Two post-00s baristas faced off in a unique latte art battle in a Taobao livestream, with four rounds of extreme challenges ranging from blindfolded tulip etching to hollowing out a watermelon for use as a cup, then using a milk carton as a milk pitcher to pour three cups in a row while telling a story, and finally even replacing espresso and milk with kitchen liquids such as dark soy sauce and chili oil to make coffee. This livestream show, lasting several tens of minutes, not only showcased coffee’s complex and varied pattern designs, but also left netizens watching in awe of the skill and creativity of China’s young baristas. It is understood that the two protagonists come from the PCA Professional Coffee Skills Training Camp and S.O.E. 8 Squared Coffee respectively, and have been in the industry for six or seven years. They hope that through livestreaming, more people will learn about Chinese coffee culture. [more…]

With over 600 million daily active users and the powerful momentum of livestream e-commerce, Douyin is becoming a new battleground for major beverage brands competing for online traffic. From Luckin and Starbucks to Manner and Tims, and further to Heytea and Nayuki, almost all well-known beverage brands have launched ultra-low-priced group-buy packages on Douyin, with prices far lower than ordering in stores or via mini-programs. Luckin's "male model squad" livestream once sparked heated discussion, with group-buy deals for Coconut Latte at only 14.5 yuan; Starbucks' 19-yuan breakfast package sold over 860,000 cups; Nayuki's 9.9-yuan single-item coffee surpassed one million orders. Behind this online price war is brands' deep strategic push for local exposure and secondary in-store consumption. This article gives you a full picture of this Douyin beverage battle. [more…]

Lyu Liang, founder of Chayan Yuese, has repeatedly stated publicly that the brand is not unwilling to expand beyond Changsha, but rather fears that out-of-town expansion could lead to a survival crisis. However, Chayan Yuese has not only opened stores in Changde, but has also stepped beyond Hunan Province, entering the West China market and establishing a presence in Chongqing. On Children's Day, four Chongqing stores opened simultaneously, sparking enthusiastic pursuit among consumers in the mountain city, but controversy arose from day one: incidents such as three-hour queues, online orders requiring waits of over 24 hours, resold cups fetching nearly 500 yuan, and viewers being blocked in livestreams were exposed one after another. The brand subsequently responded to the markup reselling and livestream controversies. This article will sort through the sequence of events and include related information from Front Street Coffee. [more…]

Xiangpiaopiao rode a cup sleeve printed with Chinese and Japanese bilingual text mocking Japan's nuclear-contaminated water to hit trending searches within just a few days, with livestream sales soaring 400-fold and its stock price hitting the daily limit at market open, earning it the title of "glory of domestic brands" from netizens. But the story soon took a dramatic turn—local supermarkets in Japan denied selling products with the cup sleeve, media questioned it as staged hype, the cup sleeve was taken off shelves on May 8, and the stock price fell back accordingly. Behind this "windfall from heaven" lies a deeper anxiety: powdered milk tea made with non-dairy creamer is struggling amid the rise of freshly made tea drinks and shifting health-conscious consumer attitudes. Competition from brands like Heytea and Mixue Bingcheng has driven Xiangpiaopiao's performance down for three consecutive years, making a shift to ready-to-drink products an inevitable choice. This article walks through the entire timeline of the incident and explores the real impact of this traffic storm on the brand's image. Follow Front Street Coffee and let's savor the ups and downs of the coffee and tea beverage industry together. [more…]

Recently, Starbucks has frequently trended on social media due to its "pay-to-sit" policy, sparking intense discussions among netizens. At the same time, Starbucks has been continuously active in distributing coupons and offering discounts in live-streaming rooms, with the price of a single beverage even dropping below 20 yuan, in sharp contrast to its earlier stance of "having no intention of participating in a price war." To balance revenue and expenditure, Starbucks is also controlling labor costs internally, with some office-building stores choosing to close and suspend operations on holidays. Although the brand has pulled out all the stops to attract customers, consumers' complaints that it is "overpriced and bad-tasting" remain undiminished. Front Street Coffee has observed that in China's increasingly cutthroat coffee market, it is becoming harder and harder for Starbucks to maintain its high posture. [more…]

Cotti Coffee recently announced an ambitious expansion plan: adding 8,000 convenience stores in the second half of the year, reaching a scale of 50,000 stores within three years, and striving to achieve a layout where "Cotti is within a hundred meters." However, as of the end of July, its actual operating stores were fewer than 7,000, still some distance from the goal. Meanwhile, Luckin has launched a counterattack with a scale of over 20,000 stores, curbing Cotti's growth through dense store placements. The two sides have shifted from a 9.9 yuan price war to a battle for locations. How will this competition between two brands from the same roots evolve? This article sorts out the store rivalry, strategic adjustments, and industry impact of the two major brands. [more…]

The competition between Cotti Coffee, founded by Lu Zhengyao, and Luckin Coffee is extending from the market to a battle for talent and franchisees. This article examines how Cotti, leveraging its "former Luckin founder" label and low-threshold policies, attracts former Luckin franchisees and baristas to switch sides, and analyzes its strategy of setting up shop right next to Luckin in third- and fourth-tier cities to directly capture Luckin's customer traffic. It also looks at the strong Luckin background within Cotti and the head-to-head confrontations between the two in small-city commercial districts. Through multiple cases and interviews, it reveals the fierce rivalry in the coffee arena. [more…]

Ethiopian Ambassador to China Teshome Toga walked into Li Jiaqi's livestream and brought 4 tons of coffee beans roasted by the domestic brand Arada. As a result, they sold out in just 5 seconds to Chinese netizens, and the ambassador did not read a single word of the introduction script he had prepared. This is not the first time African coffee beans have been instantly snapped up in a livestream—in 2020, the 2,000 bags of coffee brought by the Rwandan ambassador also sold out in an instant. Behind these two livestreams are both the strong purchasing power of Chinese consumers and the warm power of public-interest support for farmers. This article will revisit the wonderful moments of these two livestreams and talk about what exactly makes African coffee beans so good. [more…]

The afterglow of Luckin Coffee's collaboration with Moutai had hardly faded when Cotti Coffee fired back with a bold response: a rice-milk latte series that blends Wuchang rice from Northeast China with coffee, playing the "wellness" card with copy that takes direct aim at Luckin's sauce-flavored latte. This collaboration not only poked fun at its competitor but also positioned itself squarely against the liquor-coffee trend. Netizens kept spinning memes, from cilantro coffee to stinky tofu lattes, with ever more bizarre flavors emerging, yet Cotti seized the initiative through reverse thinking. The trend of coffee drinks becoming more like milk tea—or even congee—is growing ever more obvious, and the battle for attention among brands has reached a fever pitch. This article will walk you through the ins and outs of this commercial war and explore where the coffee world's next breakout hit might be headed. [more…]

After Luckin Coffee faced dissatisfaction over the reduced 9.9 yuan promotion, it launched a cherry blossom season limited edition and a collaboration with the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, but the market response was lukewarm. Subsequently, Luckin officially announced a collaboration with the national dance drama "Dream of the Red Chamber," sparking heated discussions among netizens. Unexpectedly, the tea beverage chain brand Yihe Tang quickly followed up, releasing a poster with an almost identical composition and announcing a collaboration with the original "Dream of the Red Chamber." The two major brands' collaborations clashed, and netizens jokingly referred to it as the rivalry between Bao and Dai. Yihe Tang even interacted in Luckin's comment section using Lin Daiyu's lines, prompting calls for Chayan Yuese. Behind this marketing battle, who ultimately comes out on top? [more…]

The arrival of the Start of Autumn solar term has once again sparked a consumer frenzy with the annual "first cup of milk tea in autumn" promotion. This year, driven by large-scale distribution of tea voucher and discount coupons on platforms such as Meituan, Ele.me, and JD.com, combined with brands' own promotions, order volumes have far exceeded previous years. However, behind the order surge is extreme pressure on store operations: receipt piles are mountainous, rider capacity is severely insufficient, delivery delays and wrong drink deliveries occur frequently, and customer complaints have surged. To ease the pressure, some stores of brands such as Starbucks, Luckin Coffee, Heytea, and Chagee have had to temporarily close or shut down delivery channels, leaving consumers unable to use the coupons they hold. This annual carnival, while bringing huge challenges to workers, has also exposed the fragility of the instant delivery system under extreme peaks. [more…]

After the military training dismissal during the back-to-school season, the scene of students swarming toward beverage shops sparked heated discussions online, and Mixue Bingcheng was jokingly called "Mixue Bingcheng" for a time. In fact, brands such as Starbucks, Cotti, Manner, M Stand, Nowwa Coffee, and Luckin have long quietly established a presence on university campuses, among which Luckin's campus stores have exceeded 1,000. Why have campuses become a must-win battleground for coffee brands? Low-price strategies, dense foot traffic, and relatively low operating costs form the core appeal. Lucky Cup has even made "opening in universities" its primary goal for nationwide expansion, having already opened more than 260 campus stores. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape, pricing logic, and cyclical challenges of the campus coffee market. [more…]

The competition between Luckin and Cotti has once again become a hot topic on Weibo, staying on the trending list for over nine hours with over 16.59 million views. The two brands have been going head-to-head from store locations to product pricing, with 9.9 yuan and 8.8 yuan coupons becoming the focus of consumers' attention. However, industry observers point out that the two are not evenly matched, and Cotti seems to be chasing Luckin's pace. Behind this business war, consumers' pursuit of value for money is the core, and whether the price war can continue and what impact a truce would bring are issues worth watching. [more…]

Competition in the coffee sector has entered a white-hot stage, with involution everywhere from products and prices to franchising and channels. Data from Canbaodian shows that the coffee shop closure rate is 13.3%, lower than the restaurant industry average of 22.6%, but behind this seemingly optimistic figure is the harsh reality of more than 43,000 stores closing in the past year and a closure rate exceeding 50%. Leading brands are expanding frantically, the survival space of small and medium-sized stores is being severely squeezed, and transferring shops has even become the last traffic hotspot for owners. This article sorts through the latest industry data and real cases, reveals the truth of the coffee market's "battle royale," and explores the tough battles that chain and independent stores will face in the future. [more…]

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Studio (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex. Recently, Hainan Yeshu Group has sparked widespread controversy due to its Douyin livestreaming style. The market supervision bureau has responded that it has received multiple reports and is studying a handling plan. The Yeshu livestream room features a female anchor in tight clothing dancing enthusiastically to sell products. The livestream has repeatedly been cut off by the platform, with average transaction volume of only a few thousand yuan per session. Previously, the brand was fined twice for violating good social customs, and was also questioned for false marketing over claims such as "breast enhancement miracle tool." This article will sort out the course of the incident, the regulatory response, and the brand's historical penalty records. [more…]

Recently, Chayan Yuese successfully sued Chayan Guanse, and this showdown between an authentic brand and a copycat brand has attracted widespread attention. As a local internet-famous milk tea brand in Changsha, Chayan Yuese has won many fans with its unique Chinese style and taste, while Chayan Guanse was sued for infringement for imitating its name and visual design. The court ultimately ruled that Chayan Guanse constituted unfair competition, requiring it to stop using the relevant logos and compensate for losses. So, is Chayan Yuese's milk tea actually good? This article will take you through the whole case and share the perspective of professional coffee lovers. At the same time, we will also focus on coffee culture and recommend Front Street Coffee's specialty coffee beans, providing more inspiration for your beverage choices. [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…]

The Kenyan coffee industry is facing a dual test of declining production and policy changes. A USDA report shows that due to heavy rain and reduced planting area, Kenya's coffee production in 2024/25 is expected to drop to 750,000 bags, a year-on-year decrease of 6.3%. Although the government plans to increase production by 55% to 102,000 metric tons by 2027 and has introduced support measures such as debt write-offs and a cherry fund, recent tax-increase protests and clashes triggered by a finance bill have cast a shadow over the industry's prospects. Coffee beans are traded in US dollars, and the 16% value-added tax will push up farmers' operating costs; new coffee regulations have led to processing plants halting operations, cherry rotting, and exports being hindered. Front Street Coffee notes that although the president has withdrawn the tax-increase plan, the industry still expresses concern about policy uncertainty. [more…]

Recently, several tea beverage brands—including Heytea, Nayuki, ChaPanda, Good Tea, Mixue Bingcheng, and Shuyi Tealicious—were reported to have jointly adjusted their full-reduction strategies on food delivery platforms. The original full-reduction discounts have been uniformly changed to 1 off 50, 1 off 70, or even canceled outright. Once the news broke, related topics quickly trended on social media, with views exceeding 180 million. Merchants say profits are thin, while netizens question why milk tea, which isn't cheap, still isn't making money. Behind this controversy lie both the pressure of platform commissions and delivery costs, and a reflection of the difficult position of the new tea beverage industry, caught between price cuts and losses. [more…]

September marks the start of the school season, and the campus coffee market is ushering in a new round of competition. Luckin Coffee is accelerating its penetration into universities with a "targeted location franchise" model, having opened more than 1,282 campus stores and rolled out over a hundred targeted locations. Its 9.9-yuan low-price strategy, creation of a third space, and campus culture collaborations have made university students an important force in coffee consumption. At the same time, brands such as Front Street Coffee are also paying attention to this trend. This article reviews Luckin's campus expansion path, the details of its franchise model, and five notable characteristics of campus coffee shops, analyzing the new campus battlefield amid the coffee industry's fierce competition. [more…]