Is White Coffee Healthy When Powder Mixing Goes Wrong?

Luckin's Gentle Jasmine Milk Tea drew complaints of white particles and sediment at the bottom of the cup, plus a powdery mouthfeel. A store employee said the jasmine tea liquid comes from tea powder rather than freshly brewed leaves, and that some stores stir instead of shake, which can leave powder undissolved. Luckin has not issued a clear response.

The drink is built from syrup, milk, light cream and jasmine tea liquid, mixed in a shaker and poured into a takeaway cup. Consumers suspect the white residue is dairy sediment and question ingredient quality. The case points to coffee powder preparation as a variable: incomplete mixing of powders can leave texture and sediment, which matters when judging whether a drink is white coffee healthy.

After Luckin officially announced Liu Yifei as its brand ambassador, the Gentle Jasmine Milk Tea quickly became a popular item. However, many consumers noticed white particles or sediment at the bottom of the cup after drinking it, and the mouthfeel was described as having a distinct powdery texture. A Luckin employee revealed that the jasmine tea liquid in the drink is actually made from tea powder rather than freshly brewed tea leaves, and some stores, in order to speed things up, use stirring instead of shaking, which may prevent the powder from fully dissolving. Consumers, on the other hand, are more inclined to believe the white powder comes from dairy residue and have doubts about the quality of the ingredients. As of press time, Luckin has not given a clear response.

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After Luckin announced Liu Yifei as its official brand ambassador, the celebrity-endorsed Gentle Jasmine Milk Tea quickly went viral, with sales continuing to climb, making it a must-order drink for many fans when they visit the store. Recently, however, some customers noticed after tasting it that although this Luckin milk tea tastes decent, it differs somewhat from what they think of as milk tea.

In most people's understanding, milk tea produced by current chain tea beverage brands is basically made by combining fresh milk with freshly extracted tea liquid, sometimes with added ingredients like syrup to balance the flavor. Judging from videos shared by Luckin employees showing the preparation process, staff add syrup, milk, light cream, and jasmine tea liquid one by one into a shaker, mix them well, and then pour the mixture into a takeaway cup. The overall process is not very different from that of ordinary milk tea shops.

However, many customers reported that after finishing the milk tea, white granular substances remained at the bottom of the takeaway cup. Some netizens did not clean their cups in time and only discovered after a while that a layer of sediment had accumulated at the bottom of the paper cup.

At the same time, other consumers said after drinking it that this new product had a "scratchy throat" feeling, with a detectable graininess and a strong powdery texture, similar to the state of soy milk powder that has not been fully dissolved. The poor drinking experience, combined with sediment of unknown composition, has raised questions about the ingredients used in Luckin's milk tea.

Some users consulted Luckin's mini-program human customer service about this phenomenon and received the reply that it "is a normal occurrence." Store employees, who make dozens of drinks every day, also acknowledged that the drink can produce sediment. Their explanation is that the jasmine tea liquid used in the preparation video is actually an ingredient made in advance by mixing tea powder with water, not freshly brewed from tea leaves. Therefore, employees speculate that the particles customers taste are most likely undissolved tea powder.

In addition, some staff members also mentioned that the standard preparation process for this drink should be to add the various ingredients separately into the shaker and then shake it to mix them thoroughly. But in stores with high output, to improve efficiency, employees may skip the shaking step and use stirring or other methods instead. So they suspect that non-standard preparation methods may also cause sediment to appear.

The explanations from Luckin employees sound somewhat reasonable, but some customers still insist that the particles at the bottom of the cup are white. Combined with the main ingredient information Luckin has publicly disclosed, they are more inclined to believe these white powders are dairy sediment and suspect that the milk or light cream itself has quality problems.

At present, many tea beverage brands label their products with promotional phrases such as "fresh milk + freshly brewed tea," which invisibly reinforces milk tea lovers' expectations for healthy, high-quality milk tea. For this reason, in consumers' eyes, Luckin's new product using jasmine tea liquid made from tea powder makes the product quality seem somewhat inferior and clearly drags down the overall taste.

This time, most consumers trying the new product for the first time expressed dissatisfaction with the prominent "powdery feel" in the drink, and they also hope Luckin will strictly control the quality of raw materials so customers can drink with peace of mind. As for consumers' various current concerns about the light milk tea, Luckin has not yet given a clear response.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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(Front Street Coffee recommendation: If you prefer a clean tea-drinking experience with no powdery texture, we suggest checking out Front Street Coffee's freshly extracted tea series, made with selected whole-leaf tea brewed on site, with a clear taste that doesn't cling to the throat.)

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