Why does the Luckin yirgacheffe 16oz cup taste weaker?
Luckin Coffee added a 16oz size to its SOE line and offered a limited-time free upgrade of the Yirgacheffe Little Black Cup to a 16oz Big Black Cup, covering the Americano, Latte, and Australian White. Many longtime drinkers said the coffee strength dropped sharply after ordering, with the Yirgacheffe flavor nearly gone.
Staff explained that the coffee grounds weight did rise, but not enough to match the larger cup, so water or milk made up the rest. The 12oz size has been the signature of the Luckin coffee SOE range, priced 20 to 30 percent above regular drinks. For a fuller taste, staying with the original 12oz cup is the practical choice.
Luckin Coffee's SOE Little Black Cup series has always presented itself as a single-origin specialty line, with beans like Yirgacheffe, Huakui, and Geisha maintaining steady popularity, priced 20 to 30 percent higher than regular coffee, and its 12oz small size paired with rich flavor being its signature. However, this Monday, Luckin suddenly added a 16oz size to its SOE product line, offering a limited-time free upgrade of the Yirgacheffe Little Black Cup to the Big Black Cup, covering the three classics: Americano, Latte, and Australian White. While more volume at no extra cost may seem like a good deal, many longtime fans discovered after ordering that the coffee's strength had plummeted, with the Yirgacheffe flavor almost vanishing, and complaints like "watery and bland" and "the upgrade just adds water" flooding social media. Staff later explained that while the coffee grounds' weight did increase, the increment was far from enough to match the larger cup size, so water or milk had to make up the difference. For those who prefer a rich taste, Front Street recommends sticking with the original Little Black Cup.
▲
Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop
Most of Luckin's products follow a "cheap and generous" approach, with the SOE Little Black Cup series being the sole exception.
Compared to the brand's other drinks, Luckin's SOE Little Black Cup leans more toward "specialty." It emphasizes the single-origin concept, with Yirgacheffe, Huakui, and Geisha (Ethiopia) currently the three most popular beans, priced 20–30% higher than regular coffee, and the 12oz small size plus fuller coffee flavor are consumers' most direct impressions of it.
But just this morning, many Luckin users discovered that the SOE Yirgacheffe Little Black Cup could actually be swapped for free into a "Big Black Cup" — simply select the 16oz size when ordering. The volume went up, but the coffee flavor that should have been there was so weak it tasted almost like water.
This Monday, instead of the usual high-profile collaborations, merch grabs, or new single-product launches, Luckin added a new 16oz size to its existing SOE line, opening a limited-time free upgrade to the Big Black Cup for the Yirgacheffe Little Black Cup series, with the three classic categories — Americano, Latte, and Australian White — all included in the upgrade.
These days everything favors large packaging, so Luckin's "more volume, same price" tactic naturally wins over consumers — getting a bigger cup for the same money, and on top of that, it's the SOE Little Black Cup that almost never participates in discounts, making people feel like they've scored a win just thinking about it.
As soon as the upgrade news broke, many longtime Little Black Cup fans ordered right away, but the first sip revealed something was off. The cup had indeed gotten bigger, and the overall serving size rose by about 30% with the cup size, but the coffee's strength slid in a straight line, and the Yirgacheffe flavor simply "disappeared" into this Big Black Cup.
Regarding this SOE Big Black Cup, comments calling it bland as water are everywhere: "It's really as diluted as can be, no taste at all," "Is the Little Black Cup upgrade just adding water?", "The milk is terribly watery, and the coffee flavor is pitifully little," "Is this a quality control issue at certain stores? The Big Black Cup is so bland...", "I can't even taste coffee anymore," "It's not good anymore, so bland — why did I even upgrade?"... Beyond complaining about the taste, some customers even suspect "the upgrade is just adding water."
Seeing more and more complaints that the Big Black Cup tastes too weak, staff members, after finishing a round of work, came out to explain in the comments: the upgraded SOE is not, as netizens say, "just diluted with water" — the extracted coffee grounds' weight did increase, but compared to the Little Black Cup recipe, the extra coffee liquid is only "a few grams, a few milliliters," and the cup-size gap (about 113.4ml) can only be filled with water or milk, so after dilution the taste naturally becomes weaker.
Finally, the staff member kindly reminded that if you prefer a rich coffee taste, it's best to order Luckin's original Little Black Cup.
Image source: Internet screenshot
Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet, and some website content such as images — we will respect the original copyright and cite the source, but due to the large volume, a few images and texts may not have been credited in time; please forgive us. If the original author has any disputes, they may contact the website for handling, and once verified we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop"; please indicate the source when reposting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
