Twinings has announced a new long-term brand campaign called But First, Tea, positioning tea as an active everyday choice. The campaign features infusions such as Sleep, Glow, Digest and Moment of Calm, along with the Sparkling Tea collection. It will be supported by television, outdoor, paid social, retail media and creator content. Twinings will also refresh packaging for part of its green tea and infusions range.
Yingde black tea in Qingyuan, Guangdong has entered its autumn harvest period. During the holidays, tea gardens combined picking, processing and tea tourism experiences. The local tea industry continues to expand into new tea beverages, tea foods and tea tourism, and some producers are adjusting refined processing arrangements around autumn raw leaf supplies.
In the first half of 2026, China's tea export volume declined slightly year-on-year, but export value and average price increased, mainly due to shrinking orders for low-end bulk raw material while high-end specialty teas held steady. Guizhou's black tea and matcha attracted attention from Europe and North America.
The Zhejiang matcha group standard officially took effect on 20 October. The standard systematically regulates terminology, raw material requirements, product requirements, test methods, inspection rules, packaging and storage for Zhejiang matcha, aiming to reduce differences among enterprises in raw material selection, processing techniques and quality grading.
Guizhou Guicha Group shipped 42 tonnes of high-altitude EU-standard matcha to markets in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North America, with overseas orders continuing to grow. Tongren region matcha exports totalled 860 tonnes from January to September, an 80% increase year-on-year. Guizhou Guicha Group products have been sent to more than 60 countries and regions including Japan and Sweden, marking a shift from raw material exports to branded product exports.
PG Tips announced that refreshed packs will roll out across major UK retailers from autumn 2026, featuring a new Original blend that increased purchase intent and preference in consumer testing, with tea bag weight rising from 2.9g to 3.125g while prices remain unchanged.
