Wholesale Resources
If you operate a Chinese restaurant, bubble tea shop, convenience store, or a WeChat group-buy, the fastest way to stock Chinese tea is to order ready-to-drink (RTD) bottled tea by the case — typically 12 to 15 bottles per case for 300-500ml bottles — which drops your per-bottle cost well below unit retail and gives you 9-12 months of ambient shelf life. This guide covers exactly what is in a wholesale tea case, how many bottles you get, how to price for resale, and how to store it, using the jasmine green, oolong, and milk tea formats we actually stock and ship from the USA.
A wholesale Chinese tea case is not loose leaf — for foodservice and resale, the practical format is ready-to-drink (RTD) bottled tea: sealed PET bottles you can put straight on a shelf, in a cooler, or on a restaurant table. This is what moves in volume because there is no brewing, no waste, and a long shelf life. We stock RTD bottled tea (not teabags or loose-leaf sachets), so the case math below is built on bottles.
A standard case holds a fixed bottle count, and that number is the single most important figure for your pricing. For our 500ml flavored and unsweetened teas, a case is commonly 15 bottles; for 300ml milk tea, a case is commonly 12 bottles. Always confirm the case-pack count on the product page before you build a quote, because it varies by SKU and bottle size.
Jasmine green tea is the safest, broadest seller in the Chinese tea category — familiar to nearly every customer and equally at home as restaurant table tea or a grab-and-go bottle. Our Farmer Spring Eastern Leaves jasmine line ships in 500ml bottles, commonly 15 per case, so a single case covers 15 servings (one bottle each) or, decanted, a full lunch service of free table tea.
How to choose between restaurant use and retail resale comes down to bottle handling. For restaurant table service, a case of 15 bottles is roughly one to two days of tea for a small dining room, and you save staff time versus brewing. For retail resale or a WeChat drop, the same case of 15 becomes 15 individually sellable units — you mark each bottle up over the per-bottle case cost and the margin is clean and easy to explain to buyers.
Oolong is the fastest-turning RTD tea format we see for stores and bubble tea adjacencies, because it spans both sweetened flavor profiles and clean unsweetened options. We stock CP Peach Oolong and CP Grape Oolong (500ml, ~15 per case) for the flavored, impulse-buy shelf, and SUNTORY Sugar-Free and Low-Sugar Oolong (500ml, ~15 per case) for the growing unsweetened, low-sugar demand. Stocking one flavored case and one unsweetened case covers two distinct buyers from the same order.
Beyond classic oolong, herbal and specialty RTD teas — like Pu'er and tangerine-peel white tea (Farmer Spring, 500ml) — round out a shelf for customers who want something less common. These move slower than jasmine or oolong, so treat them as a one-case test, not a deep stock. The case economics are the same: divide the case price by the bottle count to get your true per-bottle cost, then price up from there.
Milk tea is the impulse engine for convenience stores and WeChat group-buys. Our milk tea (e.g. YCQ Phoenix Milk Tea) ships in 300ml bottles, commonly 12 per case — the smaller bottle hits a lower per-unit price that customers add to a cart without thinking. For a mini-mart cooler, one or two cases keeps the shelf full; for a WeChat drop, a 12-bottle case splits neatly among a handful of group members.
Juice rounds out a beverage order for families and kids, and it pairs naturally with tea in a single shipment. Stocking a mix of tea, milk tea, and juice from one supplier means one box, one freight cost, and one invoice — which is exactly what makes a WeChat group-buy worth running. Browse the live options under /category/milk-drinks, /category/juice, and /category/soft-drinks to assemble a beverage spread.
The single biggest advantage of RTD bottled tea over fresh-brewed or perishable drinks is that it is shelf-stable. Sealed bottles store at normal room temperature, so you do not need refrigerated storage or a cold chain in your stockroom — only chill bottles before serving or selling cold. As a working rule, unopened bottled tea, milk tea, and juice carry roughly a 9-12 month shelf life from production; always read the printed date on the case and rotate first-in-first-out.
This shelf-stability is what makes by-the-case ordering low-risk: you can buy several cases, keep them in a dry stockroom, and sell through them over months without spoilage, as long as you keep bottles out of direct heat and sun. Once a bottle is opened it should be refrigerated and consumed within a day or two, but that is a serving concern, not a storage one — your unopened case inventory stays stable on the shelf.
Pricing starts with one number: per-bottle case cost = case price ÷ bottles per case. For a 15-bottle case of 500ml tea, divide the case price by 15; for a 12-bottle case of 300ml milk tea, divide by 12. That figure is your floor — every resale price you set sits above it, and the gap is your margin.
For a WeChat group-buy, the cleanest model is to pass the case through at per-bottle cost plus a flat per-bottle markup, so every member sees the same transparent price and understands they are paying a by-the-case rate rather than unit retail. For a store shelf, set a round retail price per bottle that comfortably clears your per-bottle cost plus shrink and handling. The honest pitch to your buyers is simple: buying by the case lands each bottle well below what the same bottle costs one at a time at retail — that case-vs-unit gap is the real saving, and you can show the math.
A tea case rarely travels alone. The most efficient WeChat group-buy drop bundles a beverage case (tea, milk tea, or juice) with a snack case so members get a complete order in one shipment — which spreads the freight cost across more units and makes the per-member price more attractive. A common pattern is one tea case plus one snack case (for example a spicy-vegan-snack or cookie case) shipped together.
When you assemble the drop, keep the math member-friendly: a 15-bottle tea case splits cleanly across 15 members or 5 members at 3 bottles each, and a snack case adds a second item to each member's share. The goal is a single box that arrives once, splits without leftovers, and gives every WeChat member a tea-plus-snack bundle at a clear by-the-case price. Browse beverages under /category/beverages to anchor the drink half of the bundle.
It depends on bottle size. Our 500ml teas (jasmine green, oolong, flavored) commonly come 15 bottles per case, and 300ml milk tea commonly comes 12 per case. The case-pack count is listed on each product page — always confirm it there before building your resale pricing, since it varies by SKU.
No. Sealed RTD bottled tea, milk tea, and juice are shelf-stable and store at normal room temperature in a dry stockroom out of direct sun and heat. You only need to chill bottles before serving or selling them cold. Refrigeration is a serving step, not a storage requirement, which is what makes by-the-case ordering low-risk.
Unopened bottled tea, milk tea, and juice generally carry a shelf life of roughly 9-12 months from production. Always read the printed date on the case and sell or use oldest stock first (first-in-first-out). Once a bottle is opened, refrigerate it and finish it within a day or two.
Jasmine green tea is the broadest, lowest-risk seller and works as both restaurant table tea and a retail bottle. Oolong turns fast too, especially when you stock both a flavored option (like CP Peach or Grape Oolong) and an unsweetened one (like SUNTORY Sugar-Free Oolong) to cover two buyer types. For convenience stores and WeChat drops, 300ml milk tea is the strongest impulse pick.
Start with per-bottle cost = case price ÷ bottles per case (for example, divide a 500ml tea case price by 15). Then add a flat per-bottle markup so every group member pays the same transparent price. The honest selling point is the by-the-case versus one-at-a-time retail gap — each bottle lands below single-unit retail, and you can show the math rather than quoting an invented percentage.
Yes, and it is the smartest way to run a WeChat group-buy. Bundle a beverage case (tea, milk tea, or juice) with a snack case so members get a complete order in one shipment. One box means one freight cost spread across more units, lowering the effective per-member price. Plan splits that divide cleanly — a 15-bottle case shares evenly among 15 members or 5 members at 3 bottles each.