秋天的第一杯奶茶

What does 秋天的第一杯奶茶 mean?

Every year when the weather cools, Chinese social media fills with people asking friends or partners for the first cup of milk tea of autumn. The drink is beside the point: the request is a light way of asking for attention, and the expected answer is a WeChat red packet of 52 yuan, a figure that comes from 520, the number code for 我爱你. Because the gesture doubles as a small test of affection, sending it to someone who never replies can get you labeled 舔狗 instead. Tea shops now schedule promotions around the season, and the template renews itself each year, right down to the first hotpot of winter.

Where does 秋天的第一杯奶茶 come from?

The format broke out in late September 2020, when users began posting WeChat screenshots of the request next to a 52-yuan transfer; the newspaper 文汇报 covered the phenomenon on 24 September 2020. The 52 figure is usually explained as a play on 520, the long-standing code for 我爱你. The wave returned every autumn afterward, spawning seasonal variants such as the first hotpot of winter.

How to use 秋天的第一杯奶茶

• 女朋友发消息说想喝秋天的第一杯奶茶，我马上给她转了 52 块红包。
  Nǚpéngyou fā xiāoxi shuō xiǎng hē qiūtiān de dì yī bēi nǎichá, wǒ mǎshàng gěi tā zhuǎn le wǔshí'èr kuài hóngbāo.
  My girlfriend messaged that she wanted the first milk tea of autumn, so I sent her a 52-yuan red packet right away.
• 群里有人喊“秋天的第一杯奶茶”，结果全群装死，一分钱都没人转。
  Qún lǐ yǒu rén hǎn qiūtiān de dì yī bēi nǎichá, jiéguǒ quán qún zhuāng sǐ, yī fēn qián dōu méi rén zhuǎn.
  Someone in the group chat shouted for the first milk tea of autumn, and the whole chat played dead. Nobody sent a single yuan.