Every tea brand going overseas meets the same question: how far should localisation go? TANING's answer is to adapt the form and keep the core.
Start with the form. In Malaysia, around 30% of the menu was reworked — which products to keep, which to adjust, how to set the sweetness range, all recalibrated to local habits. Signage has to follow local law too: the requirement that English be larger than Chinese is non-negotiable, so the visual design changes accordingly. In Thailand the ingredients change as well: local tolerance for strongly aromatic raw materials differs, so TANING switched lemon varieties to avoid a "fragrance misunderstanding" and make the drinks easier for local customers to accept.
Now the core, which does not change however the menu moves. First, the tea base: the Phoenix Dancong oolong behind Ya Shi Xiang lemon tea comes from TANING's own garden in Chaozhou, and that is the brand's flavour foundation. Second, made-to-order: lemons are hand-shaken and fruit cut fresh, with the whole process in view of the customer. Localisation solves getting in; the core solves standing firm. Neither works without the other.
This "soft outside, firm inside" approach keeps TANING from feeling like a foreign product that does not travel, while never reshaping itself beyond recognition to please a market. To local consumers it is an outside brand that understands them; to China's tea industry it is a workable model for going global — the form changes, the product is defended, the expression shifts, and the standard does not move.
