Luckin Coffee Launches Full SOE Series: Which One is the Best? Colombia Hacienda El Paraiso 96-Hour Double Anaerobic Process Coffee Beans Arrive!

Since Luckin Coffee launched its Guigui (Flower Champion) SOE series, there has been considerable controversy about this coffee line. On one side, netizens praise Luckin Coffee for making specialty coffee more accessible to consumers through affordable pricing; on the other side, netizens condemn Luckin Coffee for wasting such high-quality coffee beans and question whether this practice will drive up the price of Guigui coffee beans. Li Guoqing, founder of Dangdang.com, even expressed on various social media platforms that Luckin is engaging in monopolistic practices.

After the highly anticipated Guigui SOE series was officially launched on January 4th, Luckin used over 90 tons of Guigui coffee beans in less than 10 days. Consequently, the Guigui SOE series was quickly in a sold-out state right after it began selling. By mid-February, Luckin had resumed Guigui SOE supply, with the company claiming they had "intercepted" 39.2 tons of Guigui 5.0 coffee beans via maritime transport. According to Luckin, they purchased a total of 129.6 tons of Guigui coffee beans, becoming the coffee brand with the largest procurement of Guigui coffee beans in China.

For a chain brand, 39.2 tons of Guigui coffee beans wouldn't last long, and someone would have to take over the "territory" established by the Guigui series. On March 21, Luckin officially announced that the second batch of Guigui was about to be depleted, and the Guigui series would be gradually discontinued.

Simultaneously, Luckin announced that the successor to Guigui's "territory" would be the 96-hour double anaerobic fermentation coffee beans from "Hacienda El Paraíso" (Paradise Estate), which has multiple times graced the stage of Colombia's LOD (Land of Diversity) National Coffee Quality Competition. It is reported that these coffee beans are SCA 85+ specialty-grade. In other words, Luckin will gradually launch the Paradise Estate SOE series.

Hacienda El Paraíso's Specialty Processing

For many coffee connoisseurs, Colombia's Hacienda El Paraíso is certainly no stranger. Last year's bestselling "Strberry Yogurt" coffee originated from this estate. Hacienda El Paraíso's success today is attributed to the estate's continuous research over more than a decade on how to make coffee beans exhibit more refined flavors.

This time, Luckin Coffee acquired coffee beans processed through 96-hour double anaerobic fermentation, one of the experimental special processing methods uniquely created by the owner of Hacienda El Paraíso. The processing steps are extremely tedious and complex. To avoid over-fermentation, the entire process requires using specially designed sealed containers for different stages of fermentation, with the entire fermentation process lasting 96 hours. Additionally, continuous monitoring of the surrounding temperature is necessary, all to impart more flavor layers to the coffee beans.

Flavor Profile and Consumer Reception

According to reports, this coffee bean features bright lemongrass flavors and fruity wine aromas, with diverse layers of fresh and pure flavors. As per Luckin's usual practice, the coffee beans were medium-dark roasted to ensure stable production across all stores. So how does the Paradise Estate coffee perform after Luckin's medium-dark roasting? Let's first see what Luckin has to say:

Since this series has not been fully released yet, here's what some netizens who were fortunate to taste it early have to say:

Future Plans for Guigui Series

Recently, articles reported that Luckin Coffee will continue to expand its Guigui SOE series. In mid-February, relevant responsible persons from Luckin Coffee met with the Ethiopian Ambassador to China, hoping to procure more Guigui coffee beans with the facilitation and support of the Ethiopian Embassy in China, to launch the Guigui PLUS SOE series in the second half of 2022. At that time, the procurement volume of Guigui PLUS green beans will exceed 250 tons, and Luckin is expected to become the coffee brand with the largest global procurement of Guigui PLUS green beans.

According to sources, this Guigui PLUS is not the new 2022 harvest Guigui 6.0 coffee beans, but rather another sun-dried Ethiopian heirloom variety coffee bean also from the Buku Abel processing plant in Sidamo. Domestic green bean suppliers have named this coffee bean "Guigui Queen." The new harvest Guigui 6.0 coffee beans have already arrived at ports, so everyone need not worry about being unable to purchase them or price increases due to Luckin's "monopoly," as Luckin apparently does not intend to use up this batch of new harvest Guigui.

Image source: Internet

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