What does SOE coffee mean in Luckin's Huakui series?

Luckin Coffee is launching a Huakui PLUS series SOE in the second half of the year, with purchases expected to exceed 250 tons, after its Huakui 5.0 SOE sold out repeatedly. An SOE, or single origin espresso, is espresso pulled from one coffee rather than a blend. Huakui is a naturally processed heirloom variety from the Buku Abel station in Sidamo, Ethiopia, named by a green bean trader.

The 5.0 release showed how tight supply can be: the 2021 crop held only about 90 tons, and Luckin bought 39.2 more tons by intercepting shipping containers, reaching 129.6 tons total. The company explained that the quick sellouts reflected limited volume rather than deliberate scarcity, and it now aims to become the largest buyer of Huakui PLUS green beans.

Luckin Coffee's previously launched Huakui 5.0 SOE sparked widespread discussion in the market, from its low-price strategy to insufficient stock and repeated sellouts, keeping the topic alive. Now Luckin plans to launch the Huakui PLUS series SOE in the second half of the year, reportedly with purchases set to exceed 250 tons, aiming to become the world's largest buyer of Huakui PLUS green beans. So what exactly kind of coffee bean is Huakui PLUS? How does it differ from Huakui 5.0 and Huakui 6.0? This article will review the sales history and purchasing details of Luckin's Huakui SOE, and take a deep dive into this naturally processed heirloom variety from the Buku Abel processing station in Sidamo—a coffee bean named "Huakui Queen" by a domestic green bean trader.

Previously, the Huakui 5.0 coffee bean SOE launched by Luckin Coffee caused quite a stir online. On one hand, Luckin sold Huakui SOE at a relatively low price, putting pressure on many peers, and some felt this approach was wasting specialty coffee beans; on the other hand, because Luckin was insufficiently prepared before the launch, Huakui SOE went out of stock within less than ten days of hitting the shelves. Although it was quickly restocked later, it sold out again within a few days, leading many netizens to suspect Luckin was playing hunger marketing again.

At the time, Luckin explained: the total volume of Huakui 5.0 coffee beans from the 2021 crop year was indeed only just over 90 tons, and the second batch of Huakui 5.0 also sold out within days of being listed... Logically, after the second batch of Huakui 5.0 sold out, this SOE should have been delisted.

However, on February 16, Luckin Coffee Chairman and CEO Guo Jinyi revealed during a visit to Ethiopian Ambassador to China Teshome Toga that before the launch of Huakui SOE, Luckin had indeed only purchased just over 90 tons of Huakui 5.0 coffee beans. But Chinese consumers' enthusiasm for this SOE series far exceeded expectations, so the Luckin team essentially "intercepted shipping containers at sea" to "snatch" 39.2 tons of Huakui 5.0 coffee beans before the Spring Festival, completing roasting before February 15 and successfully shipping them to warehouses in various cities. In other words, Luckin ultimately purchased 129.6 tons of Huakui 5.0 coffee beans, becoming the coffee brand that purchased the largest quantity of Huakui coffee beans in China.

Every year from October to February of the following year is the new crop harvest period for Ethiopian coffee beans, meaning Ethiopian coffee beans harvested from October 2021 to February 2022 belong to the 2022 new crop, and the Huakui coffee beans produced during this period are the new 6.0 series. According to the latest news from Coffee Workshop, the Huakui 6.0 series coffee beans from the 2022 new crop are expected to arrive at Chinese ports as early as March this year.

Shipping conditions have been extremely tight over the past two years, with containers also in severe shortage. Once a container is booked, it takes at most half a month to ship to China, but no one can predict when a container can be booked. After all, the container shortage over the past two years has reached the point where even money can't secure one. It was truly not easy for Luckin to snatch 39.2 tons of Huakui 5.0 coffee beans through "intercepting shipping containers at sea." At last month's sales pace, these 39.2 tons will likely sell out quickly too—so drink up and cherish every cup.

Regarding the repeated stockouts of Huakui SOE due to insufficient Huakui 5.0 coffee beans, the Luckin team admitted: this really taught us a lesson! At the same time, they clearly recognized that launching an SOE with a total green bean volume below 200 tons means supply will fall short of demand.

Based on the current sales situation of Huakui SOE, the latest coffee bean procurement agreement signed by Luckin on December 21 last year stated that it would complete the procurement of 3,000 tons of high-quality Ethiopian green beans in Ethiopia during the first quarter of 2022, including 80 tons of Sidamo Huakui coffee beans.

Obviously, these 80 tons of Huakui coffee beans are not enough, so Luckin plans to participate in solving the supply problem of Huakui coffee beans, establishing a closer relationship with the place of origin, starting from discovering high-quality specialty coffee and assisting in increasing production capacity, in order to meet market demand.

This visit to the Ethiopian Ambassador to China was intended to seek support through the Ethiopian Embassy in China to purchase more Huakui coffee beans and launch the Huakui PLUS series SOE in the second half of 2022. By then, the purchase volume of Huakui PLUS green beans will exceed 250 tons, and Luckin is expected to become the coffee brand with the largest purchase volume of Huakui PLUS green beans in the world.

It is understood that this Huakui PLUS is not the Huakui 6.0 coffee bean from the 2022 new crop, but another naturally processed Ethiopian heirloom coffee bean also from the Buku Abel processing station in Sidamo. A domestic green bean trader named this coffee bean "Huakui Queen," with the green bean information reading Ethiopia Hambella Buku Abel Queen Plus G1 Natural (Ethiopia Sidamo Hambela G1 Natural).

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.