Is White Coffee Strong, and What Does the Name Refer To

White coffee is not a single fixed drink, so its strength depends on how the term is used. In Malaysia it often means beans roasted with margarine and lightly roasted, yielding a pale color and a milder, sometimes sweeter cup, while in other markets it refers to beans roasted to a very light level, which can taste grassy and acidic.

Because white coffee what is varies by region, caffeine content is not defined by the name either. Light roasting does not remove caffeine, so a white coffee can carry roughly the same caffeine as a comparable darker roast of the same bean. Strength in the cup usually reflects dose, brew ratio, and roast level rather than the color of the label.

Recently, the "Tear & Win" lucky draw campaign launched by Chagee in Malaysia has run into controversy. A video exposed that store employees were suspected of screening the prize cards inside the cups in advance and keeping the grand prizes aside for themselves, triggering strong consumer doubts about the fairness of the campaign. The brand initially demanded that netizens delete their posts through legal means, then responded successively on November 18 and 19 and issued an apology statement, admitting that the employees' behavior did not conform to corporate principles and announcing that starting from December, QR codes would replace paper lucky draw slips. Although the brand promised to make changes, public doubts about its handling of the matter and its transparency have still not been completely dispelled.

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The "Tear & Win" lucky draw campaign carried out by Chagee in Malaysia was recently exposed as allegedly involving behind-the-scenes manipulation by store employees. After the incident escalated, the brand demanded that the publisher delete the related content on the grounds that it was preparing to take legal action, a move that attracted attention from multiple overseas media outlets.

On November 11, Chagee's overseas official account announced that to celebrate the brand's 7th anniversary, it would hold a "Tear & Win" campaign at all stores in Malaysia from November 16 to 17. Customers who bought designated drinks could participate in the lucky draw, with prizes including Apple laptops, iPhones, LV bags, Gucci bags, and coupons, among other high-value gifts.

The so-called "tearing the cup" refers to the brand attaching a special lucky draw marker to the drink cup, with the bottom of the cup hollowed out, so that customers can tear open the outer layer to see the result. Coffee Workshop previously reported that thanks to generous prizes, the campaign attracted a large number of consumers to participate enthusiastically and once drove a sharp rise in the brand's sales, but it also drew customer complaints over a series of problems during the process.

(An illustrative image of the brand campaign's lucky draw)

During the campaign, an overseas netizen posted a video on social media, claiming that Chagee's lucky draw campaign was suspected of behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Two video clips showed that in a Chagee store in Malaysia, employees checked milk tea cups one by one without tearing them open, trying to find the cups containing grand prizes and placing them separately. From the footage, it could be seen that the milk tea cup in the employee's hand was actually made of two nested cups - a smaller white paper cup nested inside a larger paper cup printed with the brand's pattern - so simply pulling out the inner cup would reveal the location of the prize card.

Many netizens believed that the employees did this to deliberately "leave the grand prizes for influencers," so as to use the lucky draw campaign for promotion and attract more people to spend in stores, while other participating customers could only get ordinary "small gifts."

As the incident continued to heat up, the original video publisher then posted a screenshot of a private message from Chagee. The chat record showed that the brand acknowledged the practice and said it had required the employees involved to make corrections, while also demanding that he immediately delete the video, otherwise it would take legal action. (The original video has now been deleted, but many people had already downloaded it in advance and reuploaded it.)

In response to netizens' doubts, on November 18, Chagee's official account replied to a user on social media, explaining that the reason it asked the other party to delete the video was that it involved employee privacy, while also stressing that the brand absolutely does not encourage the behavior shown in the video. Chagee said it had taken necessary measures against the employees involved and thanked the public for its feedback, saying it would use the opportunity to continue improving.

On November 19, Chagee Malaysia's official account issued an apology statement in English and Malay respectively. The statement said it apologized for the distress caused by the recent controversial video related to the "Tear & Win" campaign, that the behavior of the employees in the video did not conform to corporate principles, and that the brand attached great importance to this matter. It said it was currently conducting a detailed investigation and communicating with the store involved to review its operating procedures and ensure strict implementation of high service standards.

At the same time, based on customers' recent feedback on the lucky draw campaign rules, Chagee said it would use QR codes instead of the lucky draw slips in cups starting from December to prevent similar behavior from happening again.

Even so, Chagee's response still failed to completely calm netizens' dissatisfaction, and many people remain doubtful about the brand's handling of the matter and its transparency.

Image source: Internet screenshot

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