Chagee Tea Bar Metro City
CHAGEE, a modern tea beverage brand, is opening two flagship stores in Shanghai with unique layouts and an emphasis on the color and culture of tea with a design by STILL YOUNG that creates a memorable brand identity.
Kick off a new journey for CHAGEE
The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the origin of tea trees, is also the birthplace of CHAGEE. With a vision to lead the revival of Chinese tea, CHAGEE reinterprets the essence of oriental tea culture and, in just six years, has achieved remarkable success with over 2,000 stores. From Kunming to overseas, it has emerged as a leading modern tea beverage brand.
The Global Harbor is a prominent shopping mall in the Putuo District, exerting significant influence within the surrounding business district. On the other hand, the Metro City serves as a hub in driving trends in the Xujiahui commercial area. The brand has decided to elevate its presence by upgrading and establishing a brand-new flagship store in these locations.
Both flagship stores have different layouts. The Global Harbor flagship store features a medium to large tea beverage space with a central island-style seating arrangement, divided into four main areas: premium tea-making, dine-in ordering, takeaway counter, and tea-tasting section. On the other hand, the Metro City flagship store has completely transformed the surrounding exterior space of the mall, incorporating both indoor functional areas and outdoor leisure zones. Additionally, both stores have installed folding windows on one side, blurring the boundary between the interior and exterior, thus enhancing the sense of openness within the space.
Extract the color tone of tea to create a memorable brand identity
In considering the spatial color palette, the brand and design team drew initial inspiration from the elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, tracing their roots back to the millennium-old tea culture. Integrated the Silk Road and the ancient Tea Horse Road into the concept, all while being inspired by the movie “Dune” Ultimately, the design ideas converged around the primary tone of tea color. The fusion of light golden tea, pure white milk, and an desert ambiance create a unique brand tone and memorable experience.
The color of white tea is applied to walls, ceilings, floor, the brewing counters, and seats in tandem with a delicate and soft matting texture. The custom-made devices at the bar counter combines the color of black tea with a unique appearance that gives off an enchanting sheen of metal. The combination of two materials creates a clean and unified visual language.
Draw on tea culture, from the ancient Tea Horse Road to the Silk Road
The tea culture of China can be traced back to thousands of years ago from the stories of Shennong and Lu Yu to the ancient Tea Horse Road and Silk Road. The prosperous tea culture can also be found in hundreds of classics about tea.
The design concept of Tea Bar is rooted in the aesthetics of tea culture. The R&D team incorporated the art of Tang dynasties and elements about the Silk Road into large-sized installations to create visual focal points within the space. As an extension of the brand logo “C”, one of the installations uses glazes that combine pottery and porcelain to highlight a sense of history and culture. The wall painting depicting the Silk Road symbolizes the interaction between the East and the West. A special technique is employed to mimic the effect of sand blowing in the wind, conveying an epic ambience.
The interior design draws inspiration from the grottoes in Dunhuang. A unified color scheme is applied to the walls and the ceiling. Minimalist structures and unique forms are created, evoking a sense of compactness in a tunnel.
Different seating options are provided to meet various needs, such as socializing and working. Wood, bamboo and rattan elements are combined with large areas of plants, conveying a relaxing and cozy ambience within the space. The bar seating behind the windows provides plugs to meet the needs of customers working in the store.
TEA BAR that strengthens the interaction between tea baristas and customers
The “Tea Bar” concept spaces are based on the prototype of a teamaking workshop. An 8-meter-long bar counter provides home to a set of custom-made devices. The circulation route of this area is designed to meet the needs for “ordering, brewing and pickup” to ensure the efficiency of the tea baristas and a smooth consumer experience.
The design of the bar intentionally minimizes the visual distraction and makes the products and tea baristas the protagonist of the space. The bar counter becomes the stage of baristas, allowing customers to watch every procedure of tea beverage making, from grinding, extracting to pouring brewed tea, in an immersive way.
Through the collaboration between the brand and the design team, the two Tea Bar stores in Shanghai will become new models to kick off a fresh journey for CHAGEE. The two parties said that they will continue to improve the design of the stores based on market feedbacks, and will replicate the design in a wider and deeper way to continue exploring updated interactions with consumers.
Design: STILL YOUNG
Design Team: Eric. Ch, Tommy Li, Dada Zhao
Photography: Yuuuun Studio
