How should coffee culture handle the Luckin ice debate?

Luckin has no official less-ice option on its ordering page, so customers and staff worked out an informal system of writing requests in order notes. As iced drink sales rose with warmer weather, some notes turned from polite asks into threats such as more ice, bad review, or worse. Staff say the shift has left them uneasy, and the company has not changed its ice settings.

The episode shows a gap between what customers want and what the app allows, and it touches on how coffee culture handles that gap. Employees are asking for reasonable communication rather than pressure. Until Luckin adds an ice-level choice, the safest route for customers is a clear, polite note, and for the company, a formal option that removes the guesswork.

As the weather warms up, Luckin's iced drink sales are climbing, and the old problem of "too much ice" has once again sparked discussion. Since there is no official "less ice" option, employees and customers have privately negotiated the amount of ice through notes, forming a tacit understanding. But recently, some notes have escalated from polite requests to threatening remarks such as "more ice, bad review," "splash it in your face," and "I'll kill you," leaving store employees feeling uneasy. This article sorts out the ins and outs of this phenomenon, explores the balance between consumer demand and employee safety, and calls for rational communication.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

As temperatures gradually rise, the number of customers choosing iced drinks has clearly increased, and several newly launched iced drinks from Luckin have seen sales rise accordingly. However, complaints about "Luckin putting too much ice" have surged again. Although consumers have plenty of complaints, Luckin still has not provided a "less ice" option on the ordering page, and customers have no room to adjust the amount of ice themselves when placing an order.

To respond to actual needs, some Luckin store employees privately suggest that customers write "less ice" in the order notes. If they are worried the staff may misunderstand, they can even directly specify the exact number of ice cubes they want.

Over time, this informal tacit understanding formed between employees and customers spread on social platforms. Most customers got drinks that matched their preferences through the notes. Although employees joked that they count ice cubes in the store every day, at least they no longer received bad reviews because of too much ice.

Recently, however, some Luckin employees noticed that the content of less-ice notes is changing. In the past, common notes were polite expressions such as "less ice, thanks" or "please put 8 ice cubes." Now, however, there have appeared threatening messages such as "only four or five ice cubes, complain if you give more," "less ice, less ice, bad review if more ice," and even "one extra cube and I'll splash it in the server's face" and "only five ice cubes, if there are more I'll go to the store and kill you."

Faced with this shift, employees who receive such notes are both confused and uneasy. Although some notes that clearly violate the rules are ignored, most people still try their best to satisfy requests related to the amount of ice when they see them.

But now, with more and more notes saying "more ice means a bad review," and even threats to personal safety involved, Luckin store workers cannot help but cry out, "Please spare us."

Previously, Luckin employees had repeatedly complained on social platforms that "the notes section is not a wishing well." According to the company's recipe, employees must strictly follow ingredient ratios when making drinks and cannot change them at will. In other words, if employees followed the rules completely, they could actually ignore customers' requests for "less ice."

In reality, however, many consumers report that Luckin drinks have too much ice, and some people genuinely need less ice or even no ice. Therefore, when they see a note saying "less ice," most employees will reduce the amount of ice as appropriate, and over time they have formed a tacit understanding with customers about the amount of ice in the notes. This practice was later tacitly allowed by Luckin officially, permitting employees to satisfy customers' note requests according to the actual situation.

Writing the amount of ice in the order notes was originally a win-win move for both customers and employees. As for whether the note is simple and direct or a bit joking in tone, employees see little difference. But when threatening notes gradually increase, and there are even intimidations regarding employees' personal safety, those who receive the notes inevitably feel frightened and uneasy.

Although many people think such notes may just be customers' jokes, that no one would really do anything extreme over a few ice cubes, and they comfort employees not to take it to heart. But as netizens say, only playful remarks that do not go too far can be called jokes. Once they go too far and make people unable to laugh or even feel afraid, then they are no longer jokes.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, there may be individual images or texts that have not yet been credited. Please forgive us. If the original author has any disputes, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is any infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

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