What Is Coffee Sugar and Why Does Extra Salt Syrup Cost More?

A customer at a 1 Dian Dian store was told that one pump of salt for the Dark Blue Salt Salty Milk Green tea would cost an extra 2 yuan, a post that spread quickly on social media. Staff and customer service explained the "salt" is actually a Dark Blue Salt Rock Sugar Flavored Syrup with a higher cost than ordinary syrup, so company policy charges for extra amounts. The store later apologized for the misquoted price.

That apology opened a wider argument over drink pricing logic: if adding syrup costs money, should customers who order less sugar or no sugar receive a refund for the syrup they did not get? Coffee and tea enthusiasts took up the question online, turning a single 2 yuan charge into a discussion about how shops price ingredients that are added or left out.

Recently, a post about 1 Dian Dian charging an extra 2 yuan for adding salt to its Dark Blue Salt Salty Milk Green tea sparked widespread discussion on social media. A customer, following an online guide, asked for extra salt but was told that one pump of salt would cost 2 yuan, which was completely different from what was expected. Subsequently, 1 Dian Dian employees and official customer service explained that the "salt" is actually a Dark Blue Salt Rock Sugar Flavored Syrup with a relatively high cost, and according to company policy, additional amounts require payment. Although the store has apologized for the misquoted price, netizens have raised a new question: if adding sugar costs money, then shouldn't customers who order less sugar or no sugar also get a refund for the corresponding syrup price difference? This debate over the pricing logic of tea beverages quickly became a hot topic among coffee and tea enthusiasts.

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Recently, a consumer posted on social media with the title "1 Dian Dian charges two yuan for adding a spoonful of salt?", which quickly attracted a large number of netizens to watch and discuss.

According to the poster, she ordered a cup of Dark Blue Salt Salty Milk Green at a nearby 1 Dian Dian store. Because many online guides mentioned that this drink tastes better with more salt, she contacted the store through a delivery platform, hoping to get a cup of salty milk tea that matched the rumor. However, the store's reply surprised her greatly—"one pump of salt for 2 yuan"—which was completely different from the add-on instructions she had seen in the guide posts.

After the customer shared this experience on social media, the comment section immediately became lively. Long-time customers of 1 Dian Dian explained one after another that the "salt" added to Dark Blue Salt Salty Milk Green is not the table salt sold in supermarkets for a few yuan a bag, but a kind of Dark Blue Salt Rock Sugar Flavored Syrup.

A 1 Dian Dian employee revealed that this syrup has a unique flavor and a complicated production process, and its cost is much higher than ordinary syrup. Therefore, if customers want extra syrup to adjust the taste, according to company policy, they indeed need to pay extra. This statement was also confirmed by official customer service.

However, they also said that according to the charging standard on the mini-program, adding extra salty syrup only requires a 1 yuan add-on fee, while there is no corresponding option on the delivery platform. The store clerk suggested that customers ordering on third-party platforms could choose other equivalent toppings and leave a note, or directly contact the store's customer service to pay the 1 yuan difference.

As for the "one pump of salt for 2 yuan" reported by the customer, the store's customer service left a message apologizing, saying it was "a partner reporting the wrong add-on price," and 1 Dian Dian customer service also said an internal investigation was underway.

Although the official side has already responded and explained, one netizen with a novel perspective raised a new view. In the public impression, many tea shops offer sweetness adjustment services for free, and customers wanting it sweeter or less sweet is often just a matter of saying so, with extra charges rarely encountered.

So this netizen raised a question: "Why does adding salt cost money? Then if I buy milk tea and order 50% sugar, shouldn't the store refund me some syrup money?"

Unexpectedly, this comment received a response and support from many people. In consumers' view, since tea beverage operators charge extra fees to customers who ask for more syrup, then correspondingly, shouldn't customers who dislike sweetness and ask for less sugar or no sugar every time they order also demand the cost difference from the tea shop?

"Support refunding two yuan per pump," "Then if I don't add extra sugar, you can only charge me half price," "Support. If opening a shop means calculating everything, then calculate it clearly. I always order no added sugar, refund me some," "Losing out badly, every drink I've ever bought was without extra sugar," "Then adding salt can also mean giving a smaller sip of milk tea, can you refund me five yuan?"

Besides demanding that merchants refund the syrup money, some also believe that since tea brands already charge corresponding fees for toppings, they can also set different prices for drinks with different sweetness levels according to consumer requests: "Full sugar, 70%, 50%, 30% for milk tea—please sell them at different prices." After all, as users say, since they have already helped the merchant save on syrup costs, asking for the corresponding "return" seems reasonable.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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