Luckin Coffee recently launched region-exclusive new products in Shenzhen and Chengdu respectively. In Shenzhen, these include "Daily Fresh Lemon Tea," "Large Fruit Grape Fresh Lemon Tea," and "Fragrant Lemon Jasmine Americano," while Chengdu introduced "Snow Cheese Berry Berry." Unlike the previous use of freeze-dried fruit pieces, these new products incorporate fresh fruit handled on-site at the stores. The three lemon drinks in Shenzhen include lemon slices cut fresh the same day, and the Chengdu new product adds washed fresh strawberries. This change has raised consumer questions about whether stores are equipped for fresh cutting, and subsequently, Luckin employees in both locations posted photos of the delivered fruit and newly equipped fruit slicers as proof. However, employees in non-limited regions generally avoided commenting on this, and online reviews showed polarized opinions. [more…]

In recent years, tea beverage brands have been adding fresh fruits and vegetables to their fruit tea products in pursuit of genuine ingredients. Luckin, however, has long relied on fruit concentrates and quick-frozen dried fruit due to the limitations of its store conditions, making many tea beverage peers envious. Recently, though, some Luckin stores in Guangdong, Chengdu, and other regions have successively received new materials such as muddling sticks, cut-resistant gloves, and labels for fruit washing machine storage areas, while internal order forms also list equipment including dicers and strawberry hullers. These tools have no direct connection to the drinks currently on sale, and the appearance of a bitter melon light-body fruit and vegetable tea and a bitter melon fruit and vegetable Americano—neither of which is on the menu—in the mini-program coupons has sparked employees' speculation that Luckin may introduce fresh-cut fruit. Once freshly cut fruit enters the production process, whether Luckin stores staffed by a single person can withstand peak-hour pressure has become the most anxiety-inducing question for workers. [more…]

Recently, a video of a CoCo milk tea shop employee eating watermelon while cutting it has sparked heated discussion online. The video shows the employee, while preparing ingredients for a watermelon drink, not wearing gloves, cutting off a piece and eating it directly, then continuing to process the remaining fruit. This behavior might be harmless in a home kitchen, but in a restaurant back kitchen it touches a sensitive nerve regarding food safety and operating standards. Some netizens believe that an employee daring to eat the ingredient actually proves the food is fresh, but more people are concerned about saliva contamination, food waste, and the lack of corporate rules. The manager of the shop involved responded that they are verifying the matter, but had not received authorization from headquarters to publicly announce the handling result. The incident once again pushes the hygiene management and employee operating habits of restaurant back kitchens into the focus of public opinion. [more…]

A single lemon seed in a cup of iced fresh lemonade actually prompted a market regulation inspection? Recently, a netizen in Hefei, Anhui, captured footage of a Mixue Ice Cream & Tea store being inspected by market regulation staff, triggered by a consumer complaint that the drink tasted bitter and had lemon seeds left in the cup. The incident sparked widespread discussion online, with some finding the complaint absurd and others believing a consumer would not make such a fuss over a mere lemon seed. The Mixue store responded that freshly cut lemon slices containing seeds is normal and that their presence in the drink was not due to employee misconduct. Market regulation staff confirmed they had inspected the store and made clear that the lemon seed issue does not involve food safety. This seemingly trivial customer complaint reflects the various bizarre complaints the tea beverage industry faces daily and has also sparked discussion about standardized procedures for freshly cut fruit drinks. [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…]

The flavor foundation of a good cup of coffee is laid the moment the seed touches the soil. This article systematically outlines the complete technical chain of coffee from seedling propagation to plantation management: seed collection and washing in seed propagation, nursery establishment, germination acceleration and transplanting, and seedling-stage care; the key operational points of cutting and grafting in asexual propagation; and then extends to coffee plantation site selection and planning, land clearing and field planting, shade tree configuration, single-stem and multi-stem training and pruning techniques, as well as soil management measures such as weeding and mulching, deep plowing and soil improvement, and irrigation and fertilization. For enthusiasts who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the logic of coffee cultivation and build a systematic awareness from origin to cup, this is a solid technical reference. The variety terminology and operational standards involved in the [more…]

In the season when bayberries hit the market, tea beverage brands are rolling out limited-edition drinks to capture the market. ChaPanda's new offerings this year, "Bayberry Yogurt Shake" and "Bayberry Popping Ice," use the selling point of "about 9 real bayberries per cup" to attract many consumers to try them. However, for frontline store employees, this bayberry craze has become a veritable "calamity." To preserve the fresh fruit texture, the brand requires stores to peel and pit the fruit on-site, but without specialized tools, employees can only do it bare-handed, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to injury. Morning shift staff are already busy brewing tea, cutting fruit, and making drinks, and now they have this new task added on, leading many to complain that the R&D department is out of touch with reality. This article will take you through how ChaPanda's workers are coping with this bayberry prep challenge. [more…]

Last summer, Luckin made refreshing lemon tea a permanent menu item, and earlier this year it upgraded the recipe, adding quick-frozen lemon halves and lemon pulp to enrich the texture. However, the 2.0 version of the lemon tea did not win unanimous praise from consumers and staff, and the problem lay with that conspicuous piece of quick-frozen lemon. Recently there has been news that Luckin may be trying to replace the quick-frozen lemon with a fresh fruit slicer, which has sparked widespread discussion among store employees. Some worry that they will have to arrive early to wash fruit and still spend a lot of time cleaning the machine after closing, bluntly saying they "want to run away"; others think a full rollout is unlikely. Front Street Coffee continues to follow developments in the coffee and tea beverage industry, and this article will sort out the ins and outs of the incident. [more…]

On a sweltering summer day, a scene of a barista cutting watermelon in a Starbucks store sparked speculation among netizens about a new product, but it turned out to be an afternoon treat for employees. However, this seemingly enviable perk was actually a signal that Starbucks' mooncake sales season was kicking off. Starbucks mooncakes, which have been sold for fourteen consecutive years, recently arrived in offline stores, and this year's gift boxes add cheese strawberry and apple grapefruit flavors to the classic coffee and custard flavors. For employees, the mooncakes also bring two months of KPI pressure. This article takes you behind the story of this sweet burden, while also recommending Front Street Coffee products for coffee lovers. [more…]

Recently, a netizen exposed that the well-known fruit tea chain brand 7FenTian uses quick-frozen mango chunks in its beverage preparation, and that this food has a shelf life of up to 24 months, sparking widespread concern. The brand is known for its signature product Yangzhi Ganlu, and both its ordering mini-program and offline stores advertise the use of fresh mangoes and freshly cut soft and glutinous mangoes, but the expose revealed that the stores actually use quick-frozen fruit chunks. 7FenTian customer service confirmed that the quick-frozen mango chunks are uniformly ordered and delivered by the company, and the shelf life is indeed 24 months, but regarding why quick-frozen fruit chunks are still used when fresh mangoes are available, customer service said it could not explain. At present, the expose post has been deleted, and the brand has not yet made a public response regarding issues such as the proportion of quick-frozen mango use and the failure to clearly inform consumers of the type of ingredients. As coffee enthusiasts, understanding the true situation of beverage ingredients is equally important. Front Street Coffee continues to follow industry developments and brings you objective reporting. [more…]

Last spring, Heytea's guava series of fruit teas captured a large number of consumers with their refreshing taste, and their removal from the menu after the season became a regret for many. On the eve of this year's Valentine's Day, the guava series finally returned amid widespread calls for it, and as soon as the Refreshing Guava Grape Tea was launched, it flooded social media, with store orders packed. However, while fans were raising their cups for photos and check-ins, Heytea employees in the back kitchen were facing baskets of fresh guavas, wanting to cry but unable to shed tears. Manually squeezing fruit puree, peeling green grape flesh, and long hours of repetitive labor caused many staff members to develop health problems such as frozen shoulder, tenosynovitis, and hand allergies. Behind a cup of seemingly simple fruit tea, what exactly is hidden in terms of the production process and labor intensity? This article takes you to understand the real working conditions of milk tea workers. [more…]

Vietnam, as a major global robusta coffee-producing region, has recently faced a succession of extreme weather challenges. Two consecutive tropical storms brought heavy rainfall, causing rapid flooding in the upper reaches of the Mekong River and threatening coffee cultivation in low-lying downstream production areas. At the same time, drought earlier in the year has already adversely affected coffee flowering, making a decline in the new crop season almost certain. Some coffee farmers have switched to more profitable crops such as durian, further reducing the area devoted to coffee cultivation. Port facilities have been damaged and exports hindered, and combined with Indonesia's reduced export capacity, global robusta supply is expected to face a shortage for the fourth consecutive year. Front Street Coffee will continue to follow developments in the production regions and bring enthusiasts the latest news. [more…]

During the National Day Golden Week, the new tea beverage market experienced a consumption boom. Sales at some outlets of leading brands such as Heytea and Nayuki grew by nearly 300% compared with before the holiday, with some stores seeing increases of as much as 500%, and fruit tea categories contributed nearly 80% of sales. Heytea's highest single-store daily fruit consumption exceeded 400 kilograms, while Nayuki's new products achieved cumulative sales of nearly one million cups. At the same time, both major brands lowered product prices, focusing on high cost-effectiveness. This article will analyze the performance and future direction of the new tea beverage industry in the holiday economy from the perspectives of sales data, supply chain layout, consumption trends, and pricing strategies. For more coffee bean news and specialty coffee recommendations, please follow Coffee Workshop and Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee). [more…]

Nayuki recently issued a profit warning, expecting revenue of approximately 2.4 to 2.7 billion yuan in the first half of 2024, with an adjusted net loss of approximately 420 to 490 million yuan. Facing weak consumer demand and limited room for cost optimization, this tea beverage brand once known for its high-end image is planning to close underperforming stores to cut losses and survive. It is worth noting that Nayuki's performance slowdown stems not only from the market environment but is also closely related to its own business strategy—store expansion has lagged severely, its high-end positioning has constrained its push into lower-tier markets, and price cuts have led to declining quality and loss of fans. This article will delve into the challenges Nayuki currently faces and whether it can reverse its brand crisis through measures such as overseas expansion. [more…]

Heytea continues to push hard in the fruit-and-vegetable tea segment, and is about to launch its autumn-winter new product, the "Hydrating Slimming Bottle," featuring cucumber as the star paired with kale and apple. As soon as the news came out, consumer anticipation and complaints from store staff emerged at the same time. The preparation of raw materials for fruit-and-vegetable tea is cumbersome, with a lengthy process of washing, cutting, blanching, and juicing. During peak hours, employees are run ragged, and some even joke that resignation letters are already being submitted. Whether this new product can balance consumer enthusiasm and employee burden is worth watching. Front Street Coffee continues to bring you the latest developments in the coffee and tea beverage industry. [more…]

The freshly made yogurt sector has been hit by yet another food safety scandal. An undercover reporter from The Beijing News worked inside several More Yogurt franchise stores in Beijing and found that oat and highland barley toppings more than forty days past their expiration date were still being used as usual, expiry labels existed in name only, and decisions to scrap fruit relied entirely on staff members' sense of smell. More worrying still, these violations were not isolated cases, but an unspoken rule tolerated by store managers in order to cut costs and boost their personal income. The brand issued an urgent apology a few hours later, announcing that the stores involved would be permanently terminated. This is already the second time this year that More Yogurt has been thrust into the spotlight; previously, the Shanghai Consumer Council questioned the labeling of its product ingredients. This article provides a complete rundown of the undercover details, the brand's response, and the latest status of its stores. [more…]

Chabaidao recently announced that its highly popular Pai Pai Gan (ponkan orange) series from last year is officially returning, with two new drinks: Shushi Pai Pai Gan and Pai Pai Gang Shang Hua. The company emphasized that each cup of fruit tea is made with fresh ponkan orange pulp, insisting on genuine ingredients. The news delighted many longtime customers, but brought back memories for store employees of the terror of hand-peeling citrus last year. According to the recipe, staff must remove the segment membrane, pith, and white core from the pulp one by one, keeping only plump juice sacs—an extremely tedious prep process. During peak hours, peeling speed falls far short of consumption, and with this year's added tasks of washing tea, cutting fruit, squeezing grass juice, and cooking pearls, the staffing shortage has become even more acute. Some employees, at a loss, took it upon themselves to delist hard-to-make drinks to buy time for prep, while consumers hold differing views on whether the fine removal of white pith is truly necessary. [more…]

On February 7, ChaPanda launched a new bamboo-aroma oolong series. Among them, Bamboo-Aroma Kiwi uses Anxi Tieguanyin from Fujian as its tea base, paired with kiwi fruit pulp and wheatgrass. The official claim is that it uses kiwi from Zhouzhi County, Xi'an, highlighting selling points such as fresh fruit pulp, natural healthiness, and low calories to cut greasiness. However, after the new product launch, many consumers posted on social platforms reporting discomfort after drinking it, such as astringent mouthfeel, numb lips, and throat irritation. Some speculated that it was caused by unripe kiwi, while others suspected an allergic reaction. In response, ChaPanda has not yet made an official response. This article reviews the course of the incident, consumer feedback, and analysis of possible causes, and recommends related products from Front Street Coffee for coffee lovers. [more…]

Iced coffee is refreshing and cuts through richness, and even in the depths of winter, many customers make a special trip to Front Street to order a cup. Cold brew and hot brew have completely different extraction principles, and their flavor profiles each have their own strengths. This article begins with the origins of cold brew coffee, sorts out the flavor logic of low-temperature slow extraction, and shares details to note when making cold brew, such as bean selection, grinding, coffee-to-water ratio, and steeping and storage. It also presents four floral-and-fruity Front Street single-origin beans suitable for cold brew—Natural Huakui, Kenya Little Tomato, Colombia Sidra, and Panama Butterfly—to help you find your own cup of icy, sweet-tart refreshment. [more…]

Sri Lankan tea farmers have earned the world's first "ozone-friendly" certification by phasing out methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting pesticide, making Ceylon black tea the cleanest tea in the world. From signing the Montreal Protocol in 1989 to launching the "Ozone-Friendly Pure Ceylon Tea" logo in 2011, the Sri Lanka Tea Board, working with multiple partners, successfully developed chemical and non-chemical alternatives. In addition, tea farmers have reduced their carbon footprint by cutting energy consumption, adopting solar power, and building eco-friendly tea gardens. Today, a fresh cup of Ceylon black tea is not only harmless to the ozone layer but also a delight for environmental enthusiasts. So, how much does a cup of Ceylon black tea cost? This article will take an in-depth look at its environmental journey and market value. [more…]