How do words to describe coffee taste fit Manner's new drink?

Manner launched a Sea Salt Mint Iced Latte, promoted as carrying a faint savory sea salt note and a cooling mint aroma with layered flavor. Early buyers report the opposite: the mint is barely detectable and the sea salt is absent, with some saying the drink tastes like nothing more than an iced latte.

The gap between the promotional description and the cup shows how loosely flavor words can be applied. Terms used to describe coffee taste, such as cooling, savory or layered, set expectations that a drink must then meet. The product arrived in the middle of summer, when many brands release mint drinks, so the muted flavors drew quick social media comparisons.

Amid the scorching summer heat, mint-flavored drinks have become a hot choice rolled out by major brands vying with one another, and Manner has likewise jumped on the bandwagon with its "Sea Salt Mint Iced Latte." In official promotional materials, this new product is described as combining a faint savory sea salt note with a cooling mint aroma, delivering a rich layering of flavor. Yet the first wave of consumers who rushed to try it have taken to social media to complain, saying the actual drinking experience falls far short of expectations—the mint flavor is so faint it is nearly undetectable, and the salty taste of sea salt is nowhere to be found, with some even joking that all they could taste were the words "iced latte." So how does this new product actually perform? And what details in consumer feedback deserve attention? This article will comprehensively sort through the market reaction and genuine reviews of Manner's new release.

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In the height of summer, if one were to pick the flavor element best suited to beating the heat, mint would undoubtedly be many people's first choice. A sip of a mint-flavored drink feels like installing a cooling unit in your mouth, and the sweltering heat all around you seems to dissipate a little with it. That is precisely why, every summer, major brands race to launch mint-based drinks with their own distinctive twists, and Manner is no exception, officially rolling out a new product today called "Sea Salt Mint Iced Latte."

According to the promotional materials released by the company, this cup of "Sea Salt Mint Latte" presents a refreshing, pleasant look, and is said to offer both a subtle savory sea salt taste and a cool, crisp mint aroma, with distinct layers of flavor and a long finish. For consumers who love mint, the very word "mint" in the product name is enough to spark curiosity and a desire to buy, prompting them to place an order the moment the new item goes on sale.

(Image screenshot from Manner's official Weibo)

However, customers who had been full of anticipation for Manner's new product, after inserting a straw and taking a big gulp, unexpectedly found that the long-awaited refreshing chill did not arrive in their mouths. The first batch of consumers who tried it shared their drinking experiences one after another on social media, admitting that after the first sip they almost suspected they had picked up the wrong cup, and that only by tasting carefully could they catch a faint, barely perceptible hint of mint in the drink.

The expected cooling blast did not sweep across their taste buds, and mint lovers who had generously opened their wallets for the word "mint" could not help feeling disappointed. They noted that when they saw a layer of brightly colored green syrup settled at the bottom of the cup, they had thought they were in for a mouthful of icy refreshment, only to have all their expectations turn to nothing after tasting it. The overall flavor of the new product is far removed from the picture painted by the product copy, and equally far from their expectations before ordering.

As more and more consumers tried Manner's new product, reviews of it kept pouring in on social media. Among them, besides a flood of feedback saying "you can only see the green syrup, you can't taste any mint," some users also said they felt neither the fresh, cool mint aroma nor the salty taste that sea salt should have.

"No sea salt flavor, no mint flavor, even the coffee taste is very weak," "the mint flavor is roughly equal to none," "it's just their ordinary syrup latte flavor, no special taste at all," "it has nothing whatsoever to do with mint," "didn't taste the mint, the sea salt flavor isn't prominent," "didn't taste the sea salt or the mint, only tasted how tough Monday is," "not a hint of mint at all."

Those fans who bought the new product for the concept of "sea salt mint" said that when they saw Manner's promotional images and copy for the new item, they had thought they would get a cool, refreshing sensation from it and expected a drinking experience unlike any other. But to their surprise, after drinking more than half a cup of the "Sea Salt Mint Iced Latte" in their hands, all they could taste were the words "iced latte," and they bluntly judged the product as unworthy of its name.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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