What Do Luckin Coffee's Smart Tea Machines Change?

Luckin Coffee has piloted a smart tea beverage machine in some stores in Jiangsu and Zhejiang as its menu expands into light milk tea and iced shaken drinks. The machine dispenses ingredients automatically from recipes, removing manual weighing. Staff report faster drink output and less physical strain, but also about an hour of daily cleaning, which some say leads to unpaid overtime.

The unit is large, so counter space and expected cup volume determine whether a store can install it, meaning the rollout is not universal. The trial reflects a broader move in chain coffee production equipment toward automation that shares prep work, even as employees weigh the added cleaning and maintenance against the reduced squatting, lifting and measuring behind the bar.

Luckin Coffee has recently rolled out a series of new products, including light milk tea and iced shaken beverages. As its product line continues to expand, the pressure on store employees for prep work and drink-making has also increased. Recently, reports have surfaced that Luckin has piloted a "Rui Binfen - smart tea beverage machine" in some stores in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which can automatically dispense ingredients according to recipes, eliminating the need for manual weighing. Employee reactions have been mixed: some are delighted at the reduced physical exertion and faster drink output, while others worry that cleaning the machine takes about an hour each day and may even involve unpaid overtime. In addition, the tea machine is fairly large, placing certain demands on counter space and cup output volume, so not all stores can install it. This article compiles genuine feedback from frontline employees and details on equipment usage, giving coffee enthusiasts insight into new developments in chain-brand store operations.

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Luckin has recently launched new products one after another, including light milk tea and iced shaken series, offering consumers who enjoy trying new things plenty of choices.

However, for store employees, the more new products there are, the more complicated the syrups, thick milk, juices, and other raw materials they need to prepare.

Every day behind the counter, they repeatedly squat down and stand up, taking ingredients from the refrigerator to make drinks and then putting them back afterward. When orders surge all at once, the counter they have no time to tidy looks like it has just been through a battle, with milk cartons and juice bottles piled crookedly on the surface.

This chaotic scene has drawn complaints from many workers, and some have suggested that Luckin follow other tea beverage brands by using machines and equipment to share the workload while also improving output efficiency. Recently, Luckin seems to have heard employees' voices and really brought tea machines into its stores.

According to a blogger who found information in Luckin's internal affairs updates, one item mentioned the "Rui Binfen - smart tea beverage machine." After verifying with other Luckin employees, the news was confirmed as true. At present, this smart tea beverage machine has been put into trial operation in some stores in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

From photos shared by employees, this tea machine can store juice, milk, thick milk, tea, and other commonly used ingredients for making drinks. When making a drink, staff only need to scan a code, and the machine will automatically dispense ingredients according to the recipe, eliminating the step of manual weighing.

After seeing this new equipment, many employees, on the one hand, sighed that Luckin is becoming more and more like a milk tea shop, even equipped with a tea machine; on the other hand, they also felt envious, saying that with it they would no longer have to dart up and down behind the counter like gophers, reducing physical exertion while also making drink output faster.

However, the staff who have already used the tea machine are not as happy as one might imagine, and some even say outright that they want to "go back to the past." They said the tea machine does improve work efficiency, but it also brings a new burden—it takes about an hour to clean the machine every night.

According to staff, to ensure food safety, the bins and hoses in the tea machine that directly contact ingredients must be replaced and discarded every day, one throwaway per day. In addition to these parts that need replacing, the machine itself also needs daily cleaning, and the whole process takes at least one hour. People who have worked in milk tea shops also chimed in, saying that although smart tea machines are convenient and quick, the subsequent cleaning and maintenance are quite troublesome and time-consuming.

This has worried workers who had originally looked forward to the new equipment. If they clean the machine early, they can avoid overtime, but subsequent orders must go back to the original production process. If they wait until the store closes to clean it, that means unpaid overtime.

At the thought of this, employees all look glum: "Don't roll it out," "We'll be cleaning ourselves to death at closing," "I'm begging you! Don't install it!!" "The morning shift can spend half a day installing it, and the evening shift has to spend half a day cleaning it."

However, employees who have already experienced the new equipment say there is actually no need to worry too early. After all, the tea machine is relatively large, and installing it requires modifying the internal layout of the counter, and it is more suitable for stores with higher cup output. For stores with daily sales of only two or three hundred cups and limited counter space, it may not be possible to install this efficiency-boosting machine at all.

So Luckin workers in small stores may be able to breathe a sigh of relief and continue using measuring cups and kitchen scales to "make all kinds of drinks purely by hand."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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