Perfume has a frequency problem. Bubble tea doesn’t

Even consumers who enjoy fragrance may buy a bottle only occasionally, while millions of people walk into China’s tea and coffee chains as part of their weekly — sometimes daily — routines. Fragrance brands are increasingly trying to insert themselves into those much more frequent moments. Since 2022, Manner has handed out products from Jo Malone London, Helena Rubinstein, Eucerin and Winona with coffee. This summer, Documents (闻献) has worked with Chagee (霸王茶姬) on fragrance products rooted in tea and Chinese scent culture. More recently, niche fragrance label Le Goût de Peau (肌肤之味) turned Heytea’s (喜茶) King Jasmine Guava drink into perfume, incense and scented cards, with the limited collection reportedly selling out on launch day this September 29. What looks at first like another burst of China’s collaboration culture points to a more interesting experiment for the fragrance business. Tea and coffee shops are giving perfume brands access to large, young consumer bases without asking shoppers to enter a boutique at all. But can the exposure move beyond samples, social-media buzz and limited-edition sell-outs to become a meaningful route for acquiring fragrance customers? In September alone, China saw five fragrance-related beverage collaborations, with formats ranging from complimentary scent cards to jointly developed products. RockingZoo (摇滚动物园) partnered with Molly Tea (茉莉奶白), while Manner teamed up with Japanese haircare brand Off&Relax. The latter offered a 15 RMB ($2.25) Americano set with a 75ml osmanthus-scented shampoo, while a 30 RMB ($4.50) two-drink set came with an additional portable bag. “Tea [drinks] and fragrances are two industries locking in Gen Z, looking for easy, immediate indulgence,” said Dao Nguyen, founder of Essenzia ByDao, a strategic marketing agency specialising in fragrance and beauty in Asia. “Joining forces can strengthen attention.” For tea brands, fragrance can elevate a drink into something closer to a lifestyle proposition, Nguyen said. Perfume brands, meanwhile, gain access to the kind of consumer scale that specialist fragrance retail rarely offers. Chagee alone had more than 7,000 points of sale worldwide in 2025, according to Nguyen. Taking perfume out of the perfume store Fragrance shopping still requires a degree of intention: consumers need to decide they want perfume, visit a counter or store, navigate unfamiliar labels and notes, and often interact with a sales associate. For people who have not yet developed a regular fragrance habit, those steps create friction before the product has even been smelled. Though, a bubble tea order does not. “You should not need to feel like a fragrance expert to discover a perfume,” said Anaïs Bournonville, chief executive of AB Advisor, a marketing and retail consultancy based in Paris and Shanghai. “Some consumers hesitate to enter perfumeries because they feel they do not know enough, even when the sales team is welcoming. A tea or coffee shop removes that pressure: walking in is easy, familiar and part of their routine.” For brands trying to expand fragrance consumption beyond existing enthusiasts, a sample attached to a purchase consumers were already planning to make can introduce a scent without requiring them to identify as a fragrance shopper first. For instance, Manner’s previous beauty collaborations have included skincare, sunscreen and perfume samples, turning a cup of coffee into a relatively inexpensive distribution mechanism for brands that might otherwise rely on counters, department stores or paid sampling campaigns. Giving away shampoo or skincare rather than a simple scent card also lets consumers assess texture, performance and scent over time. The opportunity, yet, should not be confused with a guaranteed sale. Olivia Plotnick, founder of Wai Social, sees beverage collaborations primarily as customer acquisition rather than a replacement for fragrance retail. “Tea and coffee chains provide fragrance brands with access to high-frequency consumer touchpoints, introducing their products to audiences who might not otherwise visit fragrance stores,” she said. “However, receiving a free sample does not necessarily translate into genuine product interest.” Conversion depends on what happens after the drink is finished. Plotnick points to QR-code offers, memberships and exclusive purchase incentives as ways of carrying consumers from incidental discovery into a brand’s own ecosystem. “These collaborations are more effective as customer acquisition and brand discovery channels than as immediate sales drivers,” she said. Why guava, jasmine and tea are traveling so well As brands become more ambitious, beverages are also supplying the creative brief. Tea is an obvious starting point — jasmine, oolong, white, black and pu’er teas are already familiar through taste and smell — giving perfume companies recognizable ingredients that can be interpreted without relying on traditional European fragrance vocabulary. The category also carries cultural associations that domestic brands can use to build a specifically Chinese scent identity. Documents has built its brand around contemporary interpretations of Chinese fragrance culture, while Chagee has positioned itself around modern Chinese tea. Tea, floral notes and an East Asian aesthetic provide shared material rather than simply two logos placed on the same limited-edition package. Bournonville said that the relationship works because taste and smell are already closely connected. She points to Spanish fragrance house Ramon Monegal, which created chocolates inspired by its perfumes, translating olfactory compositions into flavour and generating interest among Chinese consumers. “As physical retail becomes more experiential, taste and scent give brands two ways to make the same moment memorable,” she said. At the same time, the ingredients appearing in Chinese fragrance collaborations suggest that the country’s gourmand trend may not follow the same trajectory as Western markets. Rather than being dominated by vanilla, caramel or dessert-like sweetness, recent launches have increasingly played with familiar Asian ingredients and fruits, from tea and jasmine to taro, roasted grains and guava. Nguyen sees guava’s sudden prominence as particularly revealing. “When it comes to guava, it speaks of the localization of inspiration,” she said. “It also highlights how fragrance drivers are changing, shifting from a search of elegance to simple daily happiness.” The ingredient was already moving quickly through China’s beverage market. More than 20 guava drinks were launched in spring 2026 by chains including Heytea, Cotti Coffee, Chapanda and K Coffee, according to Nguyen, while fragrance players including Mo Maek, Pape Moe and Miniso have introduced guava scents. Heytea therefore did not have to teach consumers what its collaboration smelled like. Its King Jasmine Guava drink had already created the reference point. Perfume descriptions frequently rely on notes consumers may never have smelled individually; translating a drink they already know into scent gives them an immediate sensory shorthand. The sell-out problem The danger is treating enthusiasm for the collaboration as evidence of demand for the fragrance brand itself. Le Goût de Peau and Heytea selling through their launch is a strong indicator of attention, but several factors can drive that result: limited quantities, accessible pricing, collectable packaging, a popular beverage partner and the urgency attached to a short-lived release. “A launch-day sell-out shows the power of a moment while repeat purchases reveal the staying power of a product,” said Bournonville. “Some collaborations are designed to be brief and impactful, tied to a season or occasion. Sustained demand can then justify making them permanent.” A National Business Daily survey published earlier this year found 23.85% of respondents were completely indifferent to IP collaborations, while only 17.43% said they would purchase specifically for related merchandise. Beauty samples with genuine utility may have more appeal than conventional merchandise, but collaboration fatigue makes product quality harder to separate from the promotional mechanic. Nguyen similarly cautions against reading fragrance demand as if consumers were filling a pre-existing gap in the market. “For fragrance, I believe it’s never about answering a specific demand, but about providing the right offer,” she said, pointing to the combination of ingredient, timing and execution behind the Heytea launch. In light of this, beverage partnerships can also function as relatively low-risk testing grounds. Brands can see which ingredients attract attention, whether consumers respond to fragrance in formats beyond perfume, and which partnerships generate search, sampling or repeat engagement before committing to a broader launch. Discovery channel rather than new department store China’s fragrance industry is already moving beyond the idea that growth depends solely on persuading consumers to buy more bottles of perfume. A September 2026 white paper from Eternal Group and Kantar described the market as moving from “buying fragrance” towards “using fragrance,” as scent expands across body care, home and other daily situations. Tea and coffee stores provide high-frequency offline traffic, social occasions and a sensory environment in which fragrance can appear without feeling disconnected from the original purchase. Bournonville points to cocktail bars, while other possibilities include hotels, retail spaces and social clubs — places where fragrance becomes part of an experience rather than an isolated category. “Farmacia SS. Annunziata 1561’s three-month partnership with urban cocktail bar SWAY HET in Chongqing illustrates this,” shared Bournonville. “Five cocktails inspired by five perfumes, each carrying the corresponding fragrance’s name, drawn from the historic guilds of Florence.” But turning these locations into significant fragrance sales channels is a harder challenge. Consumers still need somewhere to explore a brand’s wider range, compare scents and repurchase products after the collaboration ends. Plotnick therefore sees their strongest role much earlier in the purchase journey. “Tea and coffee chains can play an important role at the top of the fragrance customer acquisition funnel, but they are unlikely to replace specialist retail or brand-owned online stores as the primary sales channels.” That said, perfume discovery no longer has to begin at the fragrance counter. For a consumer who would never have walked into a scent boutique, a jasmine tea, guava drink or 15 RMB ($2.25) Americano can now provide the first encounter. The commercial test comes afterwards: whether consumers remember the fragrance once the cup, limited-edition packaging and collaboration hype are gone — and whether they are willing to return for the scent alone.

Perfume has a frequency problem. Bubble tea doesn’t

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Perfume has a frequency problem. Bubble tea doesn’t

TUMI’s new growth playbook: From travel expertise to lifestyle performance