CHAGEE Gangnam Store: Inside CHAGEE Korea’s First Flagship Tea Experience

CHAGEE Gangnam Store is the main flagship location for CHAGEE Korea’s formal entry into the Korean market. On April 30, 2026, the brand opened three directly operated Seoul stores at the same time: the Gangnam flagship store, Sinchon, and Yongsan I’Park Mall.¹

For readers following Korea’s busy beverage scene, the Gangnam store is the clearest window into how CHAGEE wants to introduce itself. Rather than presenting the Korean launch only as a milk tea opening, the company has framed Gangnam as a brand experience space built around brewed tea, visible preparation, and a more deliberate tea culture setting.²

CHAGEE Gangnam Store as the Flagship

CHAGEE Gangnam Store fresh milk tea Seoul trend

The Gangnam flagship store was designed around a tea bar, with Korean design elements such as eaves and roof-tile motifs incorporated into the space.¹ That detail matters because CHAGEE is entering Korea as a Chinese premium tea brand while also giving its first local flagship a setting that reflects Korean visual cues.

The store also has a specific role within the brand’s opening plan. Reports describe Gangnam as the brand experience space, while Sinchon is positioned as a university-area consumer touchpoint and Yongsan I’Park Mall as a location for lifestyle and complex-mall customers.³ In simple terms, CHAGEE Korea is not relying on one kind of Seoul foot traffic. It is using three different commercial settings to introduce the same brand from different angles.

Gangnam carries the strongest symbolic role. CHAGEE Korea held a media day at the Gangnam flagship store on April 28, 2026, two days before the official opening.⁴ That makes the location more than a retail shop. It is also the place where the company explained its Korean market strategy and the kind of tea experience it wants to build.

Kim Jwa-hyun, CEO of CHAGEE Korea, described Korea as “a culturally influential market” and “an important base” in the brand’s global expansion strategy.¹ He also said the company wants to offer a new tea experience that combines the value of traditional tea with a modern lifestyle.⁴ Those comments fit the way the Gangnam store has been presented: not only as a place to buy milk tea, but as a showcase for the brand’s idea of premium tea.

What the Menu Focus Tells You

The most important product message is fresh milk tea. CHAGEE’s core drink is described as milk tea made by adding milk to tea brewed directly from tea leaves in the store.⁴ BizWatch reported six representative fresh milk tea options, including Boya Jasmine Milk Tea, Peach Oolong Milk Tea, and Osmanthus Oolong Milk Tea.²

That emphasis on brewed tea is central to CHAGEE Korea’s positioning. Reports note that the company highlights the use of 100% tea leaves and the exclusion of artificial powder as product features.⁵ Kim Jung-hee, CMO of CHAGEE Korea, said the brand uses high-quality original tea leaves brewed in stores each day as the base for its drinks.²

If you usually think of milk tea as a sweet, dessert-style drink, CHAGEE’s stated approach is a little more tea-forward. The available source material does not tell us how Korean customers will respond, but it does make the company’s intended identity clear: the tea base is meant to be part of the appeal, not just a background ingredient.

The Gangnam flagship store also includes a tea experience zone where visitors can encounter the brewing process and raw ingredients.² For a new entrant, that kind of visibility can help make the brand easier to understand. Instead of asking customers to accept a premium tea message only through advertising, the store layout gives them something concrete to see.

A Seoul Launch Built Around Direct Operation

CHAGEE opened its first Korean stores in Gangnam, Sinchon, and Yongsan at once, all as directly operated locations.⁵ Early direct operation is an important detail because reports say the company plans to manage quality and brand experience without franchises at the initial stage.⁵

The broader brand background also explains why the Korean launch is being watched. CHAGEE began in Yunnan, China, in 2017 and expanded to markets including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the United States.¹ As of April 2026, reports described the company as operating more than 7,000 stores across Greater China and overseas markets.⁶

The product range is not limited to fresh milk tea. Energy Economy reported that CHAGEE also operates brewed tea, fruit tea, and tea espresso lines, with plans to introduce fruit-based seasonal drinks reflecting Korean customer preferences in summer.⁶ Still, for the Gangnam opening, fresh milk tea remains the clearest and most repeated point of emphasis across the available reports.

There is also a local awareness factor. Some Korean coverage noted that CHAGEE had already become familiar to some consumers through the phrase linked to “Jang Won-young milk tea,” before the brand’s formal Korean entry.⁵ The source material does not support extending that into broader claims about endorsements or customer demand, but it does show why the name had already circulated before the first stores opened.

CHAGEE Korea Gangnam flagship store launch concept

The CHAGEE Gangnam Store is best understood as the centerpiece of CHAGEE Korea’s opening move: a flagship designed to make brewed tea, fresh milk tea, and brand presentation visible from the start. With Sinchon and Yongsan I’Park Mall supporting the wider Seoul launch, Gangnam is the location that most clearly shows how CHAGEE wants Korean customers to understand its tea experience.