Why Is Coffee Culture Talking About the Luckin Milk Tea?

Luckin plans a new Toffee Hazelnut Milk Tea alongside the return of its toffee hazelnut latte, and a leaked recipe has employees questioning the move. The drink uses Assam black tea with toffee hazelnut velvet milk, brown sugar syrup, Siruido and milk skin velvet. Staff say the latter two are overstocked and form a milk jelly similar to the one criticized in a previous drink.

Starbucks and Peet's have both brought back their toffee hazelnut lattes this week, and Luckin's version is said to launch next week. Caffeine-sensitive customers welcomed a milk-tea option with similar flavor, but reports of a changed latte formula may disappoint those expecting last year's taste. The reaction shows how closely coffee culture now watches product reformulation.

As the weather turns colder, the toffee hazelnut flavored latte has once again become a hot topic among coffee lovers. Brands such as Starbucks and Peet's have successively announced the return of the classic version, and Luckin has also been reported to launch the toffee hazelnut latte next week, along with a new "Toffee Hazelnut Milk Tea." However, this new product has triggered collective concerns among Luckin employees. According to the leaked recipe, the milk tea uses Assam black tea as the base, with added toffee hazelnut velvet flavored milk, brown sugar syrup, Siruido, and milk skin velvet flavored milk. Employees pointed out that when Siruido and milk skin velvet are mixed, they form the "tofu pudding"-like milk jelly that was criticized in the previous milk skin latte, and these two ingredients have long been overstocked, so it is suspected to be a mix-and-match move to clear inventory. Meanwhile, the toffee hazelnut latte returning this year is also rumored to have a formula change, which may slightly disappoint consumers expecting the taste from last year.

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As temperatures keep dropping, many coffee lovers have started craving that sweet, warm, hand-hugging toffee hazelnut flavored latte again, and have spoken up on social platforms, urging major brands to bring this winter classic back to the menu as soon as possible.

Soon after, brands such as Starbucks and Peet's successively announced this week the return of the toffee hazelnut flavored latte, while Luckin store partners also spread internal news that the highly anticipated toffee hazelnut latte will be launched next week. They also revealed that along with the return of the classic, the company will also launch a new product called "Toffee Hazelnut Milk Tea."

This news made caffeine-sensitive people especially happy, praising the brand for catering to consumers who cannot intake too much caffeine by launching a milk tea with a similar flavor. However, the Luckin employees who spread the news of the new product looked troubled. Not only were they not happy, but they also worried that the new product might face the awkward situation of poor sales after launch.

According to the leaked new product recipe, "Toffee Hazelnut Milk Tea" is made with Assam black tea as the base, adding specified amounts of toffee hazelnut velvet flavored milk, brown sugar original syrup, Siruido milk-flavored beverage, and milk skin velvet flavored milk.

At first glance, this recipe seems fine, but multiple Luckin employees pointed out that the Siruido and milk skin velvet in it, after being stirred and blended, form the "tofu pudding-like texture" milk jelly that consumers complained about in the previous milk skin latte.

They said that after the milk skin latte was launched, it was disliked by consumers because of the peculiar-textured milk jelly, and sales kept declining after the novelty wore off. Later, perhaps to use up the ingredients, the brand launched a "Xilin Gol Salted Milk Tea" mixed with milk skin velvet, but feedback after launch was below expectations, and many users did not repurchase after trying it.

Because of this, milk skin velvet and Siruido have become difficult materials for stores to use up. Some staff said that since the launch of the milk skin latte, the first batch of raw materials that arrived in their store's warehouse has never been used up, and several boxes still remain.

So when they saw these two ingredients again in the new product recipe, many Luckin employees immediately believed this was a drink mixed together by the brand to clear inventory of slow-moving materials, jokingly calling "Toffee Hazelnut Milk Tea" a "patchwork tea," and bluntly saying they were not optimistic about this new-flavor milk tea, "If it can't sell, they just combine it like this, and then it still can't sell," "After putting together a whole bunch, in the end still no one buys it."

In addition, some Luckin employees revealed that this year's returning "Toffee Hazelnut Latte" may differ in taste from the widely praised version last year. Veteran employees said that the previous "Toffee Hazelnut Latte" used toffee syrup, and whether served cold or hot, a layer of cream was added on top of the drink.

But this year's returning "Toffee Hazelnut Latte" replaces the original toffee syrup with toffee thick milk, and will also cancel the cream on top. They admitted that users who want to recall last year's taste may feel slightly disappointed after trying the new product next week.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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