These days, China is bearing the brunt of her own doing.

Lax intellectual property regulations over the years are finally coming back to bite the Chinese.

A bubble tea shop, HeeTea, which recently opened in Singapore, is apparently not the same as HeyTea, which is supposedly the original big deal in China.

This is the story laid out below.

Almost similar bubble tea shop name

For Singaporeans who are easily confused, it is simply not your fault if you couldn't tell HeeTea and HeyTea apart, unless it was pointed out to you.

Which is exactly what one eagle-eyed Dayre writer, who goes by the username, joycesayshello, did.

After her trip to China in 2017, she wrote a post detailing the differences she noticed between HeyTea and HeeTea -- after HeeTea set up shop in Singapore.

Even though HeeTea has opened two outlets in Singapore -- at SingPost Centre and another one at Chinatown Point -- HeyTea is only available in China and has a credible history.

HeyTea came first

The two brands obviously bear an uncanny resemblance to each other.

The Dayre writer even uploaded their logos side-by-side for comparison.

She also provided a picture of her receipt from HeyTea in China that comes with a lengthy disclaimer in Chinese about how HeyTea is the real deal.

The translation of the words read:

• HeyTea only has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and the Pearl River Delta region
• There are no overseas branches.
• HeyTea has nothing got to do with any other shop with similar branding.
• HeyTea is not offering any franchise opportunities and that anyone who claims otherwise is simply lying.

HeyTea

Here's what you need to know about HeyTea.

HeyTea first opened in an alleyway called jiangbianli in Guangzhou province, China, in 2012.

It was originally named ROYALTEA but due to some difficulties in registering that name, it changed to HeyTea instead.

It also claimed to be the creator of the cheese bubble tea (芝士奶盖茶).

HeeTea

HeeTea, which arrived in Singapore in October 2017, claims that it was first "created at a local alleyway in Guangzhou in 2012", and that it has since expanded overseas into South Korea, Vietnam and Singapore.

Its branding in its Chinatown Point outlet, which opened in November 2017, bore the side way boy logo in photos taken in December 2017:

However, HeeTea has since undergone what it calls a rebranding and changed its logo earlier this year in January 2018.

Instead of the side view of a contented-looking boy drinking his bubble tea by tilting his head up, it's now the front view of a contented-looking boy simply holding a cup up to his mouth.

In a nutshell

In a nutshell, HeyTea appears to have more backstory, while HeeTea less so.

Others have also claimed that HeeTea popped up after HeyTea rose in popularity and became a popular bubble tea drink among many Chinese in Shenzhen and then Shanghai.

It was said that when HeyTea first expanded to Shanghai in February 2017, seven-hour long queues formed as local consumers developed a craze for its cheese tea, or naigai cha (奶盖茶).

In China, a tea-drinking country, you can count on the locals to know a thing or two about bubble tea.

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More confusion

But hang on to your seats, because the confusion is not over yet.

Adding to the mix of even more similar-sounding names is HeekCaa, which is actually the same bubble tea store as HeyTea -- except the name is spelt differently as it's the Cantonese pronunciation of xi cha (喜茶), the Chinese name of HeyTea.

So, sorry to burst your bubble, but the HeeTea you see in Singapore is not HeyTea.

But still, judging by its latest expansion to Chinatown Point, bubble tea lovers here don't seem to mind that much.

Time will tell.

In a consumer-dominated market, intellectual property rights be damned.

Top image via thatmags and HeeTea Singapore/FB