(Yicai Global) Aug. 5 -- Online shopping platforms Taobao and Xianyu have been selling recipes for popular milk teas such as Hey Tea and Lelecha recently, and sellers claim they got their recipes from insider sources.

These instructions are both in writing and in the form of videos and employee manuals.

Milk tea has become one of young Chinese consumers' favorite drinks. Popular brands usually have their own signature products. Buyers must wait in line for up to three hours to buy their beverage of choice in the most popular spots.

Bootleg recipe buyers are those who want to brew their own cuppa at home, and shop owners who want their offerings to be as popular as those in the recipes, according to sellers.

Tea shops do not sell recipes online. The only way to get access to them is to become a franchisee and receive authorization, Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday, citing shop staff.

Theses how-to's are operators' business secrets and their use, disclosure or sale for profit is forbidden. If recipes sold online are genuine, their sellers automatically come under suspicion of infringing the trade secrets of famous brands and engaging in unfair competition and are likely to face corresponding criminal or civil liability, Beijing Youth Daily reported, citing lawyers.

Editor: Ben Armour