When tea — China’s most traditional beverage — was poured into a beer can and sold to the top of livestreaming sales charts, a little-known regional brewery was suddenly thrust into the spotlight of the capital markets.
Henan Kingstar Brewery Co., Ltd., China’s first brewer to combine tea with beer, has filed for an initial public offering on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, formally launching its bid to go public.
According to a disclosure released by the Hong Kong Exchange this month, Henan Kingstar Brewery submitted its listing application with CITIC Securities and BOCI Asia acting as joint sponsors.
Founded in 1982, Kingstar Brewery remained largely under the radar in China’s beer market until 2024, far overshadowed by national giants such as Tsingtao Brewery and Snow Beer. That changed last year, when the company launched its first Chinese-style tea-flavoured beer, Xinyang Maojian Chinese Craft Beer, which quickly went viral.
On the first day of livestreamed sales, Kingstar sold six tonnes of tea beer, topping beer sales rankings on the platform. Over the following three months, the company purchased nearly 45 tonnes of tea leaves to meet demand.
Building on the success, Kingstar rolled out additional tea beer flavours including jasmine tea, Longjing green tea and peach oolong. Its tea beers, typically sold in one-litre cans, are priced below 20 yuan ($2.80). Following the popularity of its tea beer line, the company further explored “Chinese ingredients,” introducing flavours such as passion fruit, mung bean, dried tangerine peel and candied hawthorn.
Financial data disclosed in the prospectus show that the launch of tea beer became a major growth driver for the company. Kingstar reported revenue of 356 million yuan (US$49.5 million) in 2023, 730 million yuan (US$101 million) in 2024, and 1.11 billion yuan (US$154 million) for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025. Over the same periods, total profit and comprehensive income rose from 12.2 million yuan (US$1.69 million) to 125 million yuan (US$17.36 million) and then to 305 million yuan (US$42.36 million).
Based on retail sales in 2024 and the first nine months of 2025, Kingstar ranked as China’s eighth-largest beer producer and the fifth-largest domestic brewer, according to public data. Tea-flavoured beer has become central to that position. The prospectus shows that Chinese-style craft beer accounted for 78.1% of the company’s revenue in the first nine months of 2025, making it Kingstar’s core business.
The innovation has also delivered higher profitability. Gross margins rose from 27.3% in 2023 to 37.8% in 2024 and 47% in the first nine months of 2025, while net margins increased from 3.4% to 17.2% and then to 27.5% over the same periods.
Tea-flavoured beer has become a fast-rising segment in China’s drinks market in recent years. Videos related to “tea beer” have generated more than 30 million views on Chinese short-video platforms, while posts discussing “which tea beer tastes best” on lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu exceed 30,000 entries.
The category’s core consumers are young drinkers seeking novelty and differentiated products. Initially driven by e-commerce, tea beer has increasingly expanded into offline supermarkets and convenience stores as volumes have grown, achieving near full-channel distribution.
With relatively low technical barriers to production, Kingstar’s success has attracted a growing number of followers. Retailers such as Freshippo and Pangdonglai have entered the tea beer segment, intensifying competition.
The popularity of tea beer has also spilled into other alcohol categories. Several Chinese wine producers — including major players Changyu and Dynasty, as well as boutique wineries such as Lingering Clouds Winery and Lux Regis — have launched tea-infused wine products.
Against this backdrop, Kingstar Brewery now faces mounting competitive pressure as more players with strong distribution networks and brand resources enter the space. Whether the tea beer pioneer can sustain its rapid growth and defend its current scale will be a key test in the years ahead.
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