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Here’s my first dilemma of the day: the new Luckin coffee near my Hong Kong office wants to download their $ 2 drink app. Without it, it is $ 3.75.
Okay. I register, get a WhatsApp code and scroll through their menu: Fruity Americanos, seasonal cabbage tea and coconut milk – a five -level bestseller.
The menus are something elseS This coconut comes from its own onion grove in Indonesia, according to him, blessed with volcanic ash and nutrients. The milk is cold pressed within four hours after cracking the fruits open. Of course, luck. Click Iced, no sugar added.
Luckin’s Kioski accept orders if you do not use its application.
Elaine Yu | CNBC
Luckin, the biggest coffee chain in China, bet on its kaleidoscopic offers and smart pricing can take over Starbucks globally. The chain landed in Hong Kong late last year and now has a dozen shops throughout the city.
This branch alone has seven other cafes nearby, including Cotti Coffee, a rival founded by former Luckin leaders (who were removed for an accounting scandal that received Luckin Dredisted from NasdaqS But this is another story). Cotti has just opened shops in New York, and Luckin is ready to follow.
I try to pay by credit card instead of Chinese e -payment options, but that means entering my billing details and contacting the app. Too much work. I support and use the pavilion instead of the higher price. However, you need to enter your phone number.
My 16 ounces drink immediately arrives. Chestnut brown in color, my first sip is bitter and refreshing. Mix one with the paper straw and it becomes a pale blond, the silk, walnut sweet of the coconut. After a few more obsessive sips, it becomes heavy.
Luckin says the coconut used in my Latte of $ 3.75 is derived from the company’s own grove in Indonesia.
Elaine Yu | CNBC
Matcha Latte with tofu pudding
The main coffee culture is closer to the global scale and Luckin makes it more numeric, effective – and trick. Their foundations – black coffee, oatmeal latte – hook clients who are looking for cheap caffeine correction (they cost approximately $ 2 each in Asia). Starbucks has no real advantage here. “This comes down to the price / quality ratio,” I tells me an Australian who buys Mocha from Lucn.
Office workers flow, grabbing drinks pre -ordered in the app. They stay a little. The 38 -year -old Andy Chan leaves the nearby metro station and lifts his usual American on the way to the office. “It’s normal,” says IT quality worker. “And much more cheaper than Starbucks.”
Hours later I go to Starbucks down the block. The patrons are on their laptops or deep in conversation. Like Luckin, drink suggestions are rotated through supposedly regional aromas, such as Matcha Latte with tofu pudding. This branch just went cashless, noticeably in the cashier, Hong Kong.
Starbucks, which reduces the prices of dozens of drinks in mainland China as competition is increasing, launching seasonal ice drinks for the summer.
Elaine Yu | CNBC
I order a cold Vara Yuzu, which is more like a citrus porridge immersed in coffee. Nearly $ 6 for 12 ounces feel steep after luck, but the sign says cold boils penetrate for 20 hours. I ask for a glass after the barista automatically reaches for a paper cup. The aromas click in focus after the sweet, herbal ice crystals soak coffee. Because someone who usually drinks black coffee or the most flat white, my two caffeine desserts today drive me.
Cafe
Companies say they reward loyalty. Taking Starbucks makes you borrow them while locking you. The Seattle -based chain is $ 1.85 billion from its stored value cards and loyalty programs for the first quarter of this year. The part usually remains unchanged – becoming revenue. Sales are decreasing, but Starbucks thus eavesdrop on interest -free capital.
The classic Starbucks tariff, along with the region -inspired objects such as Matcha Mochi Muffins.
Elaine Yu | CNBC
If Starbucks behaves like a bank, Luckin is like starting a scale. As the prices of coffee chains, such as Luckin, grab a market share via high turnover and compact spaces that reduce costs. Some people want a cafe theater; Others award convenience and live digitally. Outside the latter, Lukin builds a treasure trove.
Viral cascades like his auxiliary aid aid (I wouldn’t try their cabbage tea, but I would do that). Luckin started nearly 120 items in 2024 alone, probably maintaining the Starbucks Asian teams at night.
Coffee is scattered in different worlds. You can get expensive pouring with tasting notes similar to wine, espresso in a historic cafe, a boutique stain or bean -like latte, in one of Luckin’s 20,000 retail outlets. Luckin may be a turbocharger that fades with its dizzying scents, but its main price -sensitive consumers are not going anywhere.
The future has room for different models – there are enough dependent on caffeine and social drinkers to maintain different empires. But there is no denial that the pressure is on those acting as Starbucks to refresh their identity before the third space becomes the third choice.