Pandan Coconut Latte by Luckin Coffee - Hot and Cold Versions Compared for this lovely dairy-free drink

Following Luckin Coffee's publicity about their new memorandum of understanding to purchase coconut milk from Banggai Islands Regency in Indonesia, which they have called their "Coconut Island", they have been launching and promoting more coconut-based drinks. I thought this Pandan Coconut Latte by them was interesting enough in name, so I tried it.  It is currently a Singapore-exclusive flavour, but I think it is one of my favourite drinks on their menu and they would do well to offer it elsewhere too.

Hot and Cold Pandan Coconut Latte by Luckin Coffee

I bought both the hot and cold versions to compare and was rewarded with a free sticker set (which I did not need and gave away to a random little girl who passed by). Based on the marketing graphics, they also seem to have some partnership with Duolingo, which the different languages in the sticker set (see image below) also reflect.

This Pandan Coconut Latte turned out to be possibly among my favourite Luckin drinks, perhaps on par with their Little Butter Latte. I tried the cold version first.

Cold Pandan Coconut Latte

As you can see, the milk was a very rich green pandan colour, seeming greener and brighter than even their Pistachio Oat Latte. I loved the visual appeal of it.

Cold Pandan Coconut Latte by Luckin Coffee

It tasted like the drink version of a very fragrant pandan chiffon cake (think of the Bengawan Solo pandan chiffon cake) or a very fragrant pandan coconut agar agar jelly in drink form, with a drizzle of gula melaka notes that is actually due to the coffee, not real gula melaka. It really reminded me of the Ondeh Ondeh Lattes I'd had before, but the pandan here was a lot more flavourful than those, whereas the coffee flavour much milder. The only drawback was that there was only 1 sweetness level option - "least" sweet, but unfortunately, it was too sweet for my liking. The sweetness level felt like a 50-70% sugar level for milk tea drinks of big brand names such as Chicha San Chen, Hey Tea or Chagee, whereas my tolerance level is a max of 30%. Even after mixing up the green pandan milk fully with the coffee and some melted ice, it was still too sweet.

One mitigating factor was that there was quite a bit of salt added to it (in the spirit of the gula melaka reference - as you know, gula melaka tends to come with quite a bit of salt), which I felt was very appropriate and complementary, and the salt helped to balance out the sweetness somewhat, so it did not feel as cloying as it would have been. 

It is because of this addition of salt, and how the coffee ended up having a similar quality as gula melaka, it could really be dubbed as a Ondeh Ondeh Latte, or even a "Chendol Latte".

Hot Pandan Coconut Latte

Hot Pandan Coconut Latte by Luckin Coffee

I much preferred this hot version. Once again, there was only 1 sugar level, but the coffee seemed more prominent in this version, and it came across as less sweet and more savoury, which I loved. The pandan flavour was also slightly less prominent, however, so it was like a local gula melaka kopi except made with Western-style coffee beans, but I felt the overall balance was better. 

They used the same green milk as for the cold version, but naturally you can't see it in the top-down view in the picture. I saw them pouring the green milk in but didn't manage to get a photo of that.

Apart from Ondeh Ondeh Lattes, I also felt that this reminded me of Luckin's Pistachio Oat Latte - as I have mentioned, pistachio and pandan share similar taste properties due to the sweet vanilla-like nutty fragrance, their green colour and their pairing well with salt. But, if not for the sweetness, the Pandan Coconut Latte was much tastier because of the salt and because the coconut milk is much richer in taste while retaining the nutty flavour, so it fills out the body of the drink. In contrast, oat milk tends to be somewhat thinner and a bit too much on the nutty grainy side. So if you are looking for dairy-free drinks, I would recommend this much more. (I assume it is dairy free as I have enquired with Luckin before and they said that their coconut lattes are dairy free. But do note their disclaimer that they use equipment and utensils that may come into contact with milk, so I think that is why they list milk as an allergen in their drink. If in doubt, please do ask them directly.)

Just as the Little Butter Latte ended up being a permanent offering, I hope this becomes one too, but with a version for half the sugar level. 

Also, for reference, here is a pic of the sticker set that came with it, in case you are curious. Click to enlarge if you would like to see the different languages.

Luckin Coffee's Duolingo Sticker Set

Finally, after I purchased this, a screenshot (see below) popped up saying "achievement unlocked". But I have no idea what it was for as there did not seem to be discounts or anything else. I think it is just a minor fun gimmick as a part of their Duolingo tie-up, since Duolingo uses gamification. Pandan Power to all!

Luckin app screenshot of Duolingo gamification achievement unlocked
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