Guming's new products were sold out within half a day, more than 20 brands have launched new offerings, is green apple poised to become the new top trend?

A turquoise fruit is quietly gaining popularity in the beverage industry.

On November 4, the green apple juice of Guming went on sale, and before 2 p.m., surrounding stores had already shown the status of sold out.

Prior to that, "Lying on the Lawn" from the Shanghai Coffee Festival, Cream Dill Green Apple of Another Tea, and Green Apple Sparkling Americano of Algebrist had already swept across social platforms.

The popularity of red apples has not faded yet, and green apples have taken over the relay?

Guming's new product sold out in half a day

More than 20 brands have set their sights on green apples

Looking through the latest trends in the beverage industry, green apples have appeared at a very high frequency. According to incomplete statistics, more than 20 brands have launched green apple products.

On November 4, Guming launched a green apple juice, which is positioned as "freshly squeezed from fresh fruits, 1 bottle equals about 3 apples", with HPP ultra-high pressure fresh locking and whole-process cold chain transportation.

The ingredient list only includes Wanglin apple (>65%) and Hanyuan Golden Crown green apple juice (30%), with a net content of 270g and a selling price of 9.9 yuan per bottle. The set meal of green apple juice and Yunling jasmine tea is priced at 18.9 yuan.

The green appearance looks very healthy. When you open it, you can smell a fresh fruity aroma, just like a freshly cut fresh apple. One sip brings the sweetness of apple with a light sour taste, no extra mixed flavors. At 2 p.m., many surrounding stores have all shown sold out status.

Apart from Guming, the green apple playing methods have been divided into different genres:

Specialty coffee route:

Algebrist launched three new green apple products in August — HPP green apple sparkling Americano, green apple amber cold brew, and green apple sparkling matcha, emphasizing that "one cup is equivalent to about 2 green apples";

Lucky Coffee launched the "Sui Sui Ping An" series through co-branding, using apple puree paired with mint to make Americano, jasmine tea drink and lucky ice. Its premium stores even launched a product named "Golden Apple Lemon Cheese".

At the Lujiazui Coffee Festival that concluded not long ago, Yunnan independent coffee shop Zozo lab brought the specialty coffee "Lying on the Lawn", which combines green apples and dill, paired with Yunnan Geisha cold brew, and was widely praised on social platforms.

Multi-fruit compounding route:

"Iced Cream Dill Green Apple" of Another Tea follows the herbal style of "fresh and a little wild"; another product "Oxygen Canarium Album Green Apple" uses HPP green apple juice blended with Fuji apple and Australian green apple, plus seaweed protein and wheatgrass.

Taike Tea Garden uses Wanglin green apple paired with pomelo to make cold brew series. Lili launched two products: green apple iced lemon tea and green apple iced lemon milk. Vfresh also recently put HPP green apple olive juice on shelves.

Smoothie/dessert-oriented route:

Mr. Savage launched kale green apple yogurt Gelato; "Kuala Lumpur Green Apple Chia Seed Juice Ice" of Puren Liangxin Juice mixes green apples and yogurt into smoothies, and netizens commented that "it is like biting a real green apple". Another product "Kota Kinabalu Preserved Plum Salt Green Apple Juice" pairs apples with Puning preserved plums, with interwoven sweet and salty flavors.

"Green Apple Pineapple Cocoa" outside Qingshan Tea puts green apples into the cocoa system to create dessert flavor collision, and netizens feedback that "the aroma of green apples and pineapples match very well".

The views of the "green apple" topic on social platforms have reached 350 million, and this popularity has been converted into real sales.

Yang Shizhong, the co-founder, told me that Baifencha launched "Wanglin Apple and Dahongpao" last year. This product returned to the market nearly a month ago, and its sales proportion has ranked top 5 in stores, at about 8% to 9%.

Refreshing, with a natural sense of freshness

Green apples take over from red apples

Why do brands collectively shift from red apples to green apples? Cheng Yao, R&D specialist of Kamen Beverage Power Lab, and Yang Shizhong, co-founder of Baifencha, disassembled the underlying logic from a professional perspective.

First, the "personality difference" of flavors: red apples are full-bodied, while green apples are refreshing.

Cheng Yao pointed out that red apples have mature pulp aroma, full juice taste, and balanced sweet and sour taste; while Wanglin green apples have flavor association of floral and fruity aroma, with more prominent fragrance and more refreshing overall taste.

Nowadays, consumers are tired of "pure sweetness" and prefer "light sour and fresh taste", the restrained sourness and layered astringent floral and fruity aroma of green apples just fit this emotional demand.

Second, the "emotional value" of vision: turquoise brings a natural sense of freshness.

The color of drinks made from red apples is often dark and warm; while green apples come with highly saturated "turquoise", which is visually directly equivalent to "grease-relieving and cooling", with naturally stronger visual impact and higher photo presentation rate on social platforms.

Third, the "industrialization maturity" of supply chain: green apples have changed from "depending on weather for harvest" to standardized HPP raw materials.

In the past, green apples were rare due to the limitation of fresh fruit season, storage and transportation. Now, HPP technology eliminates such uncertainties.

Guming is currently the only brand in the freshly prepared beverage industry that has built its own HPP production line. Supported by self-owned production capacity and cold chain, it dares to price the bottled green apple juice at 9.9 yuan for retail.

In the upstream, according to the certification of Shangpu Consulting, Vfresh ranks first in national sales in the HPP apple juice category in 2025. This means when brands develop green apple products, there are already large-scale and standardized suppliers in the upstream, and Wanglin green apple juice can be directly "used as received".

Fourth, specialty adjustment attribute: apple is a "universal partner".

Yang Shizhong spoke highly of the inclusiveness of apples: "Apple is a comprehensive fruit with extremely high inclusiveness. It can match black tea, green tea, white tea, oolong tea, other acidic fruits or alkaline fruits. Different from lemon which often plays the leading role, apple can cooperate with various ingredients to create rich combined flavors."

The acidity and aroma of green apples will not steal the show of coffee or tea base, making it the perfect base for brands to make flavor innovation.

Matching schemes for green apples

Four mature paths have been formed

Combining R&D opinions and cases in the market, the application directions of green apples have been very clear.

Path 1: Green apple + floral tea base, to make "clear specialty drink".

Cheng Yao suggested that Wanglin green apple is very suitable to match with floral green tea or lightly fermented oolong tea, such as jasmine green tea, cape jasmine green tea, michelia alba tea or camellia oolong. The fruit acid of green apple can "unlock" the floral aroma, and the fresh aroma of tea base can support the fruity taste, making them complement each other.

Path 2: Green apple + astringent fruits, to create "layered sour taste".

The fruit acid of green apple is not overwhelming, so it is suitable to be used as the "base". For example, matching with green grape, kiwi fruit and carambola, green apple is responsible for "opening up the taste", and other fruits are responsible for "promoting the flavor", making the flavor layers very clear.

Path 3: Green apple + milk/cheese, to make "non-greasy dessert".

In the past, drinks with red apple and milk base were easy to taste greasy, but the fruit acid of green apple can just neutralize the milky taste. For example, "Golden Apple Lemon Cheese" of Lucky Coffee is positioned as "light lemon aroma + dense cheese", with smooth milky taste and no greasy feeling; the green apple smoothie of Puren Liangxin uses the mellow taste of yogurt to match the sour taste of green apple, which is refreshing and has rich texture.

Path 4: Green apple + coffee/sparkling water, to make "light specialty drink".

Green apple sparkling Americano of Algebrist and Sui Sui Ping An Americano of Lucky Coffee both use the fruit acid of green apple plus the stimulating feeling of sparkling water/coffee to create "one sip of refreshment". Green apple provides a layer of clear fruit acid background, adding a layer of light acidity to coffee drinks.

Conclusion

The popularity of green apples is a signal: after red apples have exhausted the development path of "mass fruit", brands begin to explore the possibilities of different varieties and flavors from the same fruit.

In Yang Shizhong's view, apples can become an "evergreen tree" for brands at the supply chain end — they are suitable for both cold drinks and hot drinks, enough to support a complete product matrix.

The out-of-stock HPP green apple juice sold by Guming is just the latest step. What is worth looking forward to next is who can turn this most common apple into a drink suitable for all seasons and cannot be copied by others.

This article is from WeChat Official Account "Kamen" (ID: KamenClub), Author: Xiya, published with authorization from 36Kr.