Longer than your forearm, with half the cup filled with tapioca pearls, the milk tea industry has once again kicked off the "extra-long cup" craze amid its fierce involution competition.

Recently, milk tea cups have quietly "grown taller" again.

Stretching longer than a girl's forearm, with nearly half of the 800ml transparent cup packed full of tapioca pearls, netizens joked: "Buy one in the morning, and it lasts exactly until off work" and "Chewing all the pearls will leave your cheeks swollen for miles".

From tea shops to night market stalls, "extra-long cups" are popping up everywhere. This summer, the beverage industry is once again competing to see who can go bigger.

"Drinking one cup is equivalent to eating three bowls of rice"

The "extra-long cup" longer than a forearm is going viral

Recently on social media, a tapioca milk tea has caught the eye of many young consumers.

With a slender body that stretches longer than some girls' forearms, a capacity of up to 800ml, and a transparent cup filled nearly halfway with tapioca pearls.

Thanks to its exaggerated shape and extreme overloading of ingredients, this "Thunder Giant Cup" has quickly become a new must-check-in favorite in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

"Chewing all the pearls will leave your cheeks swollen for miles, and finishing the whole cup leaves you 200 calories in debt";

"This kind of milk tea deserves to be sold for 20 yuan—drinking one is directly equivalent to eating three bowls of rice";

"Don't call it General Tapioca anymore, rename it the Longgggggg General."

Image source from Xiaohongshu creator @Believe in the Power of Belief, authorized for use

Many office workers even regard it as a stabilizing "anchor" for their desks: "Buy one in the morning, and it lasts exactly until you clock off."

It is understood that this milk tea comes from the new Taiwanese-style tea brand "JEWELTEA Tapioca General", with the product named "Extra Large Taiwanese-style Oule Small Tapioca Milk Tea", priced at 33 yuan. Currently the brand has 6 stores, all located in Guangdong province.

I've noticed that this wave of extra-long cup popularity is not an isolated case.

Recently, Fufafa Handmade Tea Shop launched a limited-edition new product at its Chengdu Taikoo Li store: "Fortune · Small Tapioca Milk Tea 1L Bucket", which has gradually been rolled out to stores across the country as its popularity rises.

The Fujiwara Tofu Shop in Haikou, Hainan, has also launched a 1000ml extra-long cup Thai-style salty cheese and an extra-long cup small tapioca milk tea.

Extra-long cup milk teas have also appeared one after another in night markets in Zhejiang, Hebei, Guangxi, Dongguan and other regions.

The popularity of extra-long cups has even spread overseas simultaneously. Recently, Canadian 7-Eleven launched an approximately 2.7-liter giant commemorative cup, whose body is nearly half the length of an adult's arm. Filled with cola slush, it looks several times more exaggerated than ordinary drink cups in hand, and quickly sparked widespread attention on social platforms.

In fact, the "extra-long cup" is not making its debut viral moment.

In 2022, Happy Sweet Potato first launched its extra-long cup series, with the cup body 8 cm taller than regular cups, selling 300,000 cups within 3 days of launch, with the maximum single-store daily sales exceeding 500 cups.

After several years of development, the extra-long cup has become the brand's signature series, which currently accounts for about 10% of the total revenue, with some products boasting stable repeat purchases.

From chain brands to new night market offerings, why have extra-long cups caught fire again this summer?

From "giant buckets" to "extra-long cups"

Why are drinks chasing "bigger" sizes again?

1. From fruit buckets to extra-long cups, "large capacity" has always had a market

Looking back over the past few years, large-capacity drinks are not a new market trend.

From 2020 to 2022, 1-liter fruit buckets became summer bestsellers for many brands thanks to their "large volume, abundant ingredients, and high cost-effectiveness".

Happy Sweet Potato launched the extra-long cup after observing that some consumers "one cup is never enough", but instead of following the popular bucket design, it adopted a 25cm long cup shape and stuck to the principle of "more quantity without raising the price".

Currently, the brand keeps extra-large cup options available for regular products, such as Thai red lemon tea, winter melon lemon tea, watermelon pineapple ice and other offerings, priced from 5.9 yuan to 12 yuan.

In early July, Mixue brought back its domineering lemon black tea bucket, the Tea Waterfall 1000ml Super Bucket Iced Milk series continued to sell hot, and Yongmin Handmade recently launched a 1200ml "extra-large cup" apple jasmine iced tea that went viral on social media—all proving that the "extra-large cup" always has a steady market.

2. Boasting a natural "milk tea skyscraper" effect, the sense of value is instantly visible

As "giant buckets" gradually became a common gimmick in the beverage market, consumers began to look forward to an "even bigger cup".

This wave of popular extra-long cups takes the concept of "bigger" and amplifies it visually.

For consumers, a transparent long cup that is noticeably taller than regular cups delivers an immediate visual shock, fitting the description of "a milk tea skyscraper" and naturally perfect for shareable photos.

A 18-yuan fruit tea that exploded in popularity as soon as summer began in Zhongshan, Guangdong, is piled full of fruit right up to the rim, with netizens joking "the shop owner looks like they're arranging a flower bouquet".

Image source from Xiaohongshu creator @✨lala🌙, authorized for use

This immediately noticeable "excess sense of quantity" gives consumers a reason to share and discuss the product the moment they receive it.

3. From tea drinks to the entire catering industry, "gigantism" has become a consumer symbol

This pursuit of "bigger" is spreading from tea drinks to more catering scenarios.

This year, many hot pot restaurants and barbecue restaurants have begun launching 5L ton bucket fruit teas and fruit slushes, which frequently go viral online.

In early July, a small tea shop in Guangzhou became famous online for its giant shaved ice. Products like the jumbo shaved ice and super mango yogurt shaved ice are served in basins, looking like small fruit "hills", with related videos exceeding 10 million views.

The intuitive demonstration of value through abundant ingredients becomes the best reason for consumers to place an order.

For brands, the significance of these oversized products may not just lie in increasing capacity, but using stronger visual symbols to grab attention in the fiercely competitive market and drive purchases.

Conclusion

What extra-long cups achieve is to let consumers see the value at first glance. But for a product to move from social platforms into daily consumption, it cannot rely solely on the novelty of that first impression.

Large capacity can conversely become a burden. A cup of milk tea that is too difficult to finish in one sitting is not necessarily suitable for high-frequency consumption.

As drinking time drags on, ice melts and the temperature rises, the taste will deteriorate, the "abundant quantity" does not necessarily bring a good experience, and the repurchase rate will naturally be affected.

There are also delivery issues: the slender cup has a higher center of gravity, which increases the risk of tipping over and spilling during transit.

It is undeniable that when it becomes increasingly difficult to tell new stories for a mature product category, changes in product form can still attract attention. But such products are more suitable as traffic-driving items, rather than being expected to maintain a high repurchase rate forever.

This article is from WeChat Official Account "Kamen" (ID: KamenClub), written by Ziqi, republished by 36Kr with authorization.