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"In the first half of 2024, the tax paid by Bama Tea in Wuyishan increased by 100% year-on-year, surpassing the total annual tax paid by Bama in the local area in 2023, setting a historical high." Recently, Wang Wenli, chairman of Bama Tea, said in an interview with media including Caixin.

Founded in 1997, Bama Tea Industry actually has a history of tea making for more than a hundred years. According to Wang Wenli, more than 100 years ago, his ancestors came to Wuyi Mountain to collect rock tea raw materials, which were processed in Anxi and exported to Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Singapore. Although Bama Tea Industry has a good foundation for foreign trade, Wang Wenli later realized that the domestic market was developing better and better, so Bama Tea Industry transformed and made domestic sales its primary business. As of January 31, 2024, the number of Bama Tea chain stores nationwide has exceeded 3,400.

Bama Tea will not give up on export business. "We are now testing the waters overseas and have opened 5 stores in 5 countries. We are now exporting our brand overseas, while previously we only exported raw materials," said Wang Wenli.

According to a report by the China Tea Circulation Association, young consumers have gradually become the main force in the market. With the changes in age, consumption habits, and social environment, the acceptance of tea by those born in the 1980s, 1990s, and even 2000s continues to rise. While accepting tea, the younger generation is also changing tea products and tea consumption by adding personalized and diversified demands.

Facing this trend, Bama Tea is constantly improving its business space. "This kind of business space will allow many young people to meet with friends to discuss things. We have booths and private rooms to meet consumers' requirements for privacy."

However, Bama Tea is not in a hurry to promote its strategy of reaching young consumers, and has not launched new tea brands like some traditional tea companies. "Too many people suggested that I open a milk tea shop, but I insist that our strengths are traditional tea and whole leaf tea, so I will wait for these young consumers at the next intersection."

Looking at the Chinese tea market, the "Moutai of Tea" that the industry has been looking forward to has not yet been born. At present, the competition among the leading companies is relatively fierce, and no company stands out. As for the mid- and lower-level companies, there are even more of them, and the industry concentration is relatively low.

Tianyancha data shows that as of the end of December 2023, there are more than 1.621 million tea-related companies in China. According to the "2022 China Tea Industry Development Report" released by the China Tea Circulation Association, the overall average total assets of the 184 sample companies participating in the survey in 2021 were about 293 million yuan, 61.9% of the companies had total assets of more than 100 million yuan, and 12 companies had total assets of more than 1 billion yuan. Small and medium-sized enterprises are the mainstream of the industry.

Wang Wenli revealed in an interview that Bama’s sales revenue last year exceeded 2 billion yuan, and its terminal sales in specialty stores exceeded 4 billion yuan.