Hangzhou Jingshan Tea Development Co., Ltd. - a state-owned enterprise under the Yuhang Culture and Tourism Group - joins hands with the renowned coffee machine maker Wanshida to develop a co-branded smart Jingshan Matcha machine. It recently passed expert appraisal as a “first-of-its-kind” innovation in Zhejiang Province. The review panel unanimously agreed that the product’s overall technology leads among similar domestic offerings, with its AI-powered revival of Song Dynasty-style whisked tea art reaching international standards. This collaboration marks the first in-depth partnership between state-owned and private enterprises in Yuhang’s cultural technology sector, injecting new productive forces into traditional intangible cultural heritage.

The joint effort, rooted in Yuhang’s SOE reform and cultural heritage preservation initiatives, kicked off in 2022. At the time, Jingshan Tea Company was tasked with promoting the Jingshan Tea Ceremony - a UNESCO-listed ICH item. However, the company faced some challenges: the whisked tea craftsmanship remained a niche skill, and standardizing its production has proved difficult. The whisking process requires a tea artist to perform the “seven rounds of pouring and whisking” in 6-10 minutes,  with strict demands on water temperature and whisking force. The skill is hard to master, surely. Meanwhile, Wanshida, a domestic leader in coffee machine technology, possessed strong R&D capabilities for precision equipment but was eager to tap into new market segments for Eastern-style beverages. Based on a shared vision of “reviving culture through technology,” the two parties broke down barriers and invested millions of yuan to launch a groundbreaking venture.

The R&D was like a program-decoding process. Capsule packaging is the new way adopted to store refined Jingshan tea powder, and fluid control technology is also used to address multiple technical hurdles such as low-temperature grinding, foam uniformity, and closed-loop hygienic production. The final machine is equipped with intelligent algorithms, capable of replicating “Song-style matcha” with dense, frothy bubbles and a taste on par with that made by professional tea artists - all within 1-3 minutes. This makes the heritage technique replicable, traceable, and far more accessible.

Since the first smart matcha maker was unveiled in 2024, this product has been in a phase of market validation and in-depth user testing. Being a tech device with a vibe of millennia-old Song-style whisked tea art, it has garnered significant attention from both consumers and industry insiders. It not only secured international orders at the Canton Fair but emerged as a standout at the 7th China International Tea Expo. Over the next three years, Jingshan Tea Company plans to establish 2,000-3,000 “Song-style” experience outlets across Hangzhou. It will take further steps in promoting matcha as the “Eastern coffee” to the global market.