Are Luckin's Panama SOE Latte and Dirty Coffee delicious? Flavor and Taste Characteristics Description of Caturra and Catuai Coffee Varieties

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Luckin Coffee's Bean Sourcing Journey

In late February this year, Luckin Coffee announced on multiple platforms that starting from March, they would travel to Ethiopian and Panamanian coffee regions with Anthony Douglas, the 2022 World Barista Champion (WBC), to source coffee beans. This news immediately sparked heated discussions in the coffee community!

This is because in January of last year, Luckin had launched a SOE (Single Origin Espresso) coffee using the renowned "Ethiopian Sidamo Buku Coffee Bean," which has always had a strong reputation in the coffee circle. At that time, Li Guoqing, founder of Dangdang.com, posted diss content about Luckin on multiple short video platforms, particularly criticizing them for buying out over 90 tons of Buku beans and creating a monopoly.

In reality, the over 90 tons of Buku coffee beans that Luckin purchased at that time did not affect the subsequent market supply and price of Buku coffee beans.

The Geisha SOE Launch

Then in September last year, Luckin made another significant move by launching a Geisha SOE. This news once again made many in the coffee community nervous. Although they used the native Geisha variety from Ethiopia, which has a production volume similar to the Ethiopian native varieties (Heirloom) we typically drink daily. Both are natural mixed varieties (as they cannot be finely categorized) and are graded from G1 to G5 based on the defect rate of green coffee beans.

In terms of flavor, it's similar to Ethiopian native varieties and doesn't possess the exquisite coffee flavor that people commonly associate with the famous Panamanian Geisha coffee. Regardless of the grade, its quality, flavor, and price differ significantly from Geisha in South American regions or Geisha Village in Ethiopia, nor is it classified as a specialty coffee bean. According to Xu Baolin's "Bean Hunter 2," native Geisha varieties, when dropped after the second crack, exhibit cupping flavors of berries, nuts, spices, and plant roots.

However, many coffee enthusiasts felt that Luckin's deep roasting of Ethiopian Buku and Geisha was extremely wasteful, with many expressing that Luckin was ruining the coffee beans.

Therefore, when Luckin officially announced on March 25 that they would be heading to the Panamanian coffee region to source beans, some in the coffee community were very concerned about the safety of Panama's Geisha coffee... Some netizens commented: "If they stick to their traditional deep roasting, it makes no difference whether they source beans or not." It's also uncertain whether they'll be interested in Geisha from Hacienda Deborah or Hacienda La Esmeralda.

Will Luckin Really Bring Back Geisha?

Will Luckin really bring back Geisha coffee this time? Panama doesn't only have Geisha variety coffee! Currently, all Geisha coffee varieties in Panama are the "Geisha T2722" - a variety that has been "domesticated" over decades by several generations and possesses delicate floral and fruity aromas. Compared to other Arabica varieties, the T2722 Geisha not only has low fruit yield but is also particularly fragile and quite picky about its growing environment. It requires high altitude, fertile soil, cloud cover or plant shade, and cannot be directly exposed to intense sunlight.

Additionally, the leaf system of T2722 Geisha coffee trees is very thin, meaning photosynthesis efficiency is low. The root system is also fragile, with slow absorption of water and nutrients, resulting in very low coffee yields. Combined with the high-altitude growing environment, fruit maturity time is also relatively late.

A single Geisha coffee tree produces only half the yield of a Caturra variety tree, which is why Panama's annual Geisha coffee bean production accounts for only 3% of total production.

Panama's Geisha coffee is a globally sought-after commodity~~ With low production, high industry demand, and high prices, even average quality Geisha beans are not inexpensive. Therefore, it's unlikely that Luckin will go to Panama to source Geisha beans this time.

Based on the poster released by Luckin, we can see from the cutout images of coffee trees and beans in the background that they're more likely seeking Caturra and Catuai varieties, which are more common in Central and South America. These two varieties are also the main contributors to Panama's annual coffee bean production.

Caturra

Catuai

The coffee tree in the promotional poster appears to be of the Caturra variety because Caturra's secondary branches are very close together, allowing it to produce more fruit in the same space. Of course, it could also be Catuai, which is a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo varieties, yielding even more fruit.

However, without careful comparison and observation, the two varieties look somewhat similar and both have high yields. The speculation that it's Caturra is based on the fact that there's still some spacing between fruits.

The T2722 Geisha variety coffee tree produces much less fruit, with large gaps between fruit clusters, and overall fruit quantity is not high.

T2722 Geisha

The speculation for Caturra & Catuai is also based on the cutout of roasted coffee beans at the bottom of the poster, which are oval and flat, with a slender tail end, more consistent with Catuai's bean appearance (the overall physical characteristics of coffee beans).

Conclusion and Industry Impact

Well, this is all speculation~~ Actually, regardless of what variety of coffee beans Luckin brings back from Panama this time, we'll only know for sure when they appear in Luckin's products. Let's wait and see together.

For the coffee industry, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it's impossible to monopolize the market. Every time Luckin makes such a move, it provides more mainstream consumers with an opportunity to learn about single-origin coffee beans and coffee varieties.

It also encourages more consumers to want to learn more about a single-origin coffee bean, naturally leading them to independent specialty coffee shops to experience the difference between drinking the same bean at a chain coffee shop versus an independent specialty coffee shop.

The most obvious example was with the Buku SOE. Later, when chatting with other coffee shop owners, they all mentioned that during that period, the number of customers asking about Buku coffee increased significantly~ Many customers also mentioned that it was after drinking Luckin's Buku SOE that they became more interested in learning about Ethiopian beans.

Good, low-yield coffee beans don't have much opportunity for monopoly, while common, high-yield coffee beans don't need monopolization. As a chain coffee shop, to ensure relatively consistent products across all stores, some sacrifice in flavor during roasting is unavoidable.

And every coffee enthusiast who loves specialty coffee doesn't need to worry that Luckin's large purchases will drive up coffee bean prices. In recent years, there have been many beans with good quality and flavor, so there's no need to focus excessively on any particular coffee bean. There are still many, many delicious coffees waiting for everyone to taste~

Image source: Internet

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