It has been a while since I last wrote an article. I was sick for quite some time and didn't have the mood or thoughts to write. Today, feeling a bit better, I wanted to write about several new products that Luckin Coffee has recently launched. Undoubtedly, I will have to memorize the recipes again, but fortunately, Luckin's recipes follow a formula: a certain amount of syrup or flavoring plus milk up to the measurement line, which remains constant. For someone like me, whose mind isn't very flexible, this is quite friendly. The following new products are reviewed based on my own taste, so please don't criticize if you disagree.

The first new product I want to introduce is Luckin's Christmas Canelé Latte and Christmas Sweetheart Latte. Both of these were launched during Christmas. At first, I was wondering what a Canelé Latte was, but it has a strong caramel aroma. After searching, I found out that Canelé is a small dessert from France, with spices like vanilla and rum, baked to have a rich caramel scent. Luckin's method is to use this Canelé-flavored syrup combined with milk, topped with whipped cream and chocolate bits.

The Canelé gives me a strong aroma, which might even be too strong for me since I rarely drink things with syrup. However, if you usually enjoy baked goods, you might want to try this new product. As for the Christmas Sweetheart Latte, you can tell from its color that it is related to strawberries. It is also made with flavored syrup, and the preparation is quite similar. However, the Sweetheart Latte is more visually appealing because the Canelé is overall yellow, making the pink color more attractive, though the flavor profiles are quite different.

There are also two new products related to oranges: one is the Orange Americano and the other is the Oolong Orange Latte. First, let's talk about the Oolong Orange Latte. It's funny; I really have no cultural knowledge and didn't know how to pronounce "Oolong" at first, reading it as "Zhu" instead of "Chu" until a colleague corrected me. Luckin's slogan is "Wish for Orange," and the official introduction states that it is made with selected rock sugar oranges to create syrup, then combined with cheese thick milk. The cup I had was hot, and compared to the cold version, it had more milk, so the orange flavor wasn't very strong. It had a nice blend because the sweet and sour of the orange balanced the richness of the milk, giving a refreshing feeling.

Then there's the Orange Americano. If you often drink Luckin, you might find it familiar. Isn't it like the Orange C Americano's sibling? Actually, that's correct; even the preparation is the same, using concentrated juice mixed with water and coffee. Since the launch of Orange C, it has received great reviews. I also enjoy drinking it during work, but I don't add much coffee liquid because orange juice is sour, and coffee is bitter; combining the two can be strange. Of course, adding sugar solves that issue, but oranges are more sour than tangerines, so many people still prefer Orange C.

Luckin has always had a tea coffee series, featuring some well-known Chinese tea varieties, including Biluochun and Tieguanyin. However, Luckin has launched a new product called the New Year Red Oolong Latte. I think it should be black tea. If we talk about the most famous black tea in Guangdong, it should be Yingde black tea, particularly the renowned Yinghong No. 9. But this time, they used red oolong tea, not brewed tea leaves, but red oolong tea flavored syrup. It seems that as long as Luckin has syrup, they can launch dozens of new products.

The Red Oolong Latte feels similar to Hong Kong-style Yuanyang, but the tea flavor in Hong Kong-style Yuanyang is very strong. This red oolong has a taste closer to what we usually drink when brewing tea, and the milk flavor is not as strong as in Yuanyang, as Yuanyang uses evaporated milk, which is much richer. However, it does have its own sweetness, so it doesn't have the richness of Yuanyang; instead, it has a smooth texture. A colleague mentioned that if you don't add coffee, it really resembles a cup of milk tea, and adding some tapioca pearls would make it a real milk tea.

The last new product I want to mention is the Sauce Fragrance Chocolate, which was launched after the Sauce Fragrance Latte. I still remember the enthusiastic response when the Sauce Fragrance Latte was first introduced, which made Luckin go viral. Luckin even had a special red cup for the Sauce Fragrance Latte. Although you often hear about Luckin's 9.9 yuan price, not all coffees can be priced at 9.9 yuan. The price of the Sauce Fragrance Latte has remained quite firm, so now there are very few people buying it. During my work hours, there are hardly any cups of Sauce Fragrance Latte, and even the special sauce-flavored cream is no longer made; they reverted to the original cream.

Luckin might be thinking of clearing out the inventory of the flavored thick milk, so they launched a new product called the Year of the Dragon Sauce Fragrance Chocolate. The preparation is also quite simple: chocolate pre-mixed liquid combined with flavored thick milk and regular milk. The taste is dominated by chocolate, while the flavor of the liquor is not very pronounced, almost like eating a chocolate with a liquor center. For me, it is really very sweet and rich. While many tea beverage companies are starting to reduce sugar, Luckin is going against the trend. However, it probably won't reach the height of the Sauce Fragrance Latte.

However, there is good news: now we don't have to wash our hands every hour; it's changed to every two hours, which seems to show that public pressure has had some effect, although there isn't much difference overall. As for the new products, the flavors are subjective, but there is also a new single item, the Bean Rose Summer, which is quite good. However, the small black cup basically has no discounts, and the single bean espresso feels a bit lacking. Interested friends can give it a try. In the next article, I plan to talk about Luckin's year-end activities.