Why Did the Luckin Coffee Rice Milk Latte Divide Drinkers?

Luckin Coffee released a Rice Milk Latte alongside a returning Mascarpone Cheese Latte in its second Honor of Kings promotion. The drink uses rice milk made from rice grown in black soil, and the company positioned it as a winter option. Many customers who ordered it said they could not detect the rice aroma and wondered whether they had received a plain latte instead.

Staff explained the drink is not built on conventional espresso but on an "instant-cooled freshly extracted" coffee process, which changes how the coffee and rice milk read together. The gap between the promised double aroma and what buyers tasted drove the online discussion. Luckin has not published full details of the extraction method, leaving the debate to consumers and specialty coffee observers.

Luckin Coffee recently teamed up with Honor of Kings to launch a second wave of limited-edition promotions, bringing back the classic Mascarpone Cheese Latte while also introducing a brand-new Rice Milk Latte. The company claims the new drink uses rice milk made from rice grown in black soil, and with temperatures dropping in many places, quite a few netizens have hailed it as the top choice for winter. However, many customers were left puzzled after tasting it, saying they could not detect any rice aroma and even wondering if they had accidentally ordered a regular latte. In response to the doubts, Luckin employees shared the production process, revealing that this drink does not use conventional espresso but instead employs "instant-cooled freshly extracted coffee." So why exactly has this new product sparked such a big controversy over its taste? Let's find out together.

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Recently, Luckin Coffee continued last week's co-branding collaboration with Honor of Kings, launching a second wave of limited-edition promotions and rolling out several new products. Among them are the Mascarpone Cheese Latte, which has returned in response to fan demand, and the newly created Rice Milk Latte. Loyal customers who love nostalgic flavors could not wait to order the Mascarpone Cheese Latte to relive the old taste, while curious netizens focused their attention on the new Rice Milk Latte.

(Image taken from the official account)

According to the official introduction, this new product uses rice milk processed from rice grown in black soil as its ingredient. In common perception, Northeast China rice has always been known for its aroma, and combining it with coffee should logically produce a "double aroma" effect. Coupled with the sharp drop in temperatures across many regions this week, many netizens saw the steaming, aromatic Rice Milk Latte as undoubtedly the top choice for this winter's first cup of coffee.

As a result, a large number of users rushed to order the Rice Milk Latte, eager to verify whether Luckin's new product was as wonderful as they had imagined. However, after taking their first sip, customers who had been full of anticipation could not help but be baffled, even wondering if they had ordered the wrong drink.

Many consumers reported that they had originally expected the Rice Milk Latte to carry a light grain aroma, but upon actually tasting it, they detected no rice fragrance at all, and the overall experience was mediocre. Some users went so far as to say that the new product tasted extremely similar to the regular latte they usually buy, making it hard to tell the two apart. "If the cup didn't have the words 'Rice Milk' printed on it, I wouldn't be able to tell whether I was drinking a Rice Milk Latte or a regular latte."

Other users compared Luckin's Rice Milk Latte with similar products from other brands, arguing that Luckin's new offering "has neither rice aroma nor coffee taste," and couldn't help but suspect that the staff might have made a mistake during a busy rush, resulting in a drink where "the rice has no rice flavor and the latte has no latte flavor."

Faced with customers' various doubts, Luckin store employees took to sharing videos of how the Rice Milk Latte is made, stating that the new product's taste falling short of expectations was not due to any error on their part.

Luckin employees explained that the recipe and production process for this Rice Milk Latte are broadly similar to other flavored lattes. However, while flavored lattes as commonly understood are typically made by mixing espresso, milk, and flavored syrup, Luckin's Rice Milk Latte is different. Employees revealed that the drink does not contain espresso liquid; instead, it uses "instant-cooled freshly extracted coffee."

In the production videos, it can be seen that when making the Rice Milk Latte, the barista picks up a cold water pitcher and pours the prepared coffee liquid into the takeaway cup. According to employee explanations, the so-called "instant-cooled freshly extracted coffee" is essentially coffee liquid made by mixing espresso with purified drinking water in a certain ratio. Therefore, some believe that the reason consumers report the new product's coffee flavor is not strong enough may precisely be due to the use of this "instant-cooled freshly extracted coffee" process.

However, as the saying goes, "a thousand people, a thousand tastes." Bystanding netizens pointed out that Luckin's Rice Milk Latte may taste bland to some, but others find it richly aromatic, arguing that this is simply due to individual taste differences causing consumers to have varying impressions of the new product.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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