Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has stolen a march on Amazon.com, and is now testing a drone-based delivery service, according to a post on the Taobao website. The extremely limited pilot program that brings Jezz Bezos’ dream to life is being done in partnership with Shanghai YTO Express, and will last from February 4 to 6.

For now, this remains just an experiment; don’t expect Alibaba drones to start whisking plastic smartphone cases or electric cigarettes over the Pacific just yet. According to TechCrunch, the trial is being limited to just 450 packets of ginger tea distributed to customers in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, on a first-come first-served basis.

The campaign is mainly a PR stunt, but the very fact Alibaba has done it suggests the idea of drone delivery is real. This actually isn’t the first time a drone delivery trial has been carried out in China. A company called SF Express staged the country’s first drone delivery test back in 2013. Meanwhile in Australia, a startup online bookstore called Zookal Pty Ltd. has already begun pressing drones into service, using them to deliver school textbooks to customers in Sydney.

Sadly, we’re a long way off from seeing similar services launch in the U.S., where the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed tough guidelines on drone usage that would make it all but impossible to use them in this way.