What the Molly Tea Ice Complaints Mean for Coffee Culture

Molly Tea's seasonal Exotic Guava Series, sold as Jasmine Cream Guava and Jasmine Guava Milk Skin, drew complaints about ice rather than flavor. Customers who chose the less ice option reported that the drink shrank by more than half once the ice was removed, and one person counted 35 ice cubes in a single less-ice cup. Most Molly Tea drinks offer no no-ice option, so less ice is the only choice for anyone wanting a milder temperature.

The episode matters beyond one chain because it shows how promotion and delivery can diverge. The series was marketed on in-season red-fleshed guava blended with milk and green tea, and the pink look drove orders. Observers of specialty coffee and tea beverage culture, including Front Street Coffee, are tracking the feedback, since ice standards shape both perceived value and taste in cold drinks, and customers now compare cups by how much liquid remains after the ice is scooped out.

Molly Tea recently launched its seasonal limited-edition "Exotic Guava Series," and the two new drinks, "Jasmine Cream Guava" and "Jasmine Guava Milk Skin," quickly attracted a large number of consumers eager to try them thanks to the pink, delicate look of red-fleshed guava. However, not long after they hit the menu, feedback flooding social platforms focused on an unexpected issue—too much ice. Many customers found that even when they chose "less ice," the drink shrank by more than half after the ice was scooped out, and some even fished 35 ice cubes out of a single less-ice drink. What exactly is going on here? What secrets lie behind the ice standards at tea beverage shops? As observers deeply engaged in coffee and beverage culture, Front Street Coffee is also paying attention to this phenomenon.

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Recently, the chain tea beverage brand Molly Tea launched its seasonal limited-edition "Exotic Guava Series," introducing two new drinks, "Jasmine Cream Guava" and "Jasmine Guava Milk Skin."

According to official promotion, the "Exotic Guava Series" uses in-season red-fleshed guava, with juice extracted from fresh fruit blended in proportion with milk, green tea, and other ingredients to create a cup of uniquely flavored creative drink. When these two pink, highly photogenic new products appeared on the mini-program menu, a large number of "guava lovers" were drawn to them and could not resist ordering a cup to try.

As a result, not long after Molly Tea's new products were launched, the first wave of drinkers' "post-drink reviews" began appearing one after another on social media. Interestingly, what most consumers fed back after trying them was not whether the drinks tasted good, but that "half a cup of ice comes with one cup of drink."

Because temperatures dropped, users in many places prioritized choosing "less ice" when ordering Molly Tea's new products, hoping for a drink that was not too cold. However, when they received the drinks and manually scooped out the ice, they found that a tea drink labeled "less ice" immediately shrank by more than half once the ice was removed, and the ice they fished out was enough to fill a bowl.

Users said that most Molly Tea drinks do not have a no-ice option. If they do not want a drink that is too cold, they basically can only choose less ice and then manually remove the ice after receiving it. Unlike at other tea beverage shops, they cannot get an ice-free drink simply by adding a no-ice request in the order notes.

In most milk tea consumers' impression, if a regular-ice milk tea has more than twenty ice cubes, then the corresponding less-ice drink should have about half as many ice cubes. But based on netizens' feedback, the number of ice cubes they fished out of Molly Tea's new less-ice guava drinks was generally in the teens or twenties, and some customers even said, "I ordered less ice and actually manually fished out 35 ice cubes," exclaiming that the amount of ice in Molly Tea products truly exceeded their expectations.

In addition, some cost-conscious consumers said that Molly Tea's new products are priced at around 20 yuan, but whether they chose regular ice or less ice, after receiving the drink and removing the ice, less than half of the takeaway cup's capacity remained. They joked that half of the money they spent on milk tea went toward buying ice.

Faced with netizens' complaints, whether humorous or sharp, Molly Tea workers who noticed the situation felt rather helpless. Employees revealed that when making drinks, "the regular ice line and the less ice line are the same," meaning that whether customers choose regular ice or less ice, the actual amount of ice added to the product is almost the same, and it will not be "half the ice" as users expect.

At the same time, milk tea workers said that the brand has strict product standards, so under surveillance cameras they can only prepare drinks according to the ratios specified in the recipes. If they momentarily accommodate a customer's request and make a no-ice drink, they may have money deducted afterward. Therefore, many frankly admitted that when receiving complaints and negative reviews from customers about "half a cup of ice" or "no ice but not filled to the ice line," they also feel helpless. "Even we ourselves complain about all that ice."

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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