ChaYi

ChaYi is a Philippine tea beverage brand founded by Winchell Tan and launched in Manila in December 2024. The brand was created to introduce a more tea-focused interpretation of the local tea-shop category, combining traditional Chinese tea culture with contemporary formats such as cold brews and tea lattes. Its first store opened on the second floor of Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo, Manila, an area with strong Chinese-Filipino cultural associations. The company subsequently expanded to Venice Grand Canal Mall in Taguig and Fame Mall in Mandaluyong by August 2025. The concept grew from Tan's family background in traditional tea preparation. He observed that many Philippine tea shops emphasized sweetened milk-tea beverages, while giving less attention to the flavor and origin of the tea itself. Tan traveled to China to learn about tea culture and encountered modern tea-latte preparations that influenced ChaYi's format. The name combines the Mandarin-related terms “Cha,” referring to tea, and “Yi,” referring to essence, expressing the brand's emphasis on the character and quality of the base tea. ChaYi's menu is organized around six principal tea bases: White Peach Oolong, Osmanthus Oolong, Artisan Ceylon, Pu'er, Da Hong Pao, and Oriental Jasmine. The teas are sourced from China, including Fujian and Yunnan, as well as Sri Lanka. Customers can order the teas hot, as cold brews, or in latte preparations. The brand says it uses rock-sugar syrup rather than artificial fructose so that sweetness does not dominate the tea profile. It also uses ingredients such as dried white peaches in its oolong blends instead of relying solely on fruit syrups. A notable range is the Snowy Series, which presents tea lattes with whipped-cream toppings and toasted pecans. This line gives the brand a more indulgent and visually distinctive offering while retaining tea as the underlying flavor base. ChaYi states that its cold-brew teas contain zero calories and that its tea lattes contain approximately 200 calories, although detailed nutritional information and independent verification are not provided in the available reference material. The visual identity uses blue and white tones associated with traditional Chinese porcelain. Its logo is designed as a stylized blooming flower resembling an imperial crest, reinforcing the brand's Chinese-tea positioning. Operationally, beverages are brewed fresh in stores and refreshed every four hours, according to the brand's stated practice. ChaYi also uses biodegradable polylactic-acid straws designed in a coffee-stirrer-like form. The brand's current public profile is that of a young, Philippines-focused tea retailer and beverage concept rather than a multinational chain. Information about its corporate ownership, financial performance, executive team beyond its founder, and long-term expansion strategy is not publicly established in the supplied sources.

ChaYi emerged in the Philippines from founder Winchell Tan's interest in preserving and presenting traditional tea in a contemporary retail setting. Tan grew up in a family that practiced traditional tea brewing, giving him an early familiarity with tea preparation and tea culture. He later identified what he viewed as a gap in the Philippine tea-shop market: many establishments concentrated on sweet, milk-based beverages, while the qualities of the tea leaves themselves received less attention. To develop the concept, Tan traveled to China to study tea culture. During that experience, he encountered modern tea lattes and other updated tea presentations. These formats helped shape ChaYi's approach, which combines recognizable tea traditions with drinks designed for modern café and takeaway consumption. The brand name is built from “Cha,” associated with tea, and “Yi,” associated with essence. The naming reflects the founder's stated objective of helping Philippine consumers learn more about the history, flavor, and identity of tea rather than treating it only as a sweet beverage base. ChaYi's first location opened in December 2024 on the second floor of Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo, Manila. The location placed the new brand in a commercially prominent setting with a strong Chinese-Filipino cultural context. From this initial store, ChaYi developed a menu based on six tea foundations: White Peach Oolong, Osmanthus Oolong, Artisan Ceylon, Pu'er, Da Hong Pao, and Oriental Jasmine. The teas are described as being sourced from Fujian and Yunnan in China and from Sri Lanka. The brand's preparation system offers hot tea, cold-brew tea, and tea-latte versions. ChaYi states that drinks are brewed fresh in the store and refreshed every four hours as part of its quality-control practice. Its sweetening approach uses rock-sugar syrup instead of artificial fructose, with the stated aim of keeping sweetness from overwhelming the tea. For flavor development, the brand uses ingredients such as dried white peaches in its oolong drinks rather than depending exclusively on fruit syrups. ChaYi also created the Snowy Series, a group of tea lattes topped with whipped cream and toasted pecans. The line broadens the brand's appeal by pairing tea-based drinks with a dessert-like presentation. At the same time, the wider menu retains a more tea-forward identity through plain teas and cold brews. ChaYi describes its cold brews as containing zero calories and its tea lattes as containing approximately 200 calories, though the available material does not provide a complete nutrition table. Its branding reinforces the connection to Chinese tea culture. Blue and white colors draw on the visual language of traditional Chinese porcelain, while the logo resembles a blooming flower rendered as an imperial crest. The brand also reports using biodegradable polylactic-acid straws with a coffee-stirrer-like shape. These operational and design choices support a concept that presents tea as both culturally rooted and suitable for contemporary urban consumption. By August 2025, ChaYi had expanded beyond Binondo to Venice Grand Canal Mall in Taguig and Fame Mall in Mandaluyong. The expansion indicates early multi-location development within Metro Manila. The supplied sources do not establish a parent company, outside ownership, financial results, franchise structure, international operations, or a leadership roster beyond Tan. ChaYi is therefore best characterized as an emerging Philippine tea beverage brand with a small but expanding domestic retail footprint.

• 2025

  Early Metro Manila expansion

  [1]ChaYien.wikipedia.org

  By August, ChaYi had opened additional locations at Venice Grand Canal Mall in Taguig and Fame Mall in Mandaluyong.

• 2024

  ChaYi is founded and launched in the Philippines

  [1]ChaYien.wikipedia.org

  Winchell Tan established ChaYi to present traditional Chinese tea through modern beverage formats for Philippine consumers.

• 2024

  First store opens in Binondo

  [1]ChaYien.wikipedia.org

  ChaYi opened its first location at Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo, Manila, in December.

A Philippine tea beverage brand positioned around authentic Chinese tea, fresh brewing, restrained sweetness, and modern tea-latte formats. ChaYi differentiates itself from sugar-forward milk-tea shops through its emphasis on tea origins, recognizable tea varieties, Chinese-inspired visual design, and ingredient-led flavoring.

• Tea beverages · 2024

  Core Tea Menu

  ChaYi's core menu is built around six tea bases: White Peach Oolong, Osmanthus Oolong, Artisan Ceylon, Pu'er, Da Hong Pao, and Oriental Jasmine. The drinks can be served hot, cold-brewed, or prepared as tea lattes. The brand identifies Fujian and Yunnan in China and Sri Lanka as source regions. Its stated preparation approach emphasizes fresh in-store brewing and periodic refreshing.

• Tea lattes · 2024

  Snowy Series

  The Snowy Series is a specialty tea-latte line topped with whipped cream and toasted pecans. It gives ChaYi's tea-centered menu a richer, dessert-oriented format while maintaining a brewed-tea base. The series is designed to provide a more indulgent alternative to plain tea and cold-brew offerings.

• Cold tea beverages · 2024

  Cold-Brew Teas

  ChaYi's cold-brew offerings are prepared from its principal tea bases and are positioned as a lighter, tea-forward alternative to milk-based drinks. The brand states that these beverages contain zero calories. Available information does not specify whether every flavor has identical nutritional values or provide independent nutritional verification.

• 2024

  Adopt a tea-forward Philippine beverage conceptStrategy

  Background

  The founder perceived that many local tea shops emphasized heavily sweetened milk teas rather than the character of the tea leaves.

  Action taken

  ChaYi combined traditional Chinese tea references with modern tea lattes, cold brews, fresh in-store preparation, and a menu organized around named tea varieties.

  Aftermath

  The concept launched at Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo and later expanded to two additional Metro Manila locations by August 2025.

  Source

• 2024

  Use rock sugar and ingredient-led tea flavoringStrategy

  Background

  ChaYi sought to preserve the tea's flavor instead of allowing sweeteners or artificial fruit flavors to dominate the beverage.

  Action taken

  The brand adopted rock-sugar syrup as its stated sweetener and used ingredients such as dried white peaches in oolong drinks rather than relying only on fruit syrup.

  Aftermath

  This formulation became part of ChaYi's differentiation from more sugar-forward tea beverages.

  Source

• 2024

  Introduce the Snowy SeriesProduct launch

  Background

  ChaYi needed specialty offerings that could broaden its appeal beyond plain brewed tea and cold brews.

  Action taken

  The brand introduced tea lattes finished with whipped cream and toasted pecans.

  Aftermath

  The Snowy Series became one of the brand's distinctive specialty product lines, pairing a tea base with a dessert-style topping.

  Source

1. 1ChaYien.wikipedia.org