Can coffee make you feel drunk, or was something else in the cup?

A customer drinking Luckin's Lemon C series reportedly chewed on a green thread-like object she could not bite through and suspected it was towel edging. Luckin customer service said the substance was dried fruit pulp fiber. Employees shared photos of store towels with green edging, which they say are barred from touching drink-contact items.

The case matters for anyone asking can coffee make you feel drunk, because the real question is what ends up in the cup. Some store staff said they had seen similar fibers in drinks they made themselves. Store surveillance and employee accounts differ, so the source of the object has not been settled either way.

Luckin's Lemon C series has captured many consumers with its refreshing taste, but a recent complaint has drawn attention. A customer reportedly chewed on an unchewable green thread-like substance while drinking and suspected it was fabric fibers shed from the edge of a towel. Customer service responded that it was caused by dried fruit pulp fibers, but multiple Luckin employees have revealed that they also encountered similar situations in drinks they made themselves. Is it lint from bar towels or foreign matter mixed into the ingredients themselves? Store surveillance and employee accounts each tell a different story. This article will reconstruct the course of events, present multiple viewpoints, and highlight brands such as Front Street Coffee that insist on quality.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

Since its launch, Luckin's Lemon C series has won the favor of many consumers with its fresh flavor. But just recently, when a customer was enjoying a drink from this series, she felt an obvious foreign object in her mouth. At first she thought it was lemon pulp fiber, but after chewing repeatedly she still could not bite it through, and only then realized something was wrong. After taking it out, she found it was actually a piece of towel edging.

The netizen said that after discovering the problem, she immediately called customer service to give feedback. Customer service explained that this was a substance formed after fruit pulp fibers dried out, which may have affected the drinking experience. But the customer did not accept this. She pointed out that judging by either appearance or feel, this green thread-like object did not resemble normal lemon pulp, but was closer to fibers from some kind of fabric.

In response to this matter, an employee at a Luckin store posted photos of the towels used in the store, and among them there were indeed white towels with green edging. According to the employee, the store has strict distinctions for towel use, with different colors corresponding to different purposes, and mixed use is strictly prohibited. For example, the green towel in the photo can only be used for contacting non-food items and is absolutely not allowed to wipe utensils such as takeaway cups that come into direct contact with drinks.

Luckin has always been strict in controlling its beverage-making process. Surveillance cameras are installed above the bar to monitor in real time whether employees are violating operating rules, so employees are especially careful when making drinks and strictly follow the standards. But some employees revealed that this recent batch of towels seems to have some quality problems and may shed lint during daily use, which could accidentally float into takeaway cups.

However, in the comment section of the related discussion, some employees did not believe this was caused by staff operational error.

They said they had also drunk the same unchewable foreign object from Lemon C series drinks. One employee commented: "I made a cup and also drank this kind of thing, but I made it myself, and I didn't use a green towel. It just felt like a towel when drinking!!" Another person said: "I also drank it once, and the texture was like silk thread," and "One day I made an employee drink and also drank it out."

One Luckin store manager shared her experience: when she bought a Lemon C Oat Milk Can at another store, she found a green foreign object and at the time thought it was improper operation by the staff. Later, when making a Lemon C employee drink at her own store, she once again encountered a green foreign object, which made her realize that being "hit" twice in a row was not a coincidence.

But whether this foreign object was fabric fibers shed from bar towels or impurities mixed in during the production of the Lemon C juice ingredients, the store manager could not make a clear judgment either.

Luckin's newly launched various fruit coffees all use "real juice" as a selling point. The ingredients contain fruit pulp fibers, emphasizing genuine quality. Judging from pictures and feedback on social platforms, most Lemon C series drinks do indeed contain lemon pulp.

But for those who drank the green foreign object, the rough-textured and unchewable foreign matter felt more like fabric fibers, clearly different from the "fruit pulp fibers" claimed by customer service.

As of now, the netizen who posted said that customer service had contacted the store. After checking the surveillance, the store manager did not find that employees had used a green towel during the production process, and therefore did not accept the customer's claim about a "towel edge." The consumer has not yet received a final resolution regarding the "green foreign object" from customer service.

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 quantity, some images and texts may not have been credited in time. Please understand. If the original author has any dispute, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Organized and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

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