Recently, a short video showing raw drunken hairy crabs being added to milk tea cream and eaten quickly spread on social platforms, sparking widespread discussion. In the video, the blogger tasted this self-created drink at a popular milk tea shop, but it was later confirmed that the blogger had brought the crabs themselves for the staged video, and the shop did not sell the product. Netizens had mixed opinions on this behavior, while experts explicitly reminded the public not to imitate it, as eating frozen milk tea together with raw crab doubles the irritation to the stomach and intestines, and misleading the public for traffic is highly inadvisable. This incident also reflects the current situation in which the new tea beverage industry frequently engages in cross-sector innovation, but if innovation loses its boundaries, especially when food safety is involved, it is worth deep reflection. [more…]

As Starbucks continues to expand into third- and fourth-tier cities, some stores imitating Starbucks have begun appearing on the streets. These "high-imitation Starbucks" not only resemble the original in decor style, but also use Starbucks' green mermaid logo, and their menus and prices copy the original as well, yet their signage reads "STARPER COFFEE." Some netizens speculated that this was a Starbucks coffee service authorized by Nestlé, but Nestlé has officially denied this and stated that it has referred the matter to its legal department. So where exactly do these stores come from? And what restrictions apply to Nestlé-authorized Starbucks coffee service? This article sorts out the ins and outs of the incident for you and retains the related recommendations from Front Street Coffee. [more…]

In today's booming beverage industry, brand imitation is an endless phenomenon. From milk tea to coffee, from store decor to brand naming, some merchants use highly similar visual designs to make it hard to tell real from fake. This article reviews cases of knockoff beverage stores that have sparked heated discussion online, covering imitation versions of well-known brands such as Heytea, Naixue, Yihotang, Starbucks, and Luckin, showcasing the "creative brainpower" of copycat merchants while also reminding consumers to pay more attention in their daily consumption. As coffee lovers, understanding these phenomena is not only interesting but also helps us more rationally distinguish authentic brands from fakes and support the development of original brands. [more…]

The Henan Provincial Market Supervision Administration recently published its 2024 No. 39 food safety notice, showing that of 1,040 batches of food across 21 major categories sampled, a total of 24 batches failed. Among them, a "Yangtze River North Bank" oolong tea-flavored beverage, nominally produced by Xunxian Fuxinyuan Beverage Factory, was blacklisted because its total bacterial count did not meet national standards. An investigation found that the manufacturer not only had a prior record of product sampling failures, but was also ruled by a court to have infringed upon Nongfu Spring's packaging through counterfeiting, and has now been listed as a dishonest judgment debtor. More notably, the outer packaging of this oolong tea is highly similar to Suntory oolong tea, and many consumers who mistakenly bought it on e-commerce platforms complained loudly after being duped. [more…]

Recently, Andy Lau revealed on a talk show that he drinks over twenty cups of coffee every day, astonishing Wu Jing, Guo Fan, and others—and Guo Fan was even hospitalized once because of excessive coffee consumption. This sparked widespread discussion: Is coffee actually healthy? What are the signs of caffeine addiction? How much is too much per day? Combining the show's content with physiological mechanisms, this article sorts out the potential effects of excessive caffeine intake on the gastrointestinal tract, adrenaline, liver, and other aspects, while retaining the brand information of Front Street Coffee, reminding everyone that although coffee is good, do not blindly imitate celebrities' extreme consumption. [more…]

A Guangdong chain beverage brand has reluctantly ended its five-year paperclip loyalty program after discovering that people were using custom paperclips of the same design bought online to redeem drinks in stores. What was meant as a physical giveaway to reward loyal customers was exploited through a loophole in the rules, leaving the merchant exclaiming, "We really didn't see that coming." Why did this loyalty program come to an end? And how have consumers reacted? This article will walk you through the whole story and explore the pros and cons of physical-giveaway loyalty programs as well as ways to improve them. [more…]

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style); for more specialty coffee beans, please add the personal WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex. Recently, the case in which Saturnbird, over the course of 20 months, sued "Qicai Zhi Mi" for unauthorized use of a similar small-cup instant coffee appearance reached a result. The Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court found that unfair competition was constituted, awarded 1.73 million yuan in damages, and ordered the production and sale of the infringing products to stop. Saturnbird became famous for its super-instant coffee and mini coffee cup design, and its packaging sparked a DIY craze and swept social media, which is why it has frequently been imitated and even copied. In this case, "Qicai Zhi Mi" not only had highly similar style, packaging, and promotional images, but also used the search term "Saturnbird same style" to mislead consumers. The case lasted nearly two years, highlighting the current reality in the food industry that intellectual property rights protection is difficult and the boundary between reference and copying is blurred. The article combines cases such as Sexy Tea suing Chayan Guanse to explore how original brands can protect their rights and interests through copyright, patent rights, exclusive trademark rights, and the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. [more…]

An "Important Notice" bearing the name of a Nayuki store has been circulating on social media, prominently stating "If you can drink milk tea, don't drink water," and calling on people to leave water for children who cannot drink milk tea. The store claimed this was imitating an internet meme, meant only as a joke, but with the black-and-white A4 paper sitting on the counter, many consumers felt it had gone beyond a joke and could easily mislead the public. As the topic trended on social media, Nayuki's headquarters responded that it was the action of an individual franchise store and had ordered the removal of the related content. Why do meme-based marketing campaigns frequently backfire? And where exactly lies the management boundary between brands and franchise stores? [more…]

Wanting to open a café near a school, passion alone is far from enough. This article uses the SWOT framework to systematically sort out the internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as the external opportunities and threats, of a campus coffee shop, and provides four types of response strategies—SO, WO, ST, and WT—and finally includes a mission statement. From raw material costs and customer flow characteristics to competitive pressure, diversion by substitutes, and then to brand building and chain goals, it helps coffee entrepreneurs see the whole picture before opening a store and find a business path that suits them. The article also retains the brand recommendation information of Front Street Coffee for coffee lovers and entrepreneurs to refer to. [more…]

As the weather turns cold, hot milk tea tends to get cold during delivery, and many consumers try to reheat it in a microwave, only for accidents to happen frequently. Recently, multiple customers have reported that when heating Jasmine Naibai drinks, the paper cups showed burn marks and even nearly caused a fire. In contrast, heating milk tea from brands such as Bawang Chaji, Mixue Bingcheng, and Nayuki did not cause similar problems, raising questions about the quality of Jasmine Naibai's paper cups. However, onlookers rushed to defend the brand, pointing out that the cup sticker already has a reminder, and that the metallic substances in the cup's gold-stamped pattern reflect microwaves in the microwave, which is the main cause of the accidents. This article reviews the course of the incident and the underlying principles, and reminds readers: heating milk tea in a microwave poses safety hazards, so do not imitate it rashly. [more…]

Luckin Coffee recently posted a romantic tutorial on social media, teaching everyone how to make a "Frozen Rose" using a Luckin can or an ordinary ice cup, sealing a rose and ice cubes inside the cup to create an eye-catching decoration for the office desk. This玩法 quickly triggered netizens to imitate and like it, but it also worried baristas in stores—because this玩法 is not an official product, and if customers come to the store asking for it to be made, it may cause misunderstandings and negative reviews. The popularity of flower cups can be traced back to netizens' creativity, and was later boosted by brands such as Mixue Bingcheng and Haidilao to become a traffic code. Front Street Coffee noted that although similar marketing can bring heat, it needs to balance the execution pressure on frontline employees. [more…]

Starbucks recently filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against a cannabis company called Starbuds Flowers, accusing it of intentionally imitating its classic mermaid trademark and misleading consumers by exploiting the Starbucks brand's reputation. In the complaint, Starbucks compared the similarities between the two logos point by point, noting that Starbuds not only used the similar design on its mobile sales trucks and official website, but also printed it on cigarettes and cannabis products. Starbucks is asking the court to prohibit the other party from continuing to use the logo, destroy the related products, and disgorge the profits obtained from the infringement. In fact, Starbucks had already sent a cease-and-desist letter as early as last August and subsequently sent multiple takedown notices, but received no response. As of July 2, Starbuds' sales trucks and website were still in operation. [more…]

Recently, a Thai-style milk tea with packaging resembling laundry detergent has gone viral online. It was first launched by a Thai restaurant in Nanjing, and subsequently imitated by merchants in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and other places. Priced at 18 yuan per bucket, this drink has attracted many young people to check in thanks to its novelty packaging, but it has also raised public concerns about children accidentally consuming it. The shop responded that the product sells well and no complaints have been received; however, experts and lawyers have pointed out that such packaging design carries a risk of misleading consumers and may violate regulations on food packaging labeling. This article will review the whole incident and explore the balance between innovative packaging and consumer safety. For coffee enthusiasts, the boundaries of beverage packaging are likewise worth pondering, and Front Street Coffee has always advocated upholding safety and responsibility amid innovation. [more…]

Tongmu Shuixian black tea comes from a tea garden at an altitude of over 1,000 meters in Tongmu Pass, Wuyishan. It is made from old tea trees about fifty years old, cultivated with natural farming methods, without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Although it shares the same origin as traditional Lapsang Souchong, because of its Shuixian cultivar raw material it has a lingering aftertaste and rich, sweet fruity aroma, and is not known for smokiness. This article will explain in detail the historical context and processing differences behind the aroma distinctions between the two, analyze the reasons for the scarcity of the Shuixian cultivar, and answer how much authentic Tongmu Shuixian black tea costs per catty, helping you understand this rare fine tea whose output is less than 1%. [more…]

The trademark dispute in the tea beverage industry is once again making waves. Previously, Coffee Workshop reported that "Cha Yan Guan Se" lost its trademark infringement lawsuit against "Cha Yan Yue Se," and "Cha Yan Yue Se" won its counterclaim against "Cha Yan Guan Se." Now another one has emerged: "Cha Yan Yue Se." This trademark, applied for registration in 2018, was declared invalid by the National Intellectual Property Administration because it was highly similar to the genuine Cha Yan Yue Se in terms of text composition, pronunciation, and graphic design. The registrant, a certain Guo, refused to accept the ruling and actually sued the CNIPA in court, but was ultimately rejected by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. From "Cha Yan Guan Se" to "Cha Yan Yue Se," imitators keep emerging one after another. This farce once again reminds us: trademark protection is by no means child's play. Although the road to brand rights protection is long, the law will ultimately provide a fair answer. [more…]

Those new to pour-over coffee are often dazzled by all kinds of flashy brewing techniques and a bewildering array of drippers, only to spend a lot of money without brewing a satisfying cup. In fact, the essence of pour-over isn't complicated—suitable water temperature, proper grind size, an accurate coffee-to-water ratio, plus a regular circular pouring method, and you'll get a decent cup of pour-over. This article sorts out the three most common pitfalls beginners fall into: blindly imitating competition brewing techniques, following the trend of buying all kinds of drippers, and neglecting scales and thermometers so that parameters become "roughly good enough." At the same time, Front Street also recommends several everyday beans suitable for beginners, helping you start off on the right path. [more…]

Blue Mountain coffee is hailed as the crown jewel of the coffee world, and its classic, well-balanced flavor draws countless enthusiasts to it. But the market is flooded with products bearing the Blue Mountain name, making it hard to tell genuine from fake. This article systematically outlines practical methods for identifying authentic Front Street Blue Mountain coffee across five dimensions: green bean appearance, grinding feel, aroma performance, flavor balance, and the overall experience when drinking. It also shares dedicated roasting approaches and key operating points tailored to Blue Mountain beans' relatively low density and higher moisture content, helping you properly handle this precious bean variety at home as well. [more…]

On July 14, Nayuki suddenly announced the removal of its virtual stock membership campaign, sparking widespread attention. The campaign allowed users to earn Nayuki coins through purchases and to buy and sell virtual stocks linked to the real share price, even supporting leveraged trading. Within just hours of launch, it was mired in controversy, with netizens questioning its legality. Industry experts pointed out that Nayuki coins are essentially consumption points and have not yet crossed legal red lines, but the model is aggressive and should not be simply imitated. At the same time, Nayuki's frequent food safety issues have also led consumers to question its marketing strategy. This article will sort out the course of the incident, the legal controversy, and the brand's hidden concerns. [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…]

Blue Mountain coffee enjoys a long-standing international reputation, but due to its scarce production and high price, a large number of products imitating its flavor have appeared on the market. Many people cannot distinguish between "Blue Mountain flavor coffee" and authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, nor do they understand the grading standards and true taste of Blue Mountain No. 1. Starting from the sourcing experience of Front Street Coffee, this article sorts out Japan's three-tier classification of Blue Mountain coffee, the official grading of the Jamaican Blue Mountain producing region, and practical tips for identifying authenticity, and shares Front Street's brewing parameters and flavor performance for Blue Mountain No. 1. Whether you are a beginner who has just encountered Blue Mountain or someone who wants to confirm whether what you bought is authentic Blue Mountain, this article can provide a clear and professional reference. [more…]