea

CHINA

An interesting phenomenon is occurring among Shanghai’s consumers, and in this case at the center of it all is tea in a plastic cup, topped with whipped cream. Outside new modern Chinese tea house Hey Tea ran a two-hour-long queue to acquire the offering, and far from being frustrated at the situation, most consumers seemed to be enjoying the experience.

This is another instance of China’s unique queueing culture, wherein consumers will document their experience of waiting in line and eventually acquiring the product using social media. Hey Tea’s tea with whipped cream for the equivalent of $5 has become a true status purchase, and the tea itself doesn’t seem to matter as much as being able to say you waited in the queue for it for two hours.

This thwarted the plans of scalpers, who attempted to make money by offering to jump the queue for a $10 fee, since consumers were buying the tea just as much as they were buying the two hour-long wait to receive it. The most important thing to be doing to make use of this queueing culture, it seems, is to have a common, delicious foodstuff with a modern twist, followed by a strong social media campaign. Shanghai’s queueing culture isn’t going anywhere, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more tea shops, bars, and houses take advantage of this further down the line. [SJ]