Launching 5 new products at one go that all rank among the top 5 bestsellers, Cha Yan Yue Se is completely obsessed with this specific fruit.

Launched 5 new products within a month, Cha Yan Yue Se has recently set its sights on pomelo.

Guming and Hushang Ayi have also added pomelos of different varieties and origins to their menus. Upstream suppliers are intensively developing related materials, and a supplier specializing in pomelos revealed that there have been "an extremely large number" of inquiring clients for relevant materials recently.

This common fruit has suddenly gained renewed attention. Why are both brands and suppliers carrying out in-depth development around pomelo?

5 New Products Launched Within a Month

Cha Yan Yue Se is "Obsessed" with Pomelo

Launching 5 consecutive new products around the same fruit, Cha Yan Yue Se has focused its R&D efforts on pomelo this time.

On August 20, Cha Yan Yue Se announced that it will launch one new pomelo-themed product every week in the coming month, corresponding to the five tastes of "sweet, sour, bitter, pungent and salty".

The product "Youthful Pomelo Vibe" launched on August 27 is dominated by the sour taste, which mixes HPP dual pomelo juice with soda water, topped with fresh jasmine nitrogen foam.

The brand emphasizes that the "sour taste" here is not simply adding extra sourness, but creating a stimulating and bright sensory experience through carbonated bubbles.

On September 3, the pungent-tasting product "Horseradish Pomelo" took over, which mixes HPP dual pomelo juice with high-altitude horseradish, and is topped with fragrant pomelo mascarpone mousse. From the R&D perspective, the pungent aroma of horseradish echoes the fragrance of pomelo peel, and the mascarpone functions to buffer the pungent sensation and enrich the mouthfeel.

"The currently launched products in this series have jumped into the top 5 of store sales just 3 days after going online, and the market feedback is largely consistent with our expectation," a relevant person in charge of Cha Yan Yue Se told Kamen.

According to the new product launch plan, "Bitter Pomelo in High Clouds" representing the bitter taste will be launched on September 10, and "Leisurely Pomelo Break" representing the salty taste will be launched on September 17. Together with the already launched "Eternal Pomelo Aroma 2.0", they will gradually form the complete "Five-Taste Pomelo" series.

"Last November, we launched the 'Eternal Pomelo Aroma' product, accumulated a batch of real consumer feedback, and gained preliminary experience in the flavor combination of dual pomelo juice," the relevant person in charge said.

The reason for further investment on this basis lies in the excellent flavor compatibility of fragrant pomelo itself: "The aroma of citrus fruits is universal and inclusive, which can create surprising effects when colliding with many different flavor elements."

Not only Cha Yan Yue Se, many other brands are carrying out more refined development around pomelo recently.

Hushang Ayi has launched "Juicy Blood Orange & Grapefruit" and "Juicy Blood Orange & Grapefruit Icy Milk", which takes blood orange, navel orange and tangor as the citrus base, and adds grapefruit granules to bring the bursting juiciness when chewed and the slight bitter aftertaste.

Test information of Guming's "Fresh Pomelo Draft Beer" has also appeared on social platforms. Earlier, Bawang Chaji launched "Huh? Orange Pomelo Kombucha", using pomelo to carry the slight sourness and light fermented taste of kombucha.

The supply chain side is also carrying out in-depth development around pomelo.

From Single Product to Series

Why is Pomelo Chosen for In-Depth Development?

1. Supply Chain Side: Fragrant Pomelo Has Untapped Development Potential

According to Dai Yu, person in charge of the Pomelo Star Project, in frequent information exchanges in the past, they have repeatedly received a signal: the product potential and development space of fragrant pomelo are attracting market attention.

"Fragrant pomelo has extremely high processing value and added value, is almost irreplaceable in the aroma field, and has a very wide range of deep processing directions, which can enter almost every track."

More importantly, China itself has the advantage of fragrant pomelo producing areas and raw material cost, but at present, the processing value of fragrant pomelo in China has not been fully released.

When brands shift from the simple "pomelo flavor" to refined demands for different flavors such as aroma, sourness, bitterness and juiciness, the upstream side also gets space to further develop different materials such as fruit juice, fruit pulp and pomelo peel aroma.

2. Pomelo Is Not Just One Flavor, But A Set of Flavor Combinations

Behind the word "pomelo", the raw materials can be completely different: fragrant pomelo (YUZU) highlights the cold aroma of the peel; white grapefruit and red grapefruit emphasize sourness, bitterness and juiciness; traditional pomelo varieties such as pomelo, golden pomelo and honey pomelo provide fruit juice, pulp and granular mouthfeel.

"The aroma, acidity, juiciness, bitterness and astringency of pomelo all exist at the same time, and the performance of different varieties and different parts varies significantly," said an industry R&D staff.

This leaves a large combination space for R&D -- using fragrant pomelo to enhance the aroma, using pomelo or white grapefruit to supplement juiciness, using grapefruit pulp to increase the chewing sensation, and even choosing to strengthen any dimension of sourness, bitterness and aroma as needed.

The "Five-Taste Pomelo" series of Cha Yan Yue Se essentially verifies the adaptability of the same set of pomelo base to different taste directions.

3. Consumers Have Built Basic Cognition of Pomelo

"The premise of in-depth development is that consumers are willing to place orders first," the R&D staff pointed out. Pomelo already has advantages in this aspect.

Classic products such as Full Cup Red Pomelo and Overbearing Grapefruit have long helped the market establish the basic cognition that "pomelo equals refreshing, greasiness-relieving, slightly bitter with sweet aftertaste".

The concentrated new product launches in the past two years have further verified the demand: the "Pineapple Pomelo" product of Jasmine Milk Tea sold 300,000 cups in 3 days, the triple pomelo product of Yake Yasi entered the top 5 of single product sales in stores; the pomelo series of Cha Yan Yue Se entered the top 5 of store sales 3 days after launch.

For brands, making changes on flavors that consumers are already familiar with has lower trial and error cost than developing completely unfamiliar niche fruits; for suppliers, stable B-end demand also provides more reasons to support continuous investment in varieties, processing techniques and raw material forms.

From Juice, Pulp to Peel

What Else Can We Do With Pomelo?

1. Create Different Flavors of the Top, Middle and Back Notes From A Single Pomelo

"Analysis of launched products and fruit characteristics shows that pomelo is very suitable for layered utilization," the industry R&D staff said. In addition to the existing forms such as fruit granules, fruit juice, jam and flavor toppings, we can also develop forms such as candied pomelo peel, pomelo jelly and fermented pomelo liquid.

Pomelo has a wide variety of varieties with different flavors. For suppliers, they can develop more targeted compound formulas; for brands, different varieties and origins can also bring new taste presentations on the basis of the basic flavor.

2. Extend From Summer Fruit Tea to Autumn, Winter and Special Scenarios

"Pomelo is often used in refreshing summer drinks, but its production season, slight bitterness and peel aroma are actually very suitable for autumn and winter," a R&D staff said. After entering autumn and winter, the peel aroma and slight bitterness can be further amplified.

For example, matching with tea can highlight the fresh aroma and sweet aftertaste; matching with coffee can connect the citrus note with the roasted aroma of coffee beans; when combined with rich flavors such as cocoa, the sourness, bitterness and peel aroma of pomelo can also play the role of relieving greasiness and brightening the taste.

Fermented and low-alcohol products are also directions worthy of attention.

Guming's "Fresh Pomelo Draft Beer" and Bawang Chaji's "Huh? Orange Pomelo Kombucha" show that kombucha, soda water, low-alcohol liquor or non-alcoholic beer can all amplify the clear bitterness and stimulating sensation of pomelo.

Conclusion

Overall, compared with the popularity and number of new products launched, the pomelo direction worthy of more attention this year is that the way brands use pomelo has changed, and their R&D ideas are becoming more and more refined.

For the supply chain, it is no longer just providing a single pomelo juice or jam, but providing more accurate raw material forms and solutions around different varieties and flavor demands.

The real test in the next step is who can create new product memory points with this familiar fruit.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Kamen" (ID: KamenClub), written by Meng Jie, authorized for release by 36Kr.