The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2023
Luckin x Moutai 'sauce latte' sells 5.42M cups on day one at 19 yuan
Sept 2023: Luckin Coffee and baijiu king Moutai launch a latte with real 53-degree Moutai at 19 yuan — 5.42M cups, 100M yuan day one.
Luckin Coffee (瑞幸咖啡) · Kweichow Moutai (贵州茅台)
What it had to solve
Moutai, China's luxury baijiu, belonged to business banquets; young people had never tasted it and saw the brand as their parents' drink. Luckin, fighting a price war with a rival, needed a product nobody could ignore — it already had a 'thick milk' supply chain from its coconut-latte hits.
How it works
In September 2023, China's two unlikeliest brands met in a paper cup. Luckin Coffee, the discount chain built on coupons and app orders, released Sauce-Aroma Latte with Kweichow Moutai, maker of China's most expensive and most famous baijiu. The drink used a baijiu-flavored thick milk made with real 53-degree Feitian Moutai — Moutai staff supervised the pouring at the dairy plant — with the final alcohol below 0.5 percent.
The price was the idea: 38 yuan, cut to 19 with Luckin's standing coupon, so tasting China's national liquor became an impulse buy. The red-and-blue cup, launched across more than 10,000 stores on September 4, instantly became a social object. 'Your first cup of Moutai' swept WeChat, Xiaohongshu and Douyin, with users joking about 'full cup of Moutai, no coffee.'
Numbers followed the noise. Luckin reported 5.42 million cups sold and more than 100 million yuan in sales on day one — a single-product record and roughly ten times the daily volume of its previous bestseller, the coconut latte. Stores sold out of the special milk within a day.
For Moutai the deal was a youth strategy: after ice cream in 2022, the baijiu giant licensed its name into coffee, borrowing Luckin's young, price-sensitive audience. For Luckin it was prestige: the collaboration became the benchmark of China's 2023 co-branding wave.
Why it lands
- The 19-yuan price made a luxury brand tasteable, turning curiosity into an impulse purchase.
- Real Moutai, supervised at the dairy, made the claim defensible when users tested it.
- 10,000 stores plus social platforms created availability and spectacle on the same day.
- Each brand kept its position: Moutai stayed premium, Luckin stayed cheap, and the collision made the news.
- The 'young person's first Moutai' framing gave users an identity story to share.
What it did
On day one it sold 5.42 million cups with over 100 million yuan in sales — a Luckin single-product record and roughly ten times a normal bestseller's daily volume. Stores sold out of the special milk within a day, and the co-branded cup flooded WeChat, Xiaohongshu and Douyin.
What you can take
Borrowing a luxury symbol without discounting it: the 19-yuan price made tasting Moutai a shareable experience, giving Luckin prestige and Moutai youth. The collision, not the recipe, was the product.
Since then
The latte became the reference point for China's 2023 co-branding wave — brands from food to fashion rushed to pair with unexpected partners. Moutai continued licensing into desserts and drinks, and Luckin institutionalized its 'collab machine' with IPs from Tom & Jerry to fashion labels. Later pairings drew traffic, but none matched the sauce latte's record, and the drink stayed on Luckin's menu. Industry coverage still cites the 5.42-million-cup figure as proof that co-branding can be a revenue event, not just an awareness stunt.
Sources
- Move over Starbucks: Meet the new brands competing for China's growing coffee market
- 真有飞天茅台吗？瑞幸和茅台联名款“酱香拿铁”是这么来的
- 从梦碎华尔街到“酱香拿铁”大火，瑞幸到底做对了什么？
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