Luckin Coffee to launch tea brand Xiaolu

Luckin Coffee, the Chinese cafe startup that has directly taken on Starbucks in the territory, is moving into the takeaway tea market with its new Xiaolu brand.

“Coffee and tea are the two most popular drinks in the office,” said Luckin VP Jinyi Guo. “However, there are currently few renowned brands of milk tea in China, the quality of franchise stores is inferior, and supply chain management is deficient.”

The new brand, launched this week, is targeting young Chinese white-collar workers and offers cheese foam tea, fresh tea and milk tea, among others.

“We want to transform the tea series from traditional tea drinks into creative ones and we hope people drink it in the offices instead of streets,” said the brand’s chief marketing officer Fei Yang.

Luckin completed its New York IPO this May, raising US$561 million.