STiR coffee and tea magazine

14 STiR coffee and tea | 2025 Quarter 4 Winter (Dec/Jan/Feb) Bama Tea IPO Raises $58 Million On October 28, Shenzhen-based Bama Tea Co., Ltd., (6980.HK, Bama Tea), a leading high-end Chinese tea enterprise, officially launched an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The public offering attracted 169,000 applications, resulting in an oversubscription of 2,684 times, setting a new record for the most oversubscribed IPO in Hong Kong this year. This demonstrates the capital market's widespread recognition of the branding and transformation of the high-end Chinese tea industry. Bama Tea's successful listing marks a crucial step forward for the Chinese tea industry in connecting with international capital. The company offers 9 million H shares globally, of which 90% will be sold internationally and 10% will be sold publicly. As a result, the company will raise a total of HKD450 million ($58 million). Bama Tea priced its IPO at the upper limit of HKD50, and on its first day of trading, the stock surged 73% to HKD86.5, pushing its market capitalization to nearly HKD7.3 billion. As of June 30, 2025, Bama Tea has a total of 3,585 offline stores in China, including 244 directly operated stores and 3,341 franchise stores, with over 2,000 staff members. It is the number one seller of three famous teas in China: black tea, rock tea, and Tieguanyin. Bama Tea currently operates two tea refining production bases: the Anxi production base (primarily engaged in the refinement of Tieguanyin and blended teas) and the Wuyishan production base (mainly involved in the refinement of Wuyi rock tea and black tea). In 2024, the company ranked first in China in both high-end tea sales revenue and the number of chain stores, achieving revenue of CNY2.14 billion ($300 million) and profit attributable to shareholders of CNY220 Chinese brand Bama Tea sets a new IPO subscriptions record on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Photo credit: Bama Tea million. Bama Tea's brand value reached CNY31.3 billion last year. The company has been selected as one of the "Top 500 Chinese Brands" for nine consecutive years, and the Bama brand ranks first in brand awareness among Chinese chain tea brands. By Mainbayar Badarch A Microbial Experiment Produces the World's Most Expensive Tea When a small lot of black tea grown in Sri Lanka's rainforest crossed the auction table at Expo 2025 Osaka, most bidders expected a novelty item — something unusual, perhaps, but still within the realm of specialty tea pricing. Instead, the tea shot past all expectations, setting a Guinness World Record as the most expensive tea ever sold. What pushed the price skyward was not the rarity of the leaves alone, but the unconventional science behind them: the tea had been cultivated using a microbiome sourced from a 950-year-old sacred tree in Japan. The project is the result of a collaboration between Janat Paris and Innovation Labo, a microbiome research platform based in Tokyo. For years, the lab had been studying the microbial ecosystem around an ancient camphor tree growing in Kagoshima's volcanic soils. These soils, enriched and disturbed repeatedly by eruptions, support microbial communities adapted to heat, acidity, and scarcity. Innovation Labo's researchers isolated this ecosystem — led by a strain named Lactobacillus fermentum IL-108 — and began experimenting with how these microbes might influence crop resilience and nutrition. This microbial consortium was eventually formulated into Aquabiota, a probiotic biofertilizer. When applied to tea fields in Sri Lanka's rainforest belt, the team observed changes in soil structure, root development, and the plants' ability to tolerate heat and moisture stress. Farmers participating in the trial reported that the treated bushes flushed more steadily and produced leaves with higher levels of amino acids and polyphenols. The tea produced from these plots made waves in Osaka as the first documented attempt to use a microbiome — rather than soil amendments or genetic selection — to influence the sensory and biochemical profile of tea. With the help of microbiome from a 950-year-old Japanese camphor tree, Sri Lankan tea sets a Guinness World Record. Photo credit: Janat Paris The interest around this tea goes beyond its collectible value. In many producing regions, especially those vulnerable to climate stress, the idea of rebuilding soil health through microbial pathways is gaining traction. Microbiome-en- hanced cultivation could reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers, restore biodiversity in plantation soils, and improve crop resilience — goals increasingly shared by growers facing fertilizer shortages, erratic weather, and declining soil vitality. By Roopak Goswami Tea Report

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