How Does the KFC Carrot Americano Coffee Taste?

For the Year of the Rabbit, KFC's K Coffee partnered with Wei Chuan to launch Bunny Loves Carrot Americano, priced at 19 yuan and sold in limited quantities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen from February 20. The drink layers 100% carrot fruit-and-vegetable juice under Arabica coffee liquid, topped with a thumb carrot, and reviewers quickly split into fans and critics.

Early check-in posts on Xiaohongshu and Weibo show the divide. Before stirring, the thick carrot juice sits at the bottom and gives off a sour, faintly fermented smell. The first sip brings sharp sourness mixed with the mild bitterness of coffee, which raises the familiar question of whether an americano coffee is bitter or sweet, and shows how vegetable juice changes that balance.

In the New Year of the Rabbit, KFC K Coffee has collaborated with Wei Chuan to launch its first juice coffee, "Bunny Loves Carrot Americano," pairing carrot fruit-and-vegetable juice with Arabica coffee liquid, priced at 19 yuan, and available in limited quantities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen starting February 20. This drink quickly sparked a check-in craze thanks to its novelty combination, but reviews have been sharply divided: carrot lovers highly recommend it, while more people call it a total miss. This article will comprehensively analyze this cup of "carrot Americano" from the perspectives of product information, taste testing, and netizen feedback, and explore the market prospects of incorporating vegetables into coffee.

To welcome the Year of the Rabbit, many brands have focused on rabbit-shaped designs, but KFC took a different approach by starting with the rabbit's food: carrots.

Just a few days ago, KFC officially announced a collaboration with Wei Chuan, with K Coffee launching its first juice coffee, "Bunny Loves Carrot Americano," priced at 19 yuan per cup and available in limited quantities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen starting February 20. With any "carrot" element, customers can also go to designated offline stores to receive a free small cup trial drink.

According to KFC's official promotional content, the bottom of the drink is Wei Chuan Daily C 100% carrot fruit-and-vegetable juice, the upper layer is dark brown Arabica coffee liquid, and a thumb carrot is placed on top as decoration. Paired with a carrying cup sleeve featuring green "leaves," it transforms into a very "three-dimensional carrot."

At present, a batch of early-bird check-in posts has already appeared on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. Some people went for the freebie, some are true fans of carrots, and some are novelty-seeking adventurers with a "let's risk it" mindset. As for the reviews, naturally there are both praises and criticisms.

Before stirring, you can see the thick carrot juice settled at the bottom, and that thumb carrot looks like a children's toy accidentally dropped into the drink. Opening the lid, you can smell a sunken sourness with a hint of pickled fermentation, reminding this author of hulatang.

On the first sip, the sourness shoots straight to the top of your head, mixed with the slight bitterness of coffee (dishwater), followed by the sweet-and-sour taste of the fruit-and-vegetable juice, accompanied by the distinctive grassy and raw astringency of carrots... After biting into the thumb carrot, it feels as if you are standing in a vegetable market. This cup of coffee is very refreshing, really—next time I won't drink it!

As expected, everyone's comments on this cup of carrot Americano are also polarized. People who "can't handle bitterness" and love carrot juice are especially fond of it, even "forcefully recommending" it; there are also no small number who think it is a miss, among whom the following netizen's comment is truly spot-on: "That taste is like an armpit with carrot added."

A netizen on Bilibili even more aptly gave KFC's new product the name "Hu Zuo Fei Wei," summing up the creator's development approach. As a perennial contestant on the list of vegetables people hate, carrots are a childhood shadow for many, something they clearly found disgusting but were forced to swallow. Now it has also been added to coffee, and many people already change expression at the mention of it before even drinking.

In the past two years, many vegetables have been made into popular tea drinks, and bitter melon lemon tea is the most successful example. Lemon tea itself is already a very popular IP element and a summer hit. The use of vegetables brings more buzz to the drink and increases the space for online marketing. If the protagonist is switched to young people's "life-renewing" coffee, with "bitterness plus weirdness," one can imagine that public acceptance would be very low.

The hot summer is about to arrive. In order to gain more attention and favor from customers, many brands have already begun preparations, and a large wave of yet-to-be-released creative drinks is also on the way. I wonder which ingredient in the market will be "chosen" next and make its way into the coffee cup~

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