A review of the flavors of mainstream internet celebrity coffees! In a blind coffee test, Luckin Coffee ranks first?

Recently, Shenzhen News Network and China Quality Tour jointly invited 20 coffee lovers from news, catering, IT and other industries to conduct a blind test on the four mainstream coffee brands on the market in Shenzhen - Starbucks, Luckin Coffee, Pacific Coffee and COSTA, to see who is the Internet celebrity and who will be popular for a long time.

This blind test was conducted in an objective and subjective way, comparing the service and taste of the two flavors of coffee from these four brands: latte (hot) and Americano (hot). Adhering to the fairness and impartiality of the evaluation, the evaluation team conducted a comprehensive coffee blind test based on five dimensions: coffee delivery time, cost index, appearance performance, taste blind test, and comprehensive index.

In terms of objective evaluation, the main considerations are delivery time, price and platform benefits.

Starbucks and Luckin Coffee have the fastest delivery speed, and in terms of price, although Starbucks, COSTA and Pacific Coffee can enjoy discounts, they still need to pay a certain delivery fee; Luckin Coffee purchases on its APP and participates in the "charge 2 get 1 free" activity, so you actually pay the price of 4 cups when you buy 6 cups. Overall, Luckin Coffee has the best value for money.

In terms of subjective evaluation, during the blind test of latte coffee, blind testers evaluated it from five dimensions: aroma, smoothness, body, bitterness, aftertaste and overall evaluation. After four rounds of "blind drinking", Luckin Coffee received the best evaluation in aroma, body, bitterness and aftertaste, with the highest overall score and the strongest willingness to repurchase.

In the blind test of American coffee, the blind testers evaluated the coffee from three aspects and nine dimensions: positive sensory perception and flavor (including aroma, body, balance, and aftertaste), defects (including smoke, bitterness, staleness, and other four dimensions) and overall evaluation. After four rounds of blind drinking, in terms of positive sensory perception and flavor, Starbucks was rated the best in the balance dimension, Luckin was rated the best in the aroma and aftertaste dimensions, and Pacific was rated the best in the body dimension. In terms of defects, Luckin had the least deductions in the four dimensions of defects and performed the best, which can be said to be "outstanding highlights".

Although it debuted as an "Internet celebrity", the taste and flavor of Luckin Coffee can withstand blind testing, and it is worthy of being a powerful domestic coffee brand. To explain why Luckin Coffee can maintain the quality of coffee under the premise of such rapid expansion, it can be said that there is a lot of knowledge behind it. The key to whether coffee is good or not is raw materials and equipment . Luckin's procurement philosophy is to use both good and expensive equipment - the equipment and materials used are all from the world's top 10 suppliers, and the well-known "Blue Partner Program" is the guarantee of Luckin Coffee's quality.

In terms of equipment, all Luckin Coffee stores use the world's top coffee equipment, including the century-old Schaerer and Franke. In fact, brewing coffee is a technical job . The same coffee beans, different baristas, or even the same barista, may produce different coffee tastes due to different moods. In order to maintain the same quality of every cup of coffee, Luckin is equipped with professional fully automatic coffee machines in all stores. They are equipped with more professional electronic control systems to control the coarseness of coffee bean grinding, the density of the pressed coffee powder, the liquid weight when making coffee, and other indicators. The entire process from coffee bean grinding to hot water extraction of coffee is automated, which can successfully avoid the impact of human factors on coffee quality.

In terms of raw materials, it can be said that there are the most variables, and coffee beans are the most mysterious item in the minds of mass consumers. Just like cooking a good dish requires good ingredients, for a good cup of coffee, high-quality coffee beans are essential. Luckin Coffee prefers sun-dried seasonal Sidamo green beans from the boutique Arabica producing area of ​​Ethiopia . As a synonym for boutique coffee, Arabica is a high-quality variety of coffee beans in terms of quality and taste experience. In order to ensure the quality of coffee beans, Luckin Coffee will strictly control the transportation environment of green beans, and directly introduce seasonal green beans from abroad, ensuring the high quality of a cup of coffee from the source.

In 2018, Luckin Coffee's newly upgraded coffee beans won the gold medal at the IIAC 2018 International Coffee Tasting Competition held in Milan, Italy. All the Luckin coffees we drink now are made from this gold medal coffee beans. At the same time, Luckin Coffee uses freshly roasted coffee beans and freshly ground. This is because the fresh life of roasted coffee beans is very short. From the moment the coffee beans are roasted, the countdown to the tasting period has begun. The best taste state is two to three weeks after roasting, after which the flavor of the coffee beans begins to decline. Every sip of Luckin Coffee is the best taste experience.

In this blind coffee test conducted by Shenzhen News Network and China Quality Tour, Luckin Coffee's "Latte" coffee scored much higher than other brands in terms of "aroma". Aroma is the life of coffee quality and can best reflect the coffee production process and roasting technology. The climate, elevation, variety, refining, harvest, storage, and whether the roasting technology of the consumer country is appropriate at the production site are all factors that affect the aroma of coffee beans. Luckin's "Americano" is also superior to other brands in terms of aroma and aftertaste.

Although this blind test was only a small-scale blind test, taste preference is inseparable from personal preference, but only when everyone thinks it tastes good is it really good.