Why does Luckin's lemon tea tea base go wrong?

Luckin Coffee entered the lemon tea category this summer with the Light Caffeine Lemon Tea series, made with a domestic game collaboration, a 24oz cup, Guangdong perfume lemon juice, and a low-caffeine light coffee component. Orders offer two tea bases, Dancong as the default and jasmine as a manual choice, and the two differ visibly in color, so an incorrect base changes the drink entirely.

As demand surged, many customers reported on social media that their tea base was made incorrectly, with brownish-yellow and light green drinks frequently confused. The product is built from perfume lemon juice, green bean coffee liquid, and a blended tea base, and the low-caffeine coffee element is what separates it from standard lemon tea. Luckin has not fully resolved the consistency complaints.

Luckin Coffee officially entered the lemon tea track this summer, launching the "Light Caffeine Lemon Tea" series in collaboration with the domestic game "Party Animals." With selling points including a 24oz extra-large cup, Guangdong perfume lemon juice, and low-caffeine "light coffee," it quickly became one of the hottest-selling iced drinks recently. The new product offers two tea base options: Dancong and jasmine tea, with the default being the more intensely flavored Dancong. However, as the novelty-seeking craze heated up, a large number of consumers took to social media to report that their tea base was made incorrectly, with brownish-yellow and light green finished products frequently being confused, sparking discussions about Luckin's product consistency. This article sorts through the new product's features, the differences between tea bases, consumer feedback, and employee responses, to bring you the full story behind this lemon tea controversy.

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This summer, Luckin Coffee has finally officially announced it is officially selling lemon tea!!!

On June 3, Luckin's official account posted news of the new release, announcing a collaboration with the domestic game "Party Animals" and the launch of an original new series called "Light Caffeine Lemon Tea," available simultaneously at stores nationwide.

Regarding the new product, Luckin claims it is still offered in a 24oz extra-large cup format, infused with Guangdong-style perfume lemon juice and a flavored tea base, paired with a lower-caffeine "light coffee" component. Thus, tempted by advertising phrases like lemon tea, new product, zero fat, and extra-large cup, this Light Caffeine Lemon Tea has become one of Luckin's hottest-selling iced drinks recently.

Judging from the ingredient list disclosed by the official source, this product's composition is very simple—it is made from perfume lemon juice, green bean coffee liquid, and a blended tea base. As for the tea base, Luckin offers two different choices: one is the more intensely flavored Dancong, which is the default option when you enter the ordering page on the mini-program; the other is a fresher jasmine tea base, which consumers need to select manually.

However, because the tea bases themselves differ in color, the finished Light Caffeine Lemon Tea shows a visible difference in appearance right away. The lemon tea using a Dancong tea base takes on a darker brownish-yellow color, while the light coffee made with a jasmine tea base leans more toward a pale green. When placed side by side for comparison, the difference becomes even more obvious—the former is much more intense than the latter.

As the craze for trying the new product continued to surge, social media saw wave after wave of reviewers, along with a group of choice-anxious people agonizing over which tea base to pick. In addition, under the topic of the new product, a bunch of "victims" who accidentally had the wrong tea base added also clustered together to post photos complaining about Luckin.

"Luckin made my new product wrong," "I ordered jasmine tea, then the staff made it with Dancong," "Watch out for Luckin, the Light Caffeine Lemon Tea is very easy to get wrong!!" "I see other people's jasmine tea base ones are all green, why is mine brown—did they make it with Dancong tea?" "I bought two identical Light Caffeine Lemon Teas, and not only are the colors different, the taste is different too," "Luckin's quality control still needs some improvement"...

From these descriptions, combined with the Luckin new products everyone had in hand, the mishap problems all came down to the tea base—either brownish-yellow was made into pale green, or pale green was made into brownish-yellow, or two cups of iced drinks that were clearly ordered the same showed an obvious difference in appearance. Why is that?

In response, some employees came forward in the comments to explain that if the drink's color and taste really don't match, and are completely the opposite of the same tea base everyone purchased, then it should be that the person responsible for making it mixed up the tea bases. For such situations, the employees said they hope people won't rush to leave a bad review, and can directly give feedback to the staff, ask them to remake it on the spot, or apply for a refund.

As for the situation where the same tea base has two different colors, some Luckin workers said that Dancong tea powder tends to settle and is not easy to dissolve, so if it is the last cup from the tea bucket, the color will be darker. The same applies to lemon juice—the amount of pulp it contains varies, so the finished product made according to the ratio will also deviate in color.

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

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