CHAGEE Introduces Apple English Breakfast Tea in Partnership with Tate — A Familiar Classic Reimagined Through Art and Apples
CHAGEE is starting July with something quietly unexpected. On 3 July 2026, the brand launches Apple English Breakfast Tea, a limited-edition flavour created in partnership with Tate, alongside a merchandise collection inspired by artworks from Tate’s collection.
This isn’t a reinvention of tea as we know it. It’s more like a recalibration. Familiar, comforting, slightly nostalgic, but reworked through craft, culture, and a very intentional attention to detail.
Two Traditions, One Cup
At its core, Apple English Breakfast Tea is built on a simple idea: tea and apple have always travelled across cultures in different ways, and this drink brings them into the same story.
Tea itself has roots stretching back thousands of years in China before becoming a global daily ritual, from East Asian tea houses to British breakfast tables. Apples, meanwhile, have been cultivated across Europe and Asia for just as long, appearing repeatedly in Western still-life traditions.
CHAGEE brings the two together in a way that feels both familiar and slightly unexpected. Not nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake, but designed to feel relevant now.
A Blend That Doesn’t Behave Like a Blend
The tea base is not a single-note foundation. It’s structured more like a composition.
It brings together five teas:
Assam from India forms the backbone, bold and malty. Lapsang Souchong from Wuyishan in Fujian adds a smoky depth. Yunnan Golden Pekoe layers in richness. Four Seasons Spring from Taiwan softens the edges with floral smoothness. Highland Qilan from Fujian lifts everything with a lingering orchid-like fragrance.
Each tea is processed and roasted separately before being brought together under controlled conditions of temperature and humidity. The result is not a collision of flavours, but a slow integration where each element keeps its identity while still becoming part of a single profile.
Then there is the apple.
The fruit comes from Red Fuji apples sourced in Shandong, China. CHAGEE uses a whole-fruit cold extraction process, skin and flesh included, with no added water, sugar, or preservatives. The juice is then infused into tea leaves using a low-temperature method and vacuum drying to lock in flavour.
The result is not an apple-flavoured tea. It is tea and apple existing in the same structure.
“Culture has always travelled through food and drink, and tea is probably the best example of that in history. With Apple English Breakfast Tea, we wanted to honour all of those journeys in a single cup, creating something that people from every country and culture can genuinely connect with,” said Lucia Kwan, Head of Branding & Marketing, CHAGEE Malaysia.
The CHAGEE | Tate Perspective
The visual world of this launch draws from three artworks in Tate’s collection, each exploring still life through a different lens.
Henri Fantin-Latour’s A Plate of Apples (1861) focuses on precision and quiet observation, where light and texture do most of the storytelling. Paul Cézanne’s Still Life with Water Jug (c.1892–3) shifts perspective, breaking and rebuilding form in ways that would go on to influence modern art. Mark Gertler’s The Basket of Fruit (1925) introduces colour and emotional intensity, offering a more expressive reading of the same everyday subject.
Together, they show how something as ordinary as fruit can become a subject of endless interpretation depending on who is looking.
These works appear across the CHAGEE | Tate merchandise collection, as well as limited-edition cups and insulated carriers designed to bring the artwork into everyday use rather than keeping it behind gallery walls.
The Merchandise Drop
The collection arrives in two waves, available while stocks last.
From 3 July 2026:
The Apple Edition Artist Shawl
The Apple Edition Keepsake Magnets
From 10 July 2026:
The Apple Edition Umbrella
The Apple Edition Blanket
Each piece extends the same idea behind the drink itself, translating art into objects that move through daily life rather than sit on display.
A Partnership Built on Preservation, Not Just Aesthetic
It is important to frame this correctly. This is a CHAGEE | Tate partnership, not a co-created product line.
CHAGEE is supporting Tate’s Paper and Photography Conservation Work, contributing to the preservation of works within Tate’s national collection so they can continue to be experienced by future audiences.
Tate is not involved in the production or delivery of the commercial campaign itself. The products are inspired by artworks from Tate’s collection, made possible through the partnership.
Rosey Blackmore, Director of Licensing and Merchandising at Tate, said:
“At Tate Enterprises, we're always looking for meaningful ways to extend engagement with Tate's collection beyond our galleries. This partnership has allowed CHAGEE to create a product range that thoughtfully brings together art, design and everyday ritual, inspired by Henri Fantin-Latour’s A Plate of Apples, Paul Cézanne’s Still Life with Water Jug and Mark Gertler’s The Basket of Fruit, from Tate’s collection. We are excited to see audiences discover these artworks in a new context and through a unique cultural experience.”
From Gallery to Everyday Life
To mark the launch, CHAGEE Malaysia is rolling out CHAGEE’s Got Talent, a nationwide art contest inviting customers to create apple-inspired artwork. Selected entries will be featured on CHAGEE’s social channels and may be turned into custom tote bags.
Certain outlets will also host live portrait sessions, where customers can have their portraits transformed into collectible fridge magnets. The campaign will also run with in-store window displays until 16 August.
Final Sip
Apple English Breakfast Tea is available from 3 July 2026 across all CHAGEE Malaysia outlets and on the CHAGEE app.
It’s a launch that sits somewhere between retail and reflection. A drink you order on impulse, but one that quietly insists on a second look if you pay attention.
Follow CHAGEE Malaysia on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, and join the conversation via #SipANewClassic.
What You Need to Know
Limited Edition
Drink: Apple English Breakfast Tea
Launch date: 3 July 2026
Where: All CHAGEE Malaysia outlets and the CHAGEE app
Bonus: Limited-edition Tate-inspired merchandise
The Fathom Take
Tea collaborations are everywhere right now, but CHAGEE x Tate feels a little smarter than most. It’s not just slapping famous paintings onto cups. The entire campaign is built around a shared idea: taking something familiar, an apple, a cup of tea, a still-life painting, and letting people experience it differently.
Will people queue for the merch? Probably.
Will the tea become the unexpected main character of your next café run? Also probably.
Either way, CHAGEE has officially made English Breakfast feel cool again.
