Makeda George steps out of a Mixue store in downtown Brooklyn, New York, clutching a bubble tea as she weaves through a crowd of teenagers. The local resident says she had been eager to try the brand after noticing a surge of new outlets opening in recent months.
“I decided to try the bubble tea. It was good,” she said, adding that she did not know it was a Chinese drink chain but figured it was Asian given the branding.
“Everywhere you go, every nook, every cranny, you just see them popping…
How Chinese drink chains are testing the limits of soft power
