What did the Luckin Coffee ice-shaken espresso launch bring?

Luckin Coffee released an ice-shaken espresso series and started a second Black Myth: Wukong collaboration, adding Coconut, Beer and Oat Ice-Shaken Espresso. Staff must shake each drink in a shaker cup at least eight times. The drinks build layered foam by shaking espresso with ice, and the launch drew orders but mixed reviews from customers.

On social platforms, feedback generally ranked the taste below Starbucks' ice-shaken espresso line and even below Luckin's own Coconut Latte. The shaker cup is now a fixed part of daily store work, following the earlier Light Jasmine milk tea series, which keeps the debate over what's a espresso-style drink going.

Luckin Coffee recently launched an ice-shaken espresso series and, together with Black Myth: Wukong, kicked off its second collaborative event, adding three new products: Coconut Ice-Shaken Espresso, Beer Ice-Shaken Espresso, and Oat Ice-Shaken Espresso. This means Luckin Coffee's category has officially entered the "shaker era," and employees must shake vigorously with a shaker cup at least 8 times to meet the serving standard. However, although the new products attracted many netizens to place orders, reviews on social platforms generally say their taste is inferior to Starbucks' Ice-Shaken Espresso series, and they cannot even compare to Luckin's own Coconut Latte. This article will analyze in detail the background of this launch, the product features, and the real feedback from netizens.

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Once upon a time, "shaking coffee" was still a joke we people in the industry used to tease ourselves about our work, but now this meme has forcibly become an indispensable part of every Luckin store, and the shaker cup has become a major nightmare for all Luckin staff.

Today, Luckin released the second round of its collaboration event with Black Myth: Wukong, adding new members to the ice-shaken series: Coconut Ice-Shaken Espresso, Beer Ice-Shaken Espresso, and Oat Ice-Shaken Espresso.

This also means that, following the recent milk tea series "Light Jasmine," Luckin's coffee category has officially joined the "shaker era," and the shaker cups in employees' hands probably won't be put down anytime soon. Although Luckin's newly launched ice-shaken series this time was not as explosively received as previous releases, under the double temptation of the new products and buyer shows, it still attracted many netizens to place orders and taste them.

In its promotion, the brand mentioned that this is a new product made by adding ice cubes to espresso and shaking them together to shake out abundant layered foam. In other words, as long as these coffees are being made, in principle they must be vigorously shaken with a shaker cup, reportedly at least 8 times, otherwise they will not meet the serving standard.

Just like that, along with the notification sounds of everyone placing orders in droves, every store also echoed with the uniform clatter of ice being shaken, with employees shaking coffee nonstop and then milk tea. Even netizens who went to Luckin early in the morning to pick up coffee could feel the utter resignation radiating from the staff across the counter, exclaiming, "It's really not easy."

In fact, this ice-shaken series from Luckin is not the first appearance of its kind. Two months earlier, the brand had already carried out a limited launch in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Because whether in name, components, or coffee-making steps, Luckin's limited products at the time almost overlapped with Starbucks' "Ice-Shaken Espresso series," and with a uniform promotional price of 9.9 yuan, they were once jokingly called by netizens the "affordable version of Starbucks."

Now, two months later, perhaps having seen everyone's feedback, Luckin's operations team also tactfully changed the name of the product to be rolled out nationwide this time from the original "Ice-Shaken Espresso" to "Ice-Shaken Espresso." In addition, the flavors have also been updated, removing the vanilla flavor and adding oat milk and beer flavor options.

Precisely because Starbucks' "Ice-Shaken Espresso series" has already been active on the market for two years since its launch and has gained many loyal fans for its taste, but its price of several dozen yuan makes it truly hard to become the daily staple for most working people. So when Luckin officially announced it today, many netizens said they had "finally found a substitute for Starbucks Ice-Shaken Espresso" and wanted to quickly order a cup to try.

Unfortunately, after some comparison, not only did people not think Luckin's "Ice-Shaken Espresso series" this time could replace Starbucks' classic work, but netizens who had tasted both also unanimously agreed that, as the best-selling item, "Coconut Ice-Shaken Espresso" still cannot compare to Luckin's original Coconut Latte.

As longtime fans of Ice-Shaken Espresso, we thought this time we could finally find an "affordable Starbucks version," but judging from everyone's "sharp reviews" on social platforms, it seems that is not the case.

"Good news: I drank it! Bad news: not as good as a certain Starbucks..." "My evaluation is that it can't beat Starbucks, and it also can't compare to Coconut Latte." "It's not just a little bit worse than Starbucks' Ice-Shaken Espresso." "This round 🌟Dad wins." "As a fan of Starbucks' Sea Salt Caramel Ice-Shaken Espresso, Luckin's cup still can't compare to Starbucks'..."

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