What happened when a coffee shop used Lianhua Qingwen labels?
A coffee shop in Qingpu District, Shanghai, was investigated by market regulators for putting Lianhua Qingwen Coffee labels on its cups. The shop had used the labels since December 19, 2022. Officers seized 290 labeled paper and plastic cups and 1,058 unused labels, and ordered the shop to stop using them and destroy the remaining stock.
Authorities said the labeling could lead consumers to believe the drinks had a specific connection to Lianhua Qingwen, which points to suspected unfair competition under Chinese market rules. The case follows the same principle behind fair trade coffee labeling: claims about what a product is or contains must be accurate, and coffee should be presented as a beverage, not as a substitute for medicine.
Recently, a coffee shop in Qingpu District, Shanghai, was investigated by market regulators for placing "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee" labels on its beverage cups. The shop had been selling such labeled drinks since December 19, 2022. Authorities seized 290 labeled paper and plastic cups at the scene, along with 1,058 unused labels. The owner claimed that customers had suggested he "play along with the meme" for marketing purposes, but law enforcement officials pointed out that this behavior could easily lead consumers to mistakenly believe the product had a specific connection to Lianhua Qingwen, constituting suspected unfair competition. It is worth noting that coffee itself may have a certain auxiliary effect on relieving cold symptoms, but it is by no means a substitute for medication. Front Street Coffee reminds all enthusiasts to view coffee's effects rationally and not to blindly follow trends.
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Recently, "Lianhua Qingwen" has been grabbing a lot of attention across major online platforms. Anything that can be associated with it, or that incorporates similar elements, immediately becomes a hot topic of discussion. Some businesses naturally refuse to let this opportunity slip by and have started racking their brains to ride the wave of traffic.
Not long ago, during a routine inspection, law enforcement officers from the Qingpu District Market Supervision Administration noticed that the cups of products sold at a coffee shop prominently bore labels reading "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee." Meanwhile, on the shop's delivery platforms, customers had also posted photos of drinks bearing the same labels.
After an on-site count and verification by law enforcement officers, the shop's inventory included a total of 290 paper and plastic cups labeled "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee," with another 6 green medium-sized paper cups already labeled and waiting to be filled with beverages for sale.
In addition, 1,058 unused "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee" labels were found at the scene—a truly astonishing quantity. Law enforcement officers immediately ordered the shop to stop using these cups and to destroy all unused "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee" labels.
According to the shop manager's account, a customer had shared photos of other coffee shops with "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee" labels and suggested he do the same, saying it might sell well. He himself found this meme-style approach quite amusing, so he custom-ordered "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee" labels online and began affixing them to drinks for sale starting December 19, 2022.
To be fair, sticking such a label on coffee packaging might bring some psychological comfort to certain consumers. Some netizens who tried this kind of "Lianhua Qingwen Coffee" even claimed that after suffering from headaches and nasal congestion for days, they felt much better after just one cup—it seemed quite magical.
However, aside from its eye-catching packaging design and name, this coffee product has absolutely nothing to do with the functions of the Lianhua Qingwen medication. If cold symptoms do seem to ease after drinking it, it is most likely the caffeine at work.
During a cold, blood vessels in the brain dilate and press against muscles, while caffeine stimulates the sympathetic nerves and constricts blood vessels, producing the opposite effect and helping to relieve headaches. Nasal congestion during a cold is also caused by blood vessel congestion in the nasal cavity. By the same principle as headache relief, caffeine's vasoconstricting effect may bring some improvement.
Of course, everyone's constitution is different, and the causes of colds vary widely. Not everyone will experience such effects, and coffee is certainly no panacea.
Law enforcement officers told the shop manager that this kind of "riding the hype" behavior could easily lead consumers to mistake the product for someone else's goods or to believe it has a specific association with another party.
Although "Lianhua Qingwen" currently does not have registered trademark rights, and the design patent for the medicine box is not involved in this matter for the time being—and many coffee cups used "Lianhua" rather than "Lianhua" in the pharmaceutical sense—theoretically constituting no infringement, it is still not recommended for businesses to do so due to the inherent risks.
The shop manager stated that he has recognized the inappropriateness of his sales behavior and promised not to repeat it. Currently, the Qingpu District Market Supervision Administration has filed a case for investigation into the coffee shop's suspected unfair competition.
Image source: Internet
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
