Choi Tae-sook, head of Naturian, holds a purple tea drink outside the T’ference store in Seoul on May 4. [Photo by Yoo Dae-gil, dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
"We hope a cup of T’ference tea becomes an experience that lifts everyday life up a notch," said Choi Tae-sook, head of Naturian, in an interview May 4 at the brand’s Gangnam store in Seoul.
Choi said she wants T’ference to establish itself as a wellness item that improves modern consumers’ quality of life.
Naturian operates the natural cosmetics brand ISOI. After entering the natural cosmetics market in 2009, the company launched the tea-focused brand T’ference in 2021. The name combines “tea” and “difference,” reflecting its aim to offer something distinctive even in a single cup.
Choi pointed to “purple tea” as T’ference’s key ingredient. She said it is rich in anthocyanins, an antioxidant, and could be used not only in topical cosmetics but also as a drink. She said the company launched T’ference after seeing growth potential in the wellness market, including products that support balance in body, mind and daily life.
T’ference’s signature purple tea has a violet hue. Choi said the leaves are grown at an altitude of 1,800 meters in Kenya, adding that the plant changes from green to purple as it withstands intense sunlight, giving the tea its name.
T’ference products are displayed inside an OliveBetter store. [Photo courtesy of T’ference]
At launch, T’ference positioned itself as a premium tea brand targeting “style-conscious women in their 30s.” It sought department store placements, but the process was difficult because Korean department stores favored imported tea brands. The company used pop-up stores to gauge consumer response and expand opportunities, and has opened in locations including Hyundai Department Store’s Trade Center branch and JW Marriott Seoul.
Choi said growth accelerated after the brand entered CJ Olive Young. She said T’ference developed a powdered kombucha aimed at customers in their 20s who prefer powdered tea, adding British-made vitamins and 19 types of probiotics. The product helped the brand enter Olive Young in August last year, and it became popular enough to win an Olive Young Awards honor that year, she said.
Choi Tae-sook explains purple tea ingredients at a T’ference store in Seoul on May 4. [Photo by Yoo Dae-gil, dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
Choi said sales gained further momentum in January after Olive Young opened OliveBetter, a specialized store in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun area that brings together health supplements, inner beauty and wellness products. She said she had high expectations because OliveBetter could pull together a wellness market that had been fragmented. Since T’ference entered OliveBetter in January, its average monthly sales have risen more than fourfold compared with the previous five months, she said.
Choi also said a rise in foreign customers visiting Olive Young has helped expand T’ference’s global visibility. In February, T’ference began selling hyaluronic kombucha on the Japanese e-commerce platform Qoo10 Japan, and last month it began selling purple tea there as well.
The company plans to widen consumer engagement through OliveBetter. Choi said T’ference will operate a tea bar at the OliveBetter Gwanghwamun store from June to August, and will dispatch staff so visitors can sample products and hear explanations.
T’ference is also continuing support for its sourcing region as it expands its business. The company said it supports a water purification project to improve drinking-water conditions in Kenya, where purple tea is produced, with each purple tea product sold funding purified water for one Kenyan child to drink and wash for a day.
Local residents in Kenya pose for a photo after receiving support from T’ference’s clean-water project. [Photo courtesy of T’ference]
