Why Does Luckin Cold Brew Coffee Leave Grounds in the Cup?

Customers across China have reported thick layers of coffee grounds settling at the bottom of Luckin cold brew cups after the chain relaunched its iced coffee series this week. Some described the texture as gritty, like drinking muddy soup. Store employees say they followed company procedures, and point to the filter bags used during cold brew filtration as the likely cause.

Cold brew is normally steeped for hours and then filtered, which can leave a small amount of fine powder. The volume of sediment seen in shared photos is unusual for specialty coffee, and multiple customers on social platforms reported the same issue. Luckin has not yet issued a public statement on the filtration problem or a fix.

As the weather heats up, Luckin cold brew coffee has returned to the market, becoming a refreshing choice for many consumers. However, recently several customers have reported that after finishing their cold brew, they found a thick layer of coffee grounds settled at the bottom of the cup, with an obvious powdery mouthfeel, some even describing it as "like drinking muddy soup." This phenomenon has drawn the attention of cold brew enthusiasts, and Luckin employees have revealed that the problem may lie with the filter bags used for filtration. What exactly is going on? And how should the brand address it? This article sorts out the ins and outs of the incident for you.

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Recently, temperatures have been gradually climbing, and for consumers who enjoy a cool taste, a cup of iced coffee is quite a nice way to beat the heat. Coincidentally, starting this week, Luckin's cold brew series has been relaunched in stores nationwide, so many people grab a cup on their commute as their pick-me-up drink of the day.

However, after drinking the cold brew in their cups, some customers noticed a layer of coffee grounds settled at the bottom of the takeaway cup. From the photos people shared, in some cups the powder almost covered the entire bottom, with a visual effect quite similar to a layer of unmelted chocolate sauce.

At the same time, other consumers reported that when tasting Luckin's cold brew, they felt a very prominent grittiness in the liquid, and after finishing it, it seemed like some powdery residue remained in their mouths, "as if drinking muddy soup." Now, seeing the photos of sediment at the bottom of cups that others have posted, they realize their mouthfeel experience was not an illusion.

Faced with those mud-like fine grounds in the takeaway cups, cold brew enthusiasts can't help but feel concerned. They point out that generally speaking, cold brew coffee made by steeping coffee grounds may indeed leave a small amount of fine powder after filtration, but a situation like Luckin's, leaving such a large amount of sediment, is truly uncommon.

Moreover, judging from feedback on social platforms, quite a few customers have received cold brew drinks with grounds settling at the bottom. From this, some people suspect that Luckin may have certain flaws in its cold brew production process.

In response, several Luckin store employees posted operation videos, emphasizing that they followed the company's prescribed procedures exactly. As for the large amount of fine grounds at the bottom of the cups, the staff said helplessly that the "culprit" causing the grounds to mix into the coffee liquid should be the filter bags.

Some employees explained that according to headquarters' requirements, the coffee grounds need to be put into a filter bag, then water added and stirred, so the grounds are fully saturated with cold water. After waiting 18 minutes, the entire filter bag is lifted out to filter the coffee liquid. However, because the filter bags distributed to stores are of fairly ordinary quality, fine grounds easily flow out together with the coffee liquid. If staff squeeze the filter bag during filtration to speed things up, even more fine grounds will end up in the liquid.

Therefore, to ensure the taste of the cold brew, some stores have to add an extra filter bag during production to reduce the fine grounds in the coffee liquid. But doing so undoubtedly slows down the filtration efficiency and lengthens the cold brew production time, making it truly time-consuming and laborious for store employees.

After hearing the explanations from Luckin employees, netizens felt that since the root of the problem lies in the filtration tools, the brand should, based on employee feedback, switch to finer mesh filters or adjust the coarseness of the coffee grounds, thereby avoiding excessive fine grounds remaining in the cold brew liquid.

But it is worth mentioning that, compared with customers' well-meaning suggestions, Luckin employees would rather consumers directly call customer service to complain about this product. In their view, as long as enough customer negative reviews are received, Luckin might take cold brew off the menu due to poor market feedback. That way, employees wouldn't have to spend 18 minutes making cold brew every day, nor worry about stores being complained about due to fine grounds settling in the drinks.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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