Why Are Luckin Coffee Little Butter Drinks Tasting Gamey?

Users of Luckin Coffee across Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shaanxi, and Chongqing have reported that the Little Butter series tastes distinctly of mutton. Both the Little Butter Latte and Little Butter Americano are affected, whether served hot or cold. The series launched last October with Thai IP Butterbear and was upgraded in February to imported French President butter, replacing New Zealand butter.

Customer service did not directly say whether the formula changed, and store employees denied expired ingredients or altered preparation methods. No official conclusion has been issued, so the cause remains open: a difference in ingredient batches, storage, or something else. The drink was previously known among specialty coffee drinkers for a popcorn-like sweet flavor.

Recently, multiple Luckin Coffee users on social platforms have reported that the Little Butter series drinks they regularly order have developed a distinct mutton-like odor. The series was launched last October in a collaboration with the Thai IP Butterbear, and during a second collaboration in February this year, it was announced that the New Zealand butter would be upgraded to French President butter. It was once highly popular for its popcorn-like sweet flavor. However, from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong to Shaanxi and Chongqing, consumers across different regions have posted that the Little Butter Latte and Little Butter Americano they recently purchased carry an unacceptable gamey odor whether served hot or cold. Luckin customer service did not directly respond to whether the formula had been adjusted, and store employees also denied that ingredients were expired or that preparation methods had changed. Whether it is due to differences in ingredient batches or other reasons, there is still no official conclusion.

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Recently, many Luckin users on social platforms have posted that they tasted a distinct off-flavor in the Little Butter series drinks they regularly repurchase.

It is understood that Luckin launched the Little Butter series drinks last October in collaboration with the well-known Thai IP Butterbear. In February this year, when Luckin collaborated with Butterbear for the second time, it officially announced an upgrade to the ingredients of the Little Butter series, replacing the previous New Zealand butter with imported French President butter.

The improved Little Butter series won widespread consumer favor for its popcorn-like sweet taste and became a drink that some users frequently repurchased. However, within the past two or three days, some loyal fans of Little Butter have successively posted buyer reviews on social media, saying outright that they smelled an unbearable mutton-like odor in this drink they had been drinking for several months.

Judging from user feedback, both drinks in the series, Little Butter Latte and Little Butter Americano, have been criticized for a mutton-like odor whether served hot or cold. Some thought the problem was with their own senses, or that they had encountered an occasional mistake made by the staff, so they tried ordering the same drink from different stores, only to find that the strange taste in the drink had not disappeared.

It is worth noting that this change in the flavor of the Little Butter series was not limited to a certain region. Consumers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Chongqing, and other places all posted to share their "tasting notes," saying they had tasted an indescribable fishy odor in drinks they recently purchased.

Feedback posts from all over the country made users wonder, "Could they have quietly changed the formula?", "Did they upgrade the ingredients again?", "Could expired ingredients have been used?", and so on. But after asking Luckin customer service, the other party did not give a reply about any change to the Little Butter drink formula.

Luckin employees also said that when making the Little Butter series for customers, the drink ingredients they used had basically not changed, and the formulas for the various materials had not been adjusted either.

As for users' doubts about expired ingredients, most staff considered that almost impossible. They said that stores have strict shelf-life management for ingredients, and if the opened butter velvet is not used up within the specified shelf life, it is directly discarded under surveillance. Therefore, many staff admitted that they were not very clear why the Little Butter series made according to procedure would produce the mutton-like odor reported by customers, and they also felt baffled when facing user complaints and doubts.

However, after seeing the feedback flooding the internet, some netizens believed it might be related to problems with the quality of ingredients used by some stores: "It should be this batch of Little Butter that has a problem," "A bean problem?? Or else the added Little Butter has a problem," "Did the supplier change?", "It's probably a problem with this batch of goods."

However, these speculations have not received an exact official response, and Luckin workers cannot give a reasonable explanation as consumers wish. They can only tell users to report the situation to Luckin customer service after discovering the off-flavor.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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