I wonder if everyone has had their “first cup of milk tea in autumn”? I believe that the day of the beginning of autumn is the “spring” for various beverage brands. It sounds contradictory, but for today’s milk tea brands, it is indeed a “brief spring.” It is said that the sales of various milk tea brands on that day set new records. I don’t know what kind of magic makes these eight words so deeply rooted in people’s hearts. If we talk about the brand that is most envious, it must be Luckin Coffee, after all, it is the first cup of milk tea, not coffee. However, Luckin launched a new product that was unexpected, which made milk tea brands uneasy.

On August 5th, Luckin launched a “heavyweight” new product called “Light Jasmine.” At first, I thought it was some new tea coffee, but when I learned about the new product, I found out that it actually doesn’t contain coffee; it is a cup of milk tea, and the preparation is quite complicated with many ingredients to add. Luckin also promoted it with the slogan “Coffee in the morning, milk tea in the afternoon.” What’s even more surprising is that they actually found Liu Yifei as the spokesperson. At that time, I joked that maybe they couldn’t afford Liu Yifei, so they collaborated with her on the drama “The Story of the Rose.” It turns out they had a big move planned. The combination of the “national goddess” and “nine yuan nine” undoubtedly ignited consumer enthusiasm.

On the day of the launch, I had to go to work. I am a bit lazy, and I usually don’t remember new product recipes because I think that even if I remember for a while, I will forget it as soon as I turn my head. It’s better to just do it hands-on to remember it better. But I have a deep impression because that day I ran into obstacles everywhere. This new product has two cup sizes: one is a large cup, and the other is an extra-large cup. Isn’t this just the medium and large cups in milk tea? However, the price difference between the two cup sizes is not significant, and undoubtedly many people ordered the extra-large cup. But the design of the cup made me feel like there might be some plagiarism involved.

The cup features a blue and white floral packaging and is named “Light Milk Tea,” which is said to have a calorie count equivalent to about one and a half apples. However, there is an interesting phrase in the poster: “Real milk, good tea.” I was wondering why they would specifically emphasize these words. “Real milk” is easy to explain because many cheap milk tea shops do not use real milk but instead use non-dairy creamer. Drinking it for a long time is definitely unhealthy. But why use “good tea” instead of “real tea”? That’s because the tea used by Luckin is not brewed from real tea leaves but is made from tea powder.

So on the first day of the launch, many people said, “This is simply a substitute for Bo Ya’s absolute string” — Luckin’s nine yuan nine, while the cheapest for Bawang Chaji is sixteen yuan. For Bawang Chaji, Bo Ya’s absolute string is equivalent to Luckin’s fresh coconut latte, both being signature explosive products of their respective brands. Luckin’s high-profile launch of this product is undoubtedly a clear declaration of war against Bawang Chaji, right? One is the “big brother” of the coffee world, and the other is the “Starbucks” of the milk tea world. However, as a worker, I naturally don’t like it because the preparation process of Light Jasmine is not just complicated. Compared to Bawang Chaji’s modern machines, we have to pay attention to what materials to add and how much. I consider my speed in making orders not slow, but on the first day of the launch, the efficiency was particularly low. The average time to make a cup of milk tea is two to three times that of coffee, so even if it’s not very busy, it still “can’t speed up.”

Now businesses are increasingly in a state of internal competition. Luckin, which was once the king of competition, still feels it’s not enough. In the coffee industry, it has already outcompeted many rivals, but Luckin’s ambitions go beyond that. Ever since I saw it start selling lemon tea, I began to wonder if one day it would also sell milk tea? Because for Luckin, having a wide variety of products has never been a problem. After all, with so many raw materials, they can easily combine them to create new products to sell. I just didn’t expect it to start selling so quickly, and it shows a determination to compete to the end.

I think Luckin is currently only launching one milk tea product to test the waters and see the market response. This is not the first time Luckin has sold milk tea; previously, its sub-brand, Xiao Lu Cha, specifically focused on the milk tea route. Unfortunately, the market response was not of interest to consumers. Now that Luckin is stepping into the milk tea market again, it’s not only because of the confidence gained from turning losses into profits but also shows that Luckin not only wants to seize the coffee market but is now also eyeing the milk tea market. The milk tea industry is already quite competitive, with various brands and a wide range of prices. However, Luckin’s “crossing over” has also made milk tea brands start to worry, as many brands are experiencing a downward trend in revenue.

Although Luckin is clearly stepping into the milk tea market, it doesn’t mean that there are no milk tea brands that have crossed over into coffee. For example, the milk tea brand Nayuki has also launched coffee products. Recently, Bawang Chaji also released a new product called “Wanli Mulan.” Many people who bought and drank it felt a racing heart and couldn’t sleep at night. As a result, some people specifically took it for testing and found that the caffeine content in a cup of Wanli Mulan is comparable to that of a latte. In other words, milk tea can also replace coffee for a pick-me-up.

With Luckin launching the Light Jasmine product this time, I boldly speculate that the next new product will definitely be related to cheese milk cap milk tea. Although I rarely drink milk tea, many of my friends who do enjoy milk tea products with milk caps. Besides that, I also think that brown sugar pearl milk tea is very likely because the most famous brand of brown sugar pearl milk tea is Chen Wending. Plus, Luckin already has a brown sugar pearl coffee called Meteor Latte, which is simply a matter of replacing coffee with tea. However, as a worker, I hope they don’t add too many products; it’s already too much.

Why does Luckin want to step into the milk tea market again? I think there are several reasons. The first is: to increase profit points and reduce waste. Luckin’s product line is very diverse. I don’t know if everyone has experienced choice paralysis when ordering from Luckin, but having many choices is good for consumers, but not for businesses. Luckin’s material has a shelf life of only two days after opening. If it doesn’t sell out, it can only be discarded. For some stores with low order volumes, a lot of materials have to be discarded. The store I work at has an average daily order volume of only over three hundred, so there are basically many materials that need to be discarded every day, resulting in a high waste rate.

The second reason is that they want to sell milk tea not only during working hours but also at other times. After all, the usage scenarios for coffee are limited. In the place where I work, it is usually busy in the morning or at noon because many workers need to buy coffee to stay awake. However, starting in the afternoon, not many people buy coffee anymore; instead, they drink milk tea. Compared to coffee, the consumer group for milk tea is much larger, and the scenarios are more diverse. Therefore, Luckin selling milk tea is also hoping to become one of the choices for consumers in the evening.

The war between brands is becoming increasingly intense, but the increase has already become exhausting. Many brands are experiencing declining profits and even starting to incur losses. If this continues, I can’t imagine what the market will become. Many startups are already struggling to survive and are closing down, replaced by a new batch. Recently, while shopping in the city bridge area, I found that many stores that had been open for a long time could not bear the burden and closed down. More are putting up signs for leasing, and some even offer six months of rent-free, etc. I hope the market environment will gradually improve in the future.