Public "blind test" of seven major coffee brands: Pacific Coffee, Luckin Coffee and Family Mart are the top three

Coffee is one of the three major beverages in the world, and is the main beverage popular in the world along with cocoa and tea. In different eras, coffee has been given different missions. In the past, sitting in a quiet cafe, accompanied by jazz music, and slowly stirring the coffee in a white ceramic cup with a silver spoon was an elegant and pleasant thing; now, a cup of coffee every day has become a necessity for many people to "keep their lives on a daily basis."

Looking at the development history of coffee in China, although the Chinese started coffee consumption relatively late, the growth rate is very impressive. A statistical data from the London International Coffee Organization shows that the annual growth rate of coffee consumption in China is about 15%, which is 6 to 7 times the global average. Some professional organizations even speculate that by 2020, the sales volume of the Chinese coffee market is expected to reach 300 billion yuan.

In the past two years, the coffee market has developed rapidly, the public's enthusiasm for coffee has been rising, and various commercial brands have quickly occupied every corner of the city, which has undoubtedly promoted the popularization of coffee culture and the development of the coffee market. But for consumers, the only thing that matters is that the coffee they drink is that it tastes good.

Because different brands of coffee have great differences in price, quality, aroma, taste, etc. On September 17, China Quality Tour organized a coffee tasting event in Guangzhou, removing the "brand" of these coffees through "blind testing" to see which cup of coffee is more suitable for the public taste.

Test brands: Starbucks, McCafé (McDonald's), KFC, Luckin Coffee, 7-11, FamilyMart (Paike Coffee), Pacific Coffee

Test variety: Sugar-free hot latte

On-site guidance: Li Jingyan (CQI Q-Grader International Coffee Quality Association coffee quality appraiser, IIAC International Coffee Tasters Association taster and lecturer, EIC Italian Barista Championship certified judge)

Testing method: After purchase, first observe the appearance of the coffee product, and then conduct a blind test from three dimensions: price experience, consumer experience, and product experience. Only the code is marked on the outside of the cup, and the brand is not displayed.

Scoring criteria: Scoring items are divided into three items: basic sensory, defective items, and overall score. The basic sensory content is scored from 1 to 6 points, where 0 is completely unacceptable, 1 is unacceptable, 2 is average, 3 is good, 4 is very good, 5 is excellent, and 6 is perfect. Among them, three flavor scores are added as supplementary references to increase the professionalism and richness of tasting; defective items are deducted points, divided into 0 to 6 points; the overall score is the total enjoyment of this cup of coffee after drinking it.

Participants in blind test: 20 people, including 10 coffee professionals and 10 coffee lovers

Blind test results: Pacific Coffee, Luckin Coffee and FamilyMart (Paike Coffee) are among the top three

Next, the coffee was tasted from aspects such as aroma, body, balance (the balance between the taste of milk and coffee, including the sweetness and bitterness of the combination of milk and coffee), flavor, and the personal preferences of the participants in the blind test.

1. Appearance

Due to take-out reasons, the surface appearance of the 7 brands of coffee was affected. There was no contrast between the crema and the milk foam, and the visual effect was not ideal.

In terms of packaging, Luckin Coffee's packaging material is the best, with no wrinkles, followed by Pacific Coffee and Starbucks, while 7-11 had some leakage after delivery to the site.

2. Taste

Based on personal preferences, Pacific Coffee, Luckin Coffee and FamilyMart (Paike Coffee) received the most positive reviews, and Starbucks did not make it into the top three.

Specific sensory description:

The overall taste and flavor of Pacific is acceptable, with a slightly stronger milky taste and a slight astringency at the end;

Luckin is overall balanced, with a prominent coffee flavor, but a slightly astringent aftertaste;

FamilyMart (Paike Coffee) has a strong milk flavor (good quality), a weaker coffee flavor, and a good milky and sweet taste at the end;

The overall taste of KFC is OK, but the body is not strong enough (light), and the coffee flavor is weak;

Starbucks has a weaker body and aroma, with a milky aftertaste;

The McCafé (McDonald's) is generally acceptable, but it has a bit of astringency and smoke in the latter part (probably due to the coffee beans);

The coffee at 7-11 has a strange smell (probably because the coffee is not fresh), a noticeable astringency, an unnatural milk flavor, and a rough feeling like milk powder or creamer.

3. Price comparison

Of course, when choosing coffee, appearance and taste are not the only criteria, the price of coffee is also very important. In order to meet the needs of blind testing, 3 cups of each brand were purchased for the 7 coffees in this blind test. Because different brands offer different discounts, the discounted prices are also different.

In this coffee tasting, the most expensive Starbucks price after discount was 88 yuan, followed by McCafe (McDonald's) at 69 yuan and KFC at 66 yuan. Pacific Coffee was 53 yuan, Luckin Coffee was 48 yuan and FamilyMart (Paike Coffee) was 43.1 yuan, with similar prices.

The overall taste is well received, and Pacific Coffee, Luckin Coffee and FamilyMart (Pai Ke Coffee) have the best value for money.

The price performance is as follows:

4. Participants said

Among the blind tasting participants, Ms. Li is a coffee lover who has been drinking coffee for three years. She is quite loyal to coffee brands and her favorite brands are Starbucks and Nestle. Before the blind tasting began, Ms. Li was very sure that she could tell Starbucks from the seven coffees.

About an hour and a half later, the participants finished "blind drinking" and scoring the seven brands of coffee. After the staff counted the scores, they put each numbered cup of coffee on the table and "revealed" the seven brands of coffee they tasted to the participants.

When they saw the coffee brands corresponding to the 7 numbers, everyone exclaimed "I didn't expect it", especially Ms. Li, who was full of confidence before. Not only did she fail to taste out the Starbucks, she also gave a not very optimistic score during the tasting.

As a coffee practitioner, Ms. E was also quite surprised to see that Starbucks "fell out" of the top three in the "blind tasting" results.

5. Purpose of the activity

This "blind tasting" is not a professional coffee competition, and its purpose is not to distinguish who is good and who is bad. Instead, it hopes to provide a reference dimension for these coffee brands through the sensory tasting of professional baristas and enthusiasts, and promote more consumers to have a fuller understanding and knowledge of Chinese commercial coffee, thereby promoting the improvement of corporate product awareness and the healthy development of the Chinese coffee market, and then making efforts to provide consumers with better-tasting coffee products.

Next, we will hold similar coffee "blind testing" events across the country from time to time. Everyone is welcome to watch!

(Editor: Li Jing)