Luckin Coffee's Hunger Marketing: Haoguai Coffee Beans Sold Out in Two Days! Is Luckin's Haoguai 5.0 Coffee Bean Dirty Delicious?

Luckin Coffee's Fei Gui SOE has been causing quite a stir lately. On the day Fei Gui SOE launched, Li Guoqing posted videos across several social platforms questioning Luckin Coffee's monopoly. The next day, netizens were complaining online that Fei Gui SOE was impossible to get; most stores showed the drink as sold out.

Luckin issued a statement the day after the questioning videos appeared, on January 6: "Thank you, Teacher Li, for your attention and your 'reverse promotion.' Some explanation: more than 90 tons of premium Fei Gui beans were acquired through overseas bidding, a direct purchase from origin, so describing this as an upstream monopoly is a little intimidating. Luckin's premium coffee, the Little Black Cup, has been around for two years, and besides Fei Gui we also carry Yunnan and Yirgacheffe. We are using more than 5,000 stores to popularize premium coffee, which should be good for the industry. A friendly reminder as well: premium coffee is not elite coffee, good beans are the foundation, and a Dirty does not need latte art."

The move, however, makes it hard not to suspect that Luckin and Li Guoqing are working in concert, and that Luckin is running a scarcity campaign with the attitude of, "I'm just playing around: I'll sell out the Fei Gui SOE line the moment it gets popular, leave you curious, and reel you in."

Luckin's Response to the Fei Gui SOE Shortage

On the total sell-out of the Fei Gui SOE line, Luckin issued a statement on January 11: "The Fei Gui series has recently sold out in some cities and stores. Of the 90-plus tons of Fei Gui beans purchased, nearly half was consumed in just 10 days. The second batch is expected to reach some cities tomorrow, January 12, but this season there really are only 90-plus tons of Fei Gui 5.0 available." Something about the statement feels awkward, but one key point stands out: there are only 90-plus tons of Fei Gui 5.0, and once it is gone, it is gone. The 80-plus tons of Fei Gui promised for 2022 under the new agreement is still just a promise that has not been fulfilled. Still, given how tight shipping and container supply have been, the fact that Luckin's directly purchased Fei Gui beans arrived right on schedule speaks to how efficient large companies can be.

The statement also noted that even if Fei Gui SOE is gone, Yirgacheffe SOE remains, and if that sells out too, new premium SOE products will be launched, so there is no need to worry.

Netizens' Reactions and Doubts

On the key point that nearly half of the Fei Gui 5.0 beans were consumed in 10 days, netizens could not help laughing, exclaiming that people really can drink a lot. At the same time, some expressed doubt: every time Luckin launches a popular new product, it runs out of stock in under two days. The last time, it was the coconut latte, and the excuse was running out of coconut milk, with the marketing department supposedly heading to Hainan to pick coconuts and press juice. This time Fei Gui ran out, so did the marketing department go and grow coffee beans? On second thought, it is far too late for the marketing department to grow coffee beans; at most they could go pick them. Even if they could, it would have nothing to do with the Fei Gui 5.0 beans.

About the Fei Gu Coffee Bean Series

Each year, the new harvest season for all Ethiopian coffee beans runs from October through February of the following year. That means Ethiopian beans harvested from October 2021 to February 2022 are the 2022 new-season crop, and Fei Gui beans produced during that window belong to the new 6.0 series. According to the latest news from Coffee Workshop, the 2022 new-season Fei Gui 6.0 beans are expected to reach China as early as March this year.

Because shipping has been extremely tight for the past two years and containers are in severe shortage, once a container is booked the voyage to China takes at most half a month, but when you can book one is anyone's guess. The container shortage has reached the point where money alone cannot secure one.

Understanding the Fei Gui X.0 Series

How are the Fei Gui X.0 series distinguished? Coffee is an agricultural product, so its flavor varies each year with climate, soil, and environment. To set apart the Fei Gui beans that took first place at TOH in 2017, DW Company added an X.0 to each year's Fei Gui. The 2018 season brought Fei Gui 2.0, the 2019 season brought Fei Gui 3.0 and 3.1, the 2020 season brought Fei Gui 4.0, and the 2021 season brought 5.0 along with the Fei Gui small-bean series, which sits outside the X.0 range. So the one launched in 2022 is named Fei Gui 6.0.

Image source: Internet, Weibo.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe is exactly the kind of origin that makes a good "premium but everyday" cup. The town of Yirga Cheffe sits in the Sidamo zone of southern Ethiopia at roughly 1,700-2,100 meters, with coffee trees planted above 1,800 meters, making it one of the highest coffee regions in the world. Its signature white floral aroma and lemon-citrus acidity are so distinctive that in 2010 the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange separated it from Sidamo, and the name became a byword for Ethiopian specialty coffee.

To get acquainted with the region, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe is the classic starting point, known for jasmine, bright citrus and lemon, and a tea-like body at a friendly price. A step further up, the Gudingding cooperative lies in the Woka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe and follows traditional washed processing; many call it the last clean corner of Yirgacheffe, and its cup is bright with citrus and lemon acidity, free of the usual bitterness, and scented with jasmine. If you prefer fruitier, sweeter coffee, the naturally processed Red Cherry is sorted from fully ripe cherries and dried on raised beds, turned every two to three hours for the first few days, then left for three to five weeks; the result is citrus acidity, juicy berry, honey sweetness, and a creamy mouthfeel.