Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Here is my first dilemma of the day: the New Luckin Coffee near my office in Hong Kong wants me to download their application for a glass of $ 2. Without that, it’s $ 3.75.
GOOD. I register, I get a WhatsApp code and scroll through their menu: Fruity Americanos, a seasonal cabbage tea and coconut milk latte – a bestseller with five levels of sweetness.
The menus are something else. This coconut comes from Luckin’s own grove in Indonesia, he says, blessed by volcanic ashes and ocean nutrients. The milk is cold in the four hours of the opening of the fruit. Of course, Luckin. I click on ICED, no added sugar.
Luckin’s kiosks take orders if you don’t use its application.
ELAINE YU | CNBC
Luckin, the largest Chinese coffee chain, bet that its kaleidoscopic offers and its smart prices can take Starbucks worldwide. The chain landed in Hong Kong at the end of last year and now has a dozen stores across the city.
This branch alone has seven other nearby cafes, including Cotti Coffee, a rival founded by former Luckin leaders (who have been ousted on an accounting scandal that obtained Luckin was struck off from Nasdaq. But that’s another story). Cotti has just opened stores in New York and Luckin should follow.
I try to pay with a credit card instead of Chinese electronic payment options, but that means entering my billing details and responding to the application. Too much work. I use and use the kiosk instead at the higher price. However, you still have to enter my phone number.
My 16 ounce drink arrives quickly. Brown brown color, my first sip is bitter and refreshing. A stir with paper straw and it becomes a pale blonde, the silky softness and hazelnut of the coconut taking over. After a few additional compulsive SIPs, it becomes heavy.
Luckin says that the coconut used in my $ 3.75 latte comes from the company’s own grove in Indonesia.
ELAINE YU | CNBC
Matcha Latte with Pudding in tofu
The cultivation of traditional coffee converges globally, and Luckin makes it more digital, efficient – and gimmicky. Their bases – Black Coffee, Oat Milk Latte – Hook Customers looking for a cheap caffeine solution (they cost about $ 2 each in Asia). Here, Starbucks has no real advantage. “This comes down to a value for money,” said an Australian by buying a Moka from Luckin.
Office employees pass through, entering pre -ordered drinks on the application. Few linger. Andy Chan, 38, emerges from the nearby metro station and picks up his usual American American on the road to the office. “This is normal,” said the computer location of quality. “And a little cheaper than Starbucks.”
A few hours later, I head to the Starbucks in the block. Customers are on their laptops or deeply in the conversation. Similar to Luckin, drinking offers run through supposedly regional flavors, such as Matcha Latte with tofu pudding. This branch has just become without species, notable in Hong Kong at cash.
Starbucks, which reduces the prices of dozens of drinks in continental China while competition intensifies, launches seasonal glacial drinks for the summer.
ELAINE YU | CNBC
I order a cold Yuzu infusion, which is more like Slushy citrus soaked in coffee. Almost $ 6 for 12 ounces feel stiff after Luckin, but the panel indicates that cold offenses are impregnated for 20 hours. I ask for a drink after Barista automatically sought a paper cup. The flavors click on the development once the ice crystals based on sweet plants absorb coffee. As a person who usually drinks black coffee or a flat white as much as possible, my two caffeinized desserts today have been cabled.
Coffeehouse Theater vs Comocince
Companies say they reward loyalty. Taking Starbucks allows you to lend them money while enclosing you. The Seattle -based channel is on $ 1.85 billion in stored value cards and loyalty programs in the first quarter of this year. A portion is generally useless – transforming into income. Sales are decreasing, but Starbucks has exploited uninteresting capital in this way for years.
The classic Starbucks price, as well as regional inspiration articles like Matcha Mochi Muffins.
ELAINE YU | CNBC
If Starbucks acts like a bank, Luckin is like the startup Gunning for the scale. With the increase in coffee prices, channels like Luckin seize market share thanks to high turnover and compact spaces that reduce costs. Some people want the Coffeehouse Theater; Others grant convenience and live digitally. On the latter, Luckin builds a data treasure.
Viral waterfalls such as her help with infused alcohol -infused latte (I would not try their chou chou, but I would). Luckin launched nearly 120 articles in 2024 only, probably keeping the Starbucks Asian R&D teams at night.
Coffee is divided into different worlds. You can get an expensive payment with wine -shaped tasting tickets, an espresso in a historic cafe, a cortado in a store location or a boba type latte in one of the more than 20,000 Luckin points of sale. Luckin can be Turbocompressing coffee modes its deployments of vertiginous flavors, but its main market of consumers sensitive to prices is nowhere.
The future has room for different models – there are enough caffeine drug addicts and social drinkers to maintain various empires. But it is undeniable that the pressure is on holders like Starbucks to refresh their identity before the third space became the third choice.
