Hot vs Iced Pair Hug Latte - Gardenia Pear Flavoured Cafe Latte by Luckin Coffee

Luckin has launched another very curious flavour that I had to try - a fruit-flavoured latte. They called this the "Pair Hug Latte", which turned out to be a word play for a pear-flavoured latte. I had seen their fruit Americanos before, but those weren't paired with milk. Plus, this pear latte also had the scent of gardenia flower, according to the in-app description.

Luckin also did this as a marketing collaboration with Maltese (线条小狗), the primary character of viral sticker/emoticon sets designed by Korean studio Moonlab that went viral on major Chinese social media platforms. The "pair" is a reference to Maltese's friend - in the original design, Maltese has a good friend, another dog that is golden or brown in colour (Little Golden Retriever 小金毛). And of course, if you purchase a "pair" of qualifying drinks, you also get a cute set of Maltese stickers. Even if you just get one, there's still very cute and colourful art on the paper bags. (See the pretty pictures below.)

In any case, I was only interested in discovering what a "gardenia pear" flavoured cafe latte tasted like. BUT I bought both the iced and hot versions, because I was very intrigued about how the fruit, coffee and milk combination would bear out between temperatures. So I got a pair of pear lattes...

Hot and Iced Pair Hug Latte by Luckin Coffee

It turned out to be a very nice and fragrant drink, something I hadn't expected. I tried the iced version first.

The fragrance instantly reminded me most of Luckin's Jasmine Blossom Yuan Yang, followed by other jasmine-flavoured teas, but without the jasmine's metal or tannin-like bitterness. It was like a very fragrant floral jasmine tea scent.  I did some digging into why it tasted like jasmine, and discovered from fragrance forum Fragrantica that actually jasmine and gardenia flowers don't smell similar, but because it is difficult to extract gardenia oil, gardenia fragrances are frequently reconstructed using jasmine components, along with other flowers. Gardenia is supposed to be sweet and creamy, and I would say that this certainly fit the description, even if there were similarities to jasmine.

The coffee flavour wasn't as strong (similar to the Ceylon Yuan Yang), and seemed to just provide a dark nutty undertone. 

It also wasn't bitter at all strangely, perhaps because they added some type of cream or milk mix that tasted like evaporated milk or Hong Kong milk tea or coffee (which uses evaporated milk). It might also have been the "creamy" component of the gardenia fragrance. So it was very creamy and smooth. It was kind of weird that it was not even a yuan yang and had no tea in it, because it reminded me more of a milk tea with a tinge of dark nuttiness.

Pair Hug Latte by Luckin Coffee - Maltese-themed paper bag art

After this, with some water and time between, I tried the hot version. In this case, the coffee's nutty roast taste was more prominent, perhaps due to the temperature. But with that, there was a hint of bitterness as well, which brought it closer to jasmine milk tea or jasmine yuan yang. Those who prefer pure fruity creaminess might not like the bitter tinge though. 

Finally, there was a more prominent grape-like and fruity pear flavour, distinct from the jasmine-like scent, which was very interesting, since this aspect was less prominent in the iced version. This fruity scent reminded me a lot of the Nashi Pear Soymilk. 

Another interesting point is that their gardenia pear syrup uses a zero-calorie sweetener, so it is indeed guilt-free on the sweetness. I got the least sweet version and it was close to perfect, just a very tiny tad sweet for my taste, but after the first few sips I stopped noticing it.

Overall verdict: Both are pleasant, but if you prefer a more complex, nuanced and unique taste with a stronger coffee flavour, go for the hot version. If you aren't actually all that fond of coffee drinks to begin with and prefer a creamy and fragrant drink that's light on the palate to gulp down, go for the iced one. I would actually recommend non-coffee lovers to try the iced version, if they don't mind the caffeine. Both are worth trying for the different experience though.

Pair Hug Latte by Luckin Coffee - Maltese-themed stickers

If you get the pair, this is the pretty sticker set that comes along. I didn't need it though, so gave it away to a random equally cute little girl who was passing by.

Discover other interesting coffee and pear-flavoured drinks

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