Tiramisu Latte by Luckin Coffee

This is not the first time I've tried this Tiramisu Latte by Luckin Coffee, but last year, I strongly disliked it so I didn't post. This year, there was a huge improvement, which I'll explain below, so I thought it worth posting about.

First up, one thing to note is that they only have the iced version. As always, I selected the least sweet option. This is how it looked like visually. 
Tiramisu Latte by Luckin Coffee
The latte part looks like chocolate milk or hot cocoa in the colour, but even darker with what looks like extra cocoa powder sinking to the bottom to give it a thin dark brown layer below. The top looks like a typical milk foam layer commonly found in Asian or bubble tea shop drinks and is probably an imitation attempt of the creamy part of a tiramisu dessert (the mascarpone cheese part). I did not stir in the milk foam (because I'm always wary of them), so I tried both layers separately. 

If you look closely at the foam on top, there's also cocoa powder dusted over the white foam. (Click to enlarge for a clearer view of the powder.)
Tiramisu Latte by Luckin Coffee - cocoa powder on the milk foam
The latte itself was the real star and definitely worth buying again because of its low price point (just S$4 if you use a 50% off coupon) compared to similar offerings at cafes. It tasted more like a deep and rich mocha as opposed to a latte, because the dark cocoa notes, chocolatey nuttiness and complementary coffee taste were quite prominent. It was like a nice thick dark chocolate mocha with strong notes of well-roasted cocoa nibs (to the point of being almost smoky but not quite), but it was not as viscous as the typical thick dark chocolate mocha, which made it a lot more refreshing and easier to drink. 

Furthermore, the least sweet version was indeed barely sweet, just the right, bare minimum amount of sugar to bring the cocoa flavour to life. This was the huge improvement over last year's version, which was just too sweet that I couldn't appreciate anything else and also couldn't finish the drink. (Back then, I would have ordered the version that had the least sugar as well, as I always do, but it's possible that they only had 1 sweetness setting then.)

The latte part beats a LOT of expensive mochas from not-so-good cafes, which have too much sugar or milk, and is probably comparable to the 8/10 or 9/10-score good mochas I've tried out there, but the price point for this is much lower than those. As mentioned, it is slightly less thick compared to the best-of-the-best mochas, and the coffee flavour might not be as complex, but it makes up for it well because of the prominent roasted cocoa nib flavour and easy-to-drink experience.

As for the milk foam or tiramisu cream part, it wasn't nice at all and I'm glad I didn't stir it in. It tasted like a typical fake non-dairy creamer milk foam. Naturally, it tasted nothing like the mascarpone cheese found in actual tiramisu desserts. However, because it wasn't salty or savoury like their Mascarpone Latte, but leaned sweet in flavour, it resembled the sweet mascarpone cheese found in tiramisu desserts a little bit more.

So overall, it was not so much like a tiramisu dessert, but probably better enjoyed as a nice dark and not-so-sweet mocha for the part without the foam. I would definitely recommend it for that. 

Between their Mascarpone Latte and this Tiramisu Latte, If you prefer something more traditional and classic, and don't mind iced coffee drinks, this tiramisu one should work for you. If you prefer something more innovative with savoury notes or only take hot coffee drinks, then go for the mascarpone one.

If you prefer a more prominent and complex coffee flavour, go for their Cloud Cold Brew instead. It is another cheese foam drink with less milk than the Mascarpone Latte and a more balanced, complex coffee taste that is a blend of nutty, fruity and rich. Although they've stopped offering it in the menu, it could come back again.

If you prefer a tea version, and love the dark indole flavour in jasmine, try their Jasmine Cloud Latte, their only cheese foam tea drink currently. I didn't like it because I didn't like the blend of jasmine indoles with savoury cheese, but if you like such flavours, it should be otherwise good and cheap compared to other cheese tea drinks.

Comments

Post a Comment