"Floral Latte" Becomes a Hit! Major Brands Rush to Launch New Products

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The Rise of Floral Coffee: The Next Big Trend?

In the past two years, the coffee industry has been swept by a wave of viral coffee hits. For example, last year's "Raw Coconut Latte" launched by Luckin Coffee sold out immediately upon release and was in high demand across the internet. The creamy, milk-rich coffee with the delicate sweetness of coconut created such a fresh flavor profile that it quickly spread throughout the coffee market. Today, you can find Raw Coconut Latte in almost every coffee brand's store. This year, the viral trend seems to have returned, this time with "Floral Latte."

Recently, Luckin Coffee launched two new Dirty variations, with one called "Camellia Dirty" gaining significant popularity. Some fans have even dubbed it "the Chanel of the coffee world." A quick search on social platforms reveals that cafés across the country are also launching various floral coffee products. Could "Floral Latte" become the next viral coffee sensation?

As it happens, I just tried it yesterday. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe combined with cold, thick milk, infused with camellia flavor, creates a perfect interweaving of soft and bright citrus notes with camellia's delicate fragrance. The top layer is hot coffee liquid—the first sip delivers rich, bitter coffee aroma, the second sip reveals a sweet, nectar-like taste, and a larger sip brings forth the mellow milk flavor. Indeed, the ritual of drinking Dirty requires in-store pickup and big first sips. The wonderful sensation from hot to cold simply cannot be replicated.

Previously, Luckin Coffee had already successfully launched a series of market-popular coffee products—Raw Coconut Latte, Thick Milk Latte, Velvet Latte, and Raw Cheese Latte—all with impressive sales records. Among them, Raw Coconut Latte surpassed 100 million cups sold within its first year, while Raw Cheese Latte exceeded 6.59 million cups sold in its first week.

As a coffee product, gaining such enthusiastic support from numerous Chinese consumers would have been hard to imagine a few years ago. However, in recent years, coffee beverage sales in the Chinese market have surged dramatically, capturing the attention and affection of many young consumers who pursue diverse flavors and have purchasing power.

To attract more young consumers, various coffee brands continuously introduce entirely new tastes and flavors. From the coffee hits of the past two years, we can see that these products all use espresso as their base, adding other ingredients to create their distinct characteristics. From pure coffee aroma gradually evolving to milk fragrance, fruit notes, floral scents, and various creative combinations of flavors, innovative coffee products continue to emerge.

Major Coffee Brands Embrace Floral Innovations

Seesaw Coffee, a specialty coffee brand, recently launched an osmanthus series including Osmanthus Rice Wine Latte, Starry Osmanthus Latte, and Roasted Tea Osmanthus Oat Milk. According to their official WeChat account, freshly brewed coffee is infused with osmanthus flavor and sprinkled with dried osmanthus flowers as garnish, creating distinct layers with natural sweetness. Last year, Seesaw also launched a Gardenia Pear Latte.

Earlier, Starbucks also introduced three new products using osmanthus and oat milk as ingredients: Osmanthus Ice Shaken Espresso, Osmanthus Cloud Latte, and Osmanthus Flat White. The combination of milk fragrance and floral notes, paired with Starbucks' concentrated roast coffee, creates a thick, smooth texture with a long-lasting aftertaste. From various "floral" products on the market, most brands use popular floral scents such as camellia, jasmine, gardenia, and osmanthus in their coffee innovations.

Of course, it's not just these first-tier coffee brands—many new-style coffee brands are also gradually extending into "floral elements" in their coffee. Yuanyang Coffee from ChaYanYueSe features several products that use gardenia fragrance, Suzhou coffee brand Butalso incorporated acacia flower fragrance into coffee with their Acacia Flower Honey Latte, and Guangzhou's Qianyuan Coffee launched Cold Rose Gold Medal Latte.

From consumer feedback on social platforms, it seems that "popular floral scents" generally receive high praise rates, while coffee flavors featuring "niche floral scents" like acacia and apricot blossoms better satisfy consumers' desire to "try something new." As more young people develop a taste for coffee, the boundaries of "fragrance chasing" continue to expand. Will "Floral Latte" become the new direction in coffee?

Image source: Internet

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