Market Trends | Coffee experts in Shenzhen blindly test Luckin Coffee Latte and find that they have the highest willingness to repurchase

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On November 23, Shenzhen News Network, in conjunction with the China Quality Tour , a professional organization focusing on product quality and consumer services, invited 20 coffee lovers from news, catering, IT and other industries to conduct a blind test of two flavors of coffee from four mainstream brands in Shenzhen, namely Starbucks, Luckin Coffee, Pacific Coffee and COSTA: Latte (hot) and Americano (hot). They did so in a subjective + objective way.

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, taste blind test, and comprehensive index. Among them, in terms of subjective evaluation, "Latte Coffee (Hot)" was evaluated around the dimensions of aroma, smoothness, and mellowness, while "American Coffee (Hot)" was evaluated around the four positive angles of aroma, mellowness, balance, and aftertaste, and the three negative angles of smoke, bitterness, and staleness.

In terms of objective evaluation, both flavors of coffee were evaluated based on dimensions such as coffee price, delivery time, and arrival status.

— Latte (hot) blind test —

In 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 was rated the best in aroma, body, bitterness and aftertaste, with the highest overall score and the strongest willingness to repurchase.

The overall evaluation of latte coffee is: Luckin Latte won the championship, Starbucks ranked second, and Pacific scored the lowest.

Aroma is the life of coffee quality and the best indicator of coffee production process and roasting technology. The climate, elevation, variety, refining, harvest, storage, and whether the roasting technology in the consumer country is appropriate are all factors that affect the aroma of coffee beans. Luckin Coffee's "Latte" coffee scores much higher in "aroma" than other brands.

The body refers to the feeling of fullness and weight of coffee in the mouth. The feeling of oiliness and smoothness and the feeling of "heaviness", thickness and stickiness of coffee, these two constitute the body of coffee. Luckin's "Latte" coffee is the most mellow, and the mellow aroma of coffee and rich milk aroma slowly linger in the mouth after taking it, and the body is the best.

The source of bitterness has been confirmed to be chlorogenic acid lactone molecules, which are decomposed from chlorogenic acid during the roasting process of coffee beans. During the roasting process of coffee beans, the molecules of chlorogenic acid lactone will increase as the degree of roasting deepens. When lightly and medium roasted, a mild bitterness is produced, which is the characteristic and pleasant bitterness of coffee that coffee lovers love. As the roasting time increases, the molecules of chlorogenic acid lactone are decomposed again and replaced by ethylene catechol polymers, which is the source of the strong bitter substance. Therefore, if you want the coffee you brew to have a high-level and refreshing bitterness, in addition to the good quality of the raw beans, you also need to have rich knowledge and skills from roasting to soaking. Luckin's "Latte" coffee performs best in "bitterness".

In terms of willingness to repurchase, Pacific Coffee's latte has a poor taste, so very few people are willing to buy it again; Luckin Coffee's latte has better quality and taste, lower price, and high cost performance, and the willingness to repurchase and recommend it to friends is the strongest.

— “Americano (hot)” blind test —

In the blind test of American coffee, blind testers evaluated it from nine dimensions including positive sensory and flavor (including aroma, body, balance and aftertaste), defects (including smoke, bitterness, stale taste and other four dimensions) and overall evaluation.

After four rounds of "blind drinking", in terms of positive sensory and flavor, Starbucks was rated best in the balance dimension, Luckin Coffee was rated best in the aroma and aftertaste dimensions, and Pacific Coffee was rated best in the mellowness dimension.

In terms of defects, Luckin Coffee had the least deductions in the four dimensions and performed the best, which can be described as "outstanding highlights". Pacific Coffee performed poorly in the two dimensions of smoke and bitterness; COSTA performed poorly in the stale taste and the other two dimensions; Starbucks was average.

— Objective Evaluation —

In terms of delivery time, Starbucks is closest to the blind test point (only across a street) and has the shortest delivery time; Luckin Coffee has better delivery time performance during the peak delivery period at noon; Pacific Coffee has the longest delivery time of 52 minutes.

In terms of price, Starbucks, COSTA and Pacific Coffee can enjoy discounts on third-party platforms, but they need to pay a certain delivery fee. Luckin Coffee can participate in the "charge 2 get 1 free" activity when purchased on its APP, and actually pays the price of 4 cups when buying 6 cups. In comprehensive evaluation, Luckin Coffee has the best price-performance ratio.

-Summarize-

Whether it is American coffee or latte, it is not difficult to see through the evaluation that although Starbucks, Luckin Coffee, Costa Coffee and Pacific Coffee were established at different times and have different business scopes, they all have their own remarkable features.

In general, compared to the general blind coffee test, this coffee evaluation can be regarded as objective and fair. As the saying goes, "everyone has their own preferences", since everyone has different acceptance of coffee concentration, the evaluation is often subjective, which leads to the blind test results mainly reflecting the preferences of consumers. As for how the four coffees will perform in the future, I believe that consumers and the market will give the best answer!

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