Why Does the Luckin Butter Americano Taste Like a Latte?

Luckin Coffee's butter series, made with Thailand's Butterbear, includes a Butter Americano that contains butter thick milk, so it looks and tastes much like a latte. Before mixing, the cup shows a light milky white layer under the coffee; after stirring, the drink turns light brown. Staff have had to explain that the recipe, not a barista mistake, causes the confusion.

The drink uses imported anhydrous butter from New Zealand, described by the company as rich and mellow with a strong milky aroma. Butter coffee has a longer history: bulletproof coffee is essentially hot butter Americano, and chains such as Manner and Starbucks have offered related drinks. Some buyers chose the Americano expecting a lighter cup and instead tasted something close to a latte. Questions about whether coffee can make you feel drunk are separate from this recipe issue.

Luckin Coffee has launched a butter-themed coffee series in collaboration with Thailand's Butterbear. Among them, the Butter Americano, which contains butter thick milk, looks and tastes so much like a latte that it has caused confusion among consumers. Some suspect the barista made a mistake, some feel there is no butter flavor, and employees helplessly explain that this is simply the recipe. This article will sort out the truth behind the making of this new product, user feedback, and the background of butter coffee from chain brands, to help coffee lovers see through this "Americano turned Latte" misunderstanding.

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Recently, Luckin, which has been continuously pushing forward in co-branded marketing, has teamed up with Thailand's Butterbear to launch a new butter series that fits the theme of this collaboration.

The pairing of coffee and butter has actually existed for a long time. The "bulletproof coffee" popular in fitness circles is a cup of hot butter Americano. Chain brands have also launched related products, such as Manner's light butter flavor latte and Starbucks' butterbeer latte. So when Luckin announced the launch of butter coffee, fans did not feel surprised or shocked, but rather had a feeling of "finally, it has come true after a long wait."

According to the official description, Luckin's two new products use imported anhydrous butter from New Zealand, and the overall taste of the drinks is rich and mellow without being greasy, with a strong milky aroma. However, when ordering, many users worried that the butter latte would be too greasy, so they chose the seemingly more refreshing butter Americano. To the surprise of these consumers who bought the butter Americano, after receiving it they found that this new product actually looked like a "latte."

From the photos posted by users, before the butter Americano they received was fully mixed, the bottom was a relatively light milky white, while the upper layer was coffee liquid. After stirring evenly, the overall color of the drink was light brown. If a cup of butter latte mixed equally well were placed next to it, without looking at the label, it would be hard to tell from appearance which cup was the butter Americano.

In terms of taste, the butter Americano has also been criticized by many users for tasting extremely like a latte, with a noticeable milk flavor. Compared with the butter latte, many people said it was difficult to taste the difference between the two. Therefore, consumers cannot help but suspect that the barista misread the label or added the wrong ingredients during preparation, which is why they received a butter Americano that closely resembles a latte.

In addition, some customers also reported that although the butter Americano they received looked close to an Americano, it did not have the slightest butter flavor when drunk, and was more like an ordinary iced Americano. Many people were quite confused about which version of the butter Americano they received was the correct one officially launched.

In response, Luckin employees posted drink-making videos explaining that the reason the butter Americano looks so much like a latte is that, besides water and espresso, the drink also contains butter thick milk to provide a rich butter flavor. This also makes the butter Americano extremely close to a milk-added butter latte in both appearance and taste, making it difficult for users to distinguish the two when they receive their drinks.

Many employees feel quite helpless about this new product, saying that ever since the butter Americano was launched, they have had to be asked by different customers every day whether they made it wrong. Some even think the staff are deliberately "calling a latte an Americano" to cover up work negligence, which then leads to some misunderstandings. They said that in order to avoid bad reviews, they can only explain again and again to customers who raise doubts, or remake a cup on the spot to prove their innocence.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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