Blindfolded review! Luckin Coffee vs. Starbucks, have you guessed the ending?

Serious review, watch carefully

I'm sure you must have been flooded with images of coffee in a blue cup recently: in your circle of friends, in elevator ads, in offices, you can see it everywhere.

Tang Wei endorses Luckin Coffee

Yes, this is the popular coffee that has recently exploded in the workplace circle - Luckin Coffee , also affectionately called "Little Blue Cup". The young office workers who once said they only drank Starbucks can't help but follow the trend and fall into the trap of "Little Blue Cup".

Today, I am curious and want to see how strong Luckin Coffee is. Let's see which one is stronger, Starbucks, the traditional coffee giant, or Luckin, the newcomer in the Internet coffee industry? !

2 brands

Starbucks, luckin coffee

4 categories

Americano, latte, flat white, juice

How to buy

Unified takeaway delivery

Evaluation Dimensions

Order delivery speed/arrival status/appearance/price/taste/cost-effectiveness/social attributes

Evaluation members

Without coffee, the star will die

A must-have coffee expert for overtime work

A coffee novice who doesn’t know coffee

Of these two brands, one has a solid position in the coffee industry, while the other is a new Internet retail coffee that has become popular across the country shortly after its launch.

Luckin Coffee chose to confront Starbucks head-on, taking advantage of the current Internet and quickly seizing the online market by offering low prices and subsidizing customers.

Only by comparing them side by side can we see the similarities and differences between the two. Without further ado, let's get started!

Order delivery speed

Both brands offer dine-in and pick-up services, but for delivery services, Luckin Coffee orders are placed directly on its own app, while Starbucks orders can be placed through a third-party platform.

So we tested their respective waiting times by ordering takeout.

Luckin Coffee has a special delivery cooperation with SF Express , and delivery fee is free for orders over 35 yuan. This time it took 26 minutes.

Starbucks uses Hummingbird delivery service, and the delivery fee is 9 yuan no matter how much you buy. This time it took 19 minutes.

(Note: Luckin Coffee is twice as far away from the test site as Starbucks, with a difference of 1.2 kilometers ; Luckin Coffee delivery can claim for consumption if it exceeds 30 minutes)

Here, I would like to remind you that Luckin Coffee must complete the ordering, payment, and pickup/receiving process on its own APP, and there is no need to queue for self-pickup. (Now you can also place orders through the mini program~)

Attendance

Both brands of coffee arrived in packaging that appeared to be intact.

The mouth of Starbucks' cup is sealed with plastic, which is very tight and there is no leakage at all. Luckin Coffee also performed very well and there was no overflow.

Appearance

For those fairies who drink coffee, the appearance of coffee is also very important!

Starbucks still uses the familiar green theme, which is simple and elegant.

Luckin Coffee’s fashionable royal blue color and unique deer head logo are eye-catching.

price

Next, we will classify the two major brands of coffee by variety and see the price difference between them for the same large cup.

Luckin Coffee vs Starbucks

latté

24 yuan vs 31 yuan

American

21 yuan vs 27 yuan

flat white

27 yuan vs 36 yuan

juice

24 yuan vs 22-24 yuan

In terms of these four categories, the coffee cups of Starbucks and Luckin are almost the same size. Starbucks has slightly more capacity, but Luckin is obviously much cheaper in price.

Starbucks 3 cups of coffee + 4 kinds of juice worth 195 yuan, Luckin 3 cups of coffee + 5 kinds of juice worth 147 yuan ( three coffee wallets were used and there was a free coupon for new customers! )

Luckin’s pricing itself is cheaper than Starbucks, and with promotions like first item free, buy two get one free, or buy five get five free, it’s simply irresistible. Hurry and get started!

There will be other discounts on the Luckin app and mini program from time to time. I love coffee for life!

Taste

Some people drink coffee for the brand, some for the environment. Of course, for the vast majority of people, the taste of the coffee is what is important.

The variety of coffee beans, the roasting method and the barista's skills all determine the quality of a cup of coffee and affect people's judgment of its taste.

The different levels of dependence on coffee among my colleagues can give them a more direct and subjective experience of this evaluation.

The following evaluation is purely a blind test! Without knowing the brand, the coffee's body, bitterness, sweetness, etc. are evaluated based solely on taste.

Body

Body refers to the saturation and weight of the coffee in the mouth. It is not something we can taste, but the weight or fullness of the coffee we feel in our mouth can affect the overall flavor of the coffee.

Sweetness

Aftertaste refers to the feeling of aftertaste in the mouth after drinking coffee. The stronger the acidity and bitterness in the coffee, the better the balance, the more obvious the aftertaste of the coffee. The better the quality of the coffee beans, the more obvious the aftertaste.

1

latté

Luckin's latte has a light taste at first, but a closer taste reveals the smooth taste of milk and coffee, a mixture of rich milk aroma and light coffee aroma, and is quite mellow.

Compared with Luckin Coffee, Starbucks latte has a lighter milk flavor and a smoother taste. When the coffee slides across the tip of your tongue, you can clearly feel a hint of bitterness.

2

Flat White

Starbucks's flat white coffee has a more pronounced flavor and a stronger aftertaste. Luckin's flat white coffee has a stronger milky flavor and a lower aftertaste.

Compared with latte, the coffee content of flat white is higher, and you can taste a stronger coffee flavor in the same cup. The recipe of Oreo is the same as that of his latte, but the thickness of the milk foam is different.

3

American

Starbucks' Americano is dark in color, has almost no sweetness, has a long-lasting bitterness, and has a sour and astringent taste. People who are not used to it will find it unpalatable.

Luckin’s Americano has a moderately sour fruity flavor and medium body. People who don’t like heavy flavors will prefer this one.

The results of the blind test were: Luckin Americano got two votes, Flat White and Latte got one vote each, and Starbucks Flat White and Latte got one vote each.

It can be seen that Luckin Coffee is still very popular, but if you are used to drinking bitterer and mellower coffee, Starbucks is also a good choice.

NFC Juice

Healthy and fashionable, non-reconstituted juice . The fresh fruit is washed and squeezed to extract the juice, then sterilized and bottled directly without concentration and reconstitution.

Simply put, the difference between it and concentrated juice is that no water and no preservatives are added!

All Luckin’s juices are NFC juices, Starbucks’ kiwi juice is not NFC juice, and the other three are also non-reconstituted juices.

Luckin's juice is really big and visible to the naked eye! Take a sip, full of vitamin C, full of real feeling !

After comparing the two, Luckin got 3 votes and Starbucks' blueberry juice got 1 vote. Luckin's taste was far better than Starbucks , and the Luckin mango juice also received unanimous praise!

Xiaoyu: Luckin’s fruity flavor is stronger, it’s sweet and refreshing, and it has a lot of flesh!

Xiaoliang: The juices at Starbucks are all a bit watery, the orange juice is bitter, and the lychee and mangosteen taste weird!

Social attributes

I also found out that luckin coffee APP allows you to gift coffee and treat others to coffee. So what are you waiting for? If you like someone, just go and chat with them. You can even give them a cup of coffee!

Comprehensive evaluation of cost performance

After various comparisons, as a rising star in the coffee market, "Little Blue Cup" still has great advantages in comprehensive aspects.

The product line is gradually enriched, and its online and offline integrated "new retail" model can better meet the needs of white-collar workers.

Postscript: Luckin Coffee has occupied the market with its super high cost performance and excellent product strength. It is really worth a try! Of course, this is just my personal taste. Welcome to download the APP to taste it!