Prepacked ice cups stored in a fridge in Lawson's store, in Wuhan, Hubei province, July 9, 2024. [Photo/VCG]
A new trend is cooling down China: prepackaged ice cups. The convenient containers filled with edible ice cubes are becoming a summertime staple, offering consumers a customizable and cost-effective way to enjoy cold drinks.
一种新趋势正在给中国降温：预制冰杯。这种装满可食用冰块的便捷容器正成为夏季的必备品，为消费者提供了一种可定制且经济实惠的冷饮享用方式。
"Homemade ice cubes easily melt, while the ice cubes in packaged cups sold at convenience stores can be kept for a longer time," said Xie Zhiying, 31, who works for an advertising company in Beijing."I usually pour orange juice into the ice cube cup and enjoy a cold drink after lunch."
一位在广告公司工作的谢先生表示：“自制冰很容易融化，而便利店出售的冰杯可以保存较长时间。”
He said "do it yourself" cold drinks are popular on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform, with many young people sharing their methods of preparing different cold drinks using packaged ice cube cups.
他说，“自制”冷饮在小红书上很流行，很多年轻人分享他们使用冰杯制作不同冷饮的方法。
"I bought out of curiosity at first, and found it was convenient and economical," Xie said. "A cup of ice cubes is usually sold for around 3 or 5 yuan at convenience stores, and you can put whatever drinks or coffee you like into the cup to get yourself a refreshing cold drink. A cup of a regular handmade cold drink sold at a cafe will cost 20 or 30 yuan, which is far more expensive."
他表示：“我一开始是出于好奇买的，后来发现这样既方便又实惠。”在便利店里，一个冰杯的售价通常在3到5元，可以往杯子里放任何你喜欢的饮料或咖啡，让自己喝上一杯清爽的冷饮。而咖啡馆里卖的一杯普通手工冷饮就要二三十块钱，贵得多。
The trend has exploded on social media, with millions of users sharing their own ice cup creations. By early this month, Xiaohongshu had over 10,000 posts about ice cube cups. Beverage companies have taken notice, with some launching their own branded ice cups.
这一潮流在社交媒体上掀起了一股热潮，数百万用户分享他们自己的冰杯创意。截至本月初，小红书上关于冰杯的帖子超过了 10000 个。饮料公司也注意到了这一点，一些公司推出了自己的品牌冰杯。
Mixue Ice Cream and Tea, a beverage chain headquartered in Zhengzhou, Henan province, started to sell ice cube cups early last month for just 1 yuan a cup. Industry insiders said ice cube cups have found a promising market in China, where sales of cold drinks have been enjoying stable growth in recent years.
冰饮连锁店蜜雪冰城从上月初开始销售冰杯，每杯售价仅1元。业内人士表示，冰杯在中国找到了一个前景广阔的市场，近年来中国冷饮的销售一直保持稳定增长。
In a report released in April, the life services platform Meituan and consultancy company Oliver Wyman said that 40 percent of consumers surveyed liked to take drinks — including liquor, beverages and milk — with ice. Meituan said sales of ice cubes on its platform had surged by 182 percent year-on-year in 30 days from late July to early August last year, and the number of businesses selling eatable ice had risen by 90 percent.
生活服务平台美团和咨询公司奥纬咨询（Oliver Wyman）在今年4月发布的一份报告中称，40%的受访消费者喜欢在喝饮料（包括白酒、饮料和牛奶）时加冰块。美团称，从去年7月底到8月初的30天内，其平台上的冰块销量同比激增了182%，销售可食用冰块的商家数量增加了90%。
"Traditionally, Chinese people prefer hot drinks, but young people have shown an increasing preference for cool or cold drinks," Lai Yang, from the China General Chamber of Commerce, told Beijing News recently. He said the growth of ice cube cup products and associated demand may turn them into a main product in the future, rather than a transitory bandwagon."
中国商业联合会的赖阳近日向记者表示：“传统上，中国人更喜欢热饮，但年轻人越来越偏爱清凉或冷饮。”他说，冰杯产品和相关需求的增长可能会使其成为未来的主打产品，而不是一时的流行。