At the end of July, international pizza chain Pizza Hut announced a new collaboration with Chinese herbal tea brand Wong Lo Kat . A little over a week later, the partnership expanded with the unveiling of specially themed restaurants in select locations.
The collaboration introduced two co-branded cold beverages: a hand-muddled lemon and calamansi tea, and a hand-muddled citron americano coffee made with Lavazza beans, both infused with Wong Lo Kat herbal tea. Wong Lo Kat is popular for its cooling properties, believed to help dispel internal heat (shanghuo, or yeet hay in Cantonese) caused by diet or climate. As the summer heat intensifies, these refreshing drinks are designed to offer relief.
On August 4th and 9th, Pizza Hut and Wong Lo Kat revealed their co-branded restaurants in 11 cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Hangzhou. These themed locations not only feature decorative “check-in” spots for photo opportunities but also offer exclusive merchandise like fans and flip-flops, perfect for summer.
The collaboration’s tagline, (ji shi bi shuang), is a clever wordplay. It borrows from the phrase , which means “instant cool.”
The character (ji), representing Wong Lo Kat’s brand, is used in place of ji due to their identical pronunciation in Mandarin.
The remaining characters (bi shuang) also play on Pizza Hut’s Chinese name (bi sheng ke), combining to suggest “fortunate cool” or “cool kat.” The hashtag garnered 173,000 views on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.
Pizza Hut has been active in launching various collaborations, partnering with video games like Justice , Eggy Party, and World of Warcraft, as well as with automaker Wuling Motors. Both Pizza Hut and Wong Lo Kat have also explored unconventional flavors, such as durian pizza burgers and cola-flavored fizzy herbal tea. This latest collaboration blends these creative approaches, as seen in the citrus-and-herbs-flavored Americano.