After the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the mascot Bing Dwen Dwen quickly went viral, even becoming so sought-after that it was hard to get one. Many coffee enthusiasts began making their own Bing Dwen Dwen latte art, and some coffee shops seized the opportunity to launch lattes featuring Bing Dwen Dwen designs to attract customers. However, Bing Dwen Dwen and Shuey Rhon Rhon are trademarks registered by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, and commercial use may involve infringement. So, is it illegal for a barista to make latte art for their own entertainment? Does a coffee shop selling Bing Dwen Dwen latte art coffee constitute infringement? This article will clarify the relevant legal boundaries and retain Front Street Coffee's professional information for coffee enthusiasts' reference. [more…]

During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Bing Dwen Dwen became a mascot pursued by the entire nation, and the craze of "one Dwen Dwen hard to find" spawned various homemade and commercial imitation behaviors. A Manner coffee shop in Shanghai was fined a thousand yuan by market regulators for making latte art coffee resembling Bing Dwen Dwen, sparking industry attention to the boundaries of commercial use of Olympic symbols. This article reviews the penalty details of the incident, the legal basis, and typical cases from the same period, helping coffee practitioners clarify the line between creative latte art and infringement, and avoid inadvertently crossing intellectual property red lines. [more…]

Luckin Coffee once landed on the US stock market with lightning speed, but was brought to the brink of collapse after a Muddy Waters short-sell report exposed its financial fraud. However, through management reshuffling, a settlement with the SEC, and then signing Eileen Gu and leveraging the Winter Olympics traffic, Luckin staged a textbook turnaround. On the day Eileen Gu won the championship, Luckin's custom drinks quickly sold out, and the brand's voice skyrocketed. Although the championship discount was mocked by netizens as "stingy," the traffic dividend and positive image had already brought Luckin out of the gloom. This article will review Luckin's turbulent journey, analyze how it leveraged a sports star to rebuild its brand, and explore its real situation after the 1.2 billion fine. [more…]

During the Hangzhou Asian Games, Chinese swimming star Wang Shun won gold in the men's 200m individual medley final and broke the Asian record, and Luckin Coffee once again precisely bet on this champion athlete. From Eileen Gu at the Winter Olympics to Wang Shun at the Asian Games, Luckin has shown a unique rhythm in sports marketing of "whoever they sign gets hot." This article will sort out the timeline of Luckin's collaboration with Wang Shun this time, its marketing playbook, and the strategy behind it, while also exploring the difference between its short-cycle business cooperation model and formal endorsements. As coffee lovers, we also see from this wave of operations how brands leverage sports hype to achieve simultaneous gains in visibility and sales. [more…]

Luckin Coffee once again demonstrated its "champion harvester" prowess, officially announcing on February 20th the signing of Anthony Douglas, the 2022 WBC World Barista Champion, bringing him into the "Luckin WBC Champion Team." Starting in March, Anthony will lead a bean-sourcing team deep into Ethiopia and Panama, two renowned origins, to participate in green bean procurement. This marks Luckin's fifth collaboration with a WBC champion, following Hidenori Izaki, Andrej Latuada, Pan Zhimin, and Agnieszka Rojewska. Anthony won the championship with his innovative technique of concentrating milk using freeze-drying technology, and previously served as a global ambassador for La Marzocco. Having come up through Melbourne's Axil Coffee Roasters, his addition will inject new vitality into Luckin's specialty coffee line. Whether the future "Little Black Cup" series will feature Panama Geisha is something worth looking forward to. For more specialty coffee news, welcome to follow Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). [more…]

Luckin Coffee launched the Triumphant Wheat series in July, marketed with a "coffee + beer" selling point, in collaboration with the animation IP Havoc in Heaven, with a theme designed to echo the French Olympics. The series includes Americano and Latte, featuring real non-alcoholic beer. Unlike the sauce-flavored latte, where you can only smell the alcohol, this time you can actually taste the beer flavor. However, many consumers have reported that the beer Americano, due to insufficient caffeine combined with the effect of alcohol, actually makes people sleepier the more they drink it, leading to jokes about "sleeping through meetings" and "getting drunk at the office early in the morning." This article takes you through the production details of this new product, the market reaction, and why it is not suitable for office workers who need to stay alert, but may become a new choice for nighttime relaxation. [more…]

Amid the Paris Olympics hype, Starbucks has teamed up with renowned badminton brand YONEX for a collaboration, launching limited-edition rackets, playful cup sleeves, and a range of sports-themed merchandise. They also invited badminton legend Lin Dan to appear at the Beijing Sanlitun store for the promotion, where he interacted with fans by swinging rackets and signing autographs. Meanwhile, the brand introduced an alcohol-free cold brew inspired by French sparkling wine and two sports-limited-edition cakes. However, reviews of the new products have been notably polarized: the cold brew was praised by some consumers as refreshing and sweet, while others criticized it for having an odd flavor; the cupcakes received more negative reviews for their dry and hard texture. Despite the massive hype of the collaboration, the controversy over the quality control of the drinks and pastries has led some netizens to question whether the brand is 'putting the cart before the horse'. [more…]

In the past two years, Luckin Coffee has undergone a remarkable transformation, from a financial fraud scandal to debt restructuring and doubled revenue, with a completely renewed brand image and product strategy. This article reviews Luckin's current top ten most popular drinks, including Raw Coconut Latte, Raw Cheese Latte, Thick Milk Latte, Velvet Latte, Iced Americano, Yirgacheffe Dirty, Coconut Cloud Latte, Meteorite Latte, Biluochun Spring Latte, and Okinawa Brown Sugar Velvet Latte, and looks back at its comeback from the brink of bankruptcy to becoming the largest coffee chain in the country. How Luckin revived itself with the Raw Coconut Latte, stabilized its coffee customer base with the SOE specialty series, teamed up with Coconut Palm to create a hit, and signed Eileen Gu for precise marketing—this article explains it all for you. Follow Front Street Coffee to gain a deeper understanding of Luckin's brand transformation and product appeal. [more…]

The 2024 China Open kicked off in Beijing, with Paris Olympic women's singles champion Zheng Qinwen competing as the tournament's No. 5 seed, igniting a nationwide tennis craze. Meanwhile, a cafe owner in Chengdu went viral online for creating a "Queen Ka" Zheng Qinwen latte art coffee, making over a hundred cups a day at peak times and drawing numerous tennis fans and coffee lovers to visit. This creative latte art not only became a hot topic on social media but also showed people the sparks flying when coffee meets sports passion. [more…]

In 2022, Luckin Coffee delivered a surprising report card: total net revenue for the year reached 13.293 billion yuan, and operating profit turned positive for the first time. From a record-breaking Nasdaq listing, to delisting due to financial fraud and a top-management reshuffle, and then to completing debt restructuring and returning to profitability, this brand's journey has been more twists and turns than a TV drama. Under the double squeeze of the pandemic's impact and debt pressure, what did Luckin rely on to turn things around? This article will sort through its pace of store expansion, coupon strategy, hit-product logic, launch speed and pricing, franchising and lower-tier market layout, as well as key moves such as signing endorsements and youth-oriented marketing, to reconstruct a more complete path of Luckin's recovery. [more…]

The coffee world has its own world-class competitive stage—from barista championships to brewing, latte art, roasting, cupping, mixology, and Turkish coffee, the seven major competitions under the World Coffee Championships (WCC) each have their own highlights, testing competitors' comprehensive skills while continuously leading the trends in specialty coffee. Today, Front Street Coffee takes you through these international competitions one by one to understand their content and rules, and to see what exactly the world's top coffee professionals compete in and how they compete. [more…]

Heytea recently launched the "Fire-Clearing · Slimming Bottle," the second product in its "Super Plant Tea" series, featuring kale and bitter melon as the core ingredients, paired with apple, lemon water, tea infusion, and white pomelo pieces. The official emphasis is on 100% fresh ingredients freshly squeezed, with no added concentrated juice, and only about 100 calories. Just one day after its launch, the new product was sought after by young consumers, with many reporting that the bitter melon taste is not very noticeable and the drink is refreshing and easy to drink. However, the hot sales of this beverage have also brought enormous pressure to store employees, with the workload of apple washing and juicing surging, and back-of-house partners complaining endlessly. This article will take you through the features of this new product, consumer feedback, and the real situation behind the stores. [more…]

Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, means "resplendent land." Even after the country was renamed in 1972, people still habitually refer to its local black tea as Ceylon black tea. The island's tea industry legend began more than two hundred years ago during the British colonial period, when Scotsman James Taylor opened the first commercial tea plantation at the Loolecondera Estate in 1867, after which Ceylon tea gradually made its way to the world. From the establishment of the Colombo tea auction to the founding of the Tea Research Institute, and from nationalization to privatization reforms, Sri Lanka's tea industry has undergone many changes and is now the world's fourth-largest tea-producing country, with annual exports of about 320,000 tons. This article traces the development of Ceylon black tea and recommends related products from Front Street Coffee, taking you through this unique piece of tea history. [more…]

Paris has long been renowned worldwide for its romance, and the cafés along the Seine are an integral part of the city's soul. Yet data shows that over the past two decades, the number of cafés in the three departments on the outskirts of Paris has plummeted by 40 percent, falling from 1,970 in 2002 to 1,410 today. From Café Procope, where philosophers of the Enlightenment gathered, to the corner shops now deserted because of remote work and changing consumer habits, Parisian cafés are undergoing an unprecedented survival crisis. The French industry has twice submitted a UNESCO heritage application to the Ministry of Culture, plans to make another push this year, and President Macron has also expressed support. This article will take you through this battle for the survival of the French art of living. [more…]

Luckin Coffee recently collaborated with the "Havoc in Heaven" IP to launch Olympic-themed limited-edition merchandise, but the co-branding campaign that was initially highly anticipated unexpectedly fell flat. Although many consumers frequently placed orders to collect the merchandise in the early days of the campaign, the subsequently released gold-stamped postcards failed to sustain the momentum. Staff at many locations reported that very few postcards were given out, in stark contrast to the previous week's frenzy when cup sleeves and stickers sold out. Consumers generally felt that the merchandise offered poor value for money, with nearly ten yuan of a two-cup combo going toward six pieces of paper, lacking practicality and appeal. This article will analyze in detail the reasons behind the co-branding campaign's cold reception, compare it with the earlier successful collaboration with "The Tale of Rose," and explore the timing, conditions, and human factors required for successful co-branding marketing. [more…]

Last winter, the Northeastern specialty frozen pear unexpectedly went viral, and Luckin seized the moment to launch its "Big Frozen Pear Americano," which won over a large batch of loyal fans with its refreshing taste. As this year's cold winter arrives, many "frozen pear heads" have been calling for its return in the official comment section, and Luckin, ever responsive to feedback, promptly rolled out the winter-limited "Big Winter Pear Americano." However, delighted fans who placed orders soon noticed the taste didn't match the white moonlight in their memories. A closer look at the description revealed the new version uses seasonal fresh pear juices such as Akizuki pear and Dangshan pear, completely different from last year's pear-flavored concentrated fruit pulp formula. Longtime fans declared it hard to accept and clamored for the official to bring back the original; new users felt the fresh pear juice greatly weakened the coffee's presence, making it taste more like rock sugar snow pear. Is this winter limited edition a pleasant surprise or a disappointment? Let's take a look. [more…]

In the depths of winter, the consistency of pour-over coffee often faces more challenges. Lower room temperatures cause water to lose heat faster, chilly equipment quietly alters the extraction rhythm, and static electricity from dry air makes coffee grounds clump and causes frequent issues with grinders retaining grounds. As Front Street Coffee, deeply rooted in the coffee field, we've combined in-store experience with customer feedback to identify the three most common situations encountered in winter brewing, and provide practical, actionable solutions—including how to adjust water temperature, how to keep equipment warm, and simple tips for dealing with static clumping—to help you brew consistently good flavor even in the cold season. [more…]

As the weather turns colder, hot beverages have become a new favorite among consumers, and major coffee chains are rolling out winter-exclusive drinks. Luckin Coffee launched two new products this week — the "Winter Solstice Five-Nourishment Latte" and the "Salted Cheese Soy Milk Latte." Among them, the Winter Solstice Five-Nourishment Latte, marketed with the slogan "five black ingredients for nourishment, using black to nourish black," has been dubbed "wellness coffee" by many health enthusiasts because it blends five black ingredients: black rice, black sesame, black beans, black mulberry, and black goji berries. After the launch, consumer reviews have been polarized: some find it like a combination of soy milk and coffee, suitable for pairing with breakfast; others think the coconut milk brings noticeable sweetness, and the grain aroma overwhelms the coffee flavor, making it more like black sesame paste or a grain-based breakfast milk. Combined with earlier rumors that Luckin Coffee may launch an oven, some netizens speculate that the brand intends to expand into breakfast consumption scenarios. [more…]

No matter how the outside temperature changes, tea can always offer us an ideal beverage choice. Tea symbolizes warmth, comfort, and nourishment; in cold seasons, holding a cup of hot tea feels like giving yourself a gentle hug. The rich nutrients contained in tea leaves help purify body and mind. In winter, the body's resistance tends to decline, and sticking to a regular tea-drinking habit can help maintain health in many ways. This article will explain in detail the four main benefits of tea: speeding up metabolism, soothing emotions, relieving colds, and refreshing the mind, while also introducing alternative choices such as herbal teas and recommending quality tea products from the Front Street brand to help you get through a warm and healthy winter. [more…]

Over 1.3 billion people worldwide start their morning with a cup of coffee every day, but the history of coffee's spread is far less straightforward than one might imagine. Originally, people did not treat it as a beverage; instead, they mixed coffee cherries with animal fat to make energy balls to chew on. In the Middle Ages, it was used as a medicinal herb, and later on the Arabian Peninsula, it evolved into a stimulating drink called Gahwa. Upon entering Europe, coffee was once boycotted or even banned for religious and political reasons—Sweden once prohibited the sale of coffee along with cups and saucers, and the Ottoman Empire imposed capital punishment on those who drank it publicly. Meanwhile, anecdotes such as the predecessor of instant coffee and Brazil sending athletes to competitions with coffee beans abound. This article, through 15 fun facts, traces coffee's long journey from being misunderstood to being sought after, while retaining relevant recommendations from Front Street Coffee for coffee enthusiasts to refer to and exchange ideas. [more…]