[little devil blind test] office workers love 17 ice lattes.

Professional barista communication, please pay attention to coffee workshop (Weixin Official Accounts cafe_style)

For many office workers, not drinking coffee during the workday feels like something's wrong. Whether it's black coffee, cappuccino, caramel macchiato or latte, as long as you can drink a drink that contains "coffee", it seems that you can immediately replenish energy, instantly boost the spirit of work and soothe the soul, which shows that coffee is really important for office workers.

Therefore, this time the little devil blind test evaluation unit, especially for office workers most often drink "coffee" as the theme, and also chose the average person more often drink latte coffee to evaluate. Also because of the hot summer weather, so finally selected to participate in the blind test of coffee items, it is not ice latte!

Imp Knowledge Station

Generally speaking, in coffee shops in some European countries (especially Italy), if you order a latte, you may only get a cup of hot milk. If you want a cup of coffee with milk, in France you have to order café au lait (pronounced coffee with milk) to get a latte we are familiar with; if in Italy, you have to order lette macchiato to get the latte you want.

There were 17 iced lattes purchased this time. Since convenience stores do not provide iced latte de-icing service, the purchase conditions for each iced latte are uniformly set as large, light ice and no sugar.(Iced lattes with less ice are provided according to their own proportion); The number of stores that bought iced lattes this time, according to the number, English and Chinese strokes 7-11, 85 ° C, cama, Hi-Life, LAVAZZA Old Coffee, OK Convenience Store, Dante Coffee, Family Convenience Store, Seattle Gourmet Coffee, Eco Coffee, KFC, Goldmine Coffee, Brown Coffee, McDonald's, Unified Starbucks, Louisa Coffee, and Moss Burger. The selection basis of these stores is based on the coffee shops that are usually easy to obtain and the number of stores reaches a certain number; therefore, some relatively small chain coffee shops, or individual coffee shops established independently, are not included in this blind test evaluation.

Basic information about each iced latte

7-11 unified supermarket, on the cup body pattern, you can directly see the identification words of CITY CAFE and coffee pattern; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 395g, the weight of an empty cup is 15g, and the weight of coffee after deducting the cup weight is 380g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

85 degrees C, the brand words of 85 degrees C can be seen directly on the cup body, and the LOGO block with red as the background color is quite eye-catching; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 635g, the weight of an empty cup is 15g, and the weight of coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 620g (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice) This brand has the largest amount of large iced lattes among all coffee brands.

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Cama, the transparent cup body can directly see the color of the latte (when it is ready at first, it will show the beautiful color of coffee and milk layered), while the cama brand is presented in black; the actual weight of the large iced latte is 475g, the empty cup is 10g, and the coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 465g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Hi-Life Laierfu convenience store, the cup body in response to the upcoming Qixi Festival Valentine's Day, so printed a special cartoon pattern, but you can still see the Hi Cafe brand words; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 335g, the empty cup is 15g, and the coffee after deducting the cup weight is 320g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

LAVAZZA old coffee, the cup with white and blue as the main color tone, the blue color of the white brand word design, looks quite simple; the actual weight of the large iced latte is 415g, the empty cup is 15g, the weight of the cup after deducting the weight of the coffee is 400g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

OK convenience store, the cup body is light blue as the main color, but the design of the brand word OK cabe is quite interesting, using the Taiwanese homonym usage of coffee; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 350g, the weight of an empty cup is 20g, and the weight of coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 330g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Dante Coffee, which is also a transparent cup body design, is represented by the dark brown color of coffee beans, and the green color on the cup body is easy to identify; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 530 grams. The empty cup weighs 20 grams, and the coffee weighs 510 grams after deducting the weight of the cup. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

The whole family convenience store, the only brand that uses black as the cup body design, is indeed recognizable at a glance among many brands of cups, while the white brand character design is more eye-catching under the black background; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 475 grams, the weight of an empty cup is 15 grams, and the weight of coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 460 grams. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Seattle Gourmet Coffee, although it is also a transparent cup body design, the brand logo and lettering design is slightly weaker, feeling that it can be embellished with some brand tone changes; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 485 grams. The empty cup weighs 15 grams, and the coffee weighs 470 grams after deducting the cup weight. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

The brand design of Yike Coffee, which only has a white frame, looks even less obvious under the transparent cup. If it has just improved to the side without the brand words, it may not be recognized at once; the actual weight of the large iced latte is 510 grams, the weight of the empty cup is 20 grams, and the weight of the coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 490 grams. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

KFC, the body of the cup is the same as the cup of ordinary drinks, and it is not specially designed for coffee, so it is difficult to tell from the appearance of the cup that this is an iced latte; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 435 grams, the weight of an empty cup is 10 grams, and the weight of coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 425 grams. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Gold Coffee, with its transparent cup body and less obvious logo, does have a relatively low brand recognition among many lattes; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 510 grams, and the weight of an empty cup is 20 grams. After deducting the weight of the cup, the weight of the coffee is 490 grams. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Brown Cafe, although it is also a transparent cup body design, but the brand words are put in a dark color as a presentation (but one side is still white), which is easy to identify in terms of identification; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 485 grams, the weight of an empty cup is 15 grams, and the weight of coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 470 grams. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

McDonald's, the brown block brand logo placed on the transparent cup body, among the many iced lattes, also belongs to the cup body design with high brand recognition, if only the design or hue of the white M character LOGO could be more obvious; the actual weight of the large iced latte is 515g, the weight of the empty cup is 20g, and the weight of the coffee after deducting the cup weight is 495g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Unified Starbucks, Starbucks goddess LOGO and tone design are eye-catching, and the brand's unique feature of writing on transparent cups makes the overall recognition more significant (although I personally prefer not to write on the cup, which makes it look more refreshing); the actual weight of a large iced latte is 410g, the empty cup is 15g, and the coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 395g. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Louisa Coffee, with white as the main color, the color trademark of the brand is eye-catching and highly recognizable, and it also belongs to the cup body design that can be recognized at a glance; the actual weight of a large iced latte is 535 grams, the weight of an empty cup is 15 grams, and the weight of the coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 520 grams. (coffee contains melted and unmelted ice cubes.)

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Morse Hamburg, although also on the transparent cup body, impresses the white brand words, but also because of the sufficient font size, so that the brand cup body design is not easy to identify. The actual weight of a large iced latte is 320 grams, the weight of an empty cup is 15 grams, and the weight of the coffee after deducting the weight of the cup is 305 grams (the coffee contains melted and unmelted ice); the weight of this brand's large iced latte is the smallest of all coffee brands.

Actual weight of cup body pattern coffee empty cup weight

Evaluation and results of blind test of ice latte

After weighing all the ice lattes, as there are still some brands of ice lattes that have not melted, I waited until all the ice cubes had melted before I poured all the ice lattes into the prepared test cup by random selection. Although they all buy iced lattes, you can still see the subtle color differences of different iced lattes in the photos. Although the overall flavor of coffee will be affected more or less after the ice has melted, I think each brand of less iced lattes will still have their own proportions.

The amount of each test cup is about 20ml, so after drinking these 17 iced lattes, it is probably the same as drinking a cup of 340ml iced lattes. (in some brands, this is equivalent to the capacity of a large cup.)

In this blind evaluation project, we evaluate the coffee flavor concentration, milk flavor concentration and overall flavor separately. The scoring method is the same as before, with a maximum of 5 points for each item and a minimum score of 1 point. The higher the concentration of coffee and milk, the higher the score, while the overall flavor is graded according to the proportion of coffee and milk after tasting. The better the overall flavor, the higher the score.

According to the score given by each person, the highest individual score of each brand is 5 points, and the highest total score of the three categories is 15 points (a total of five people, so the highest total score is 75 points). The lowest individual score is 1 point, while the lowest total score of the three categories will be 3 points (a total of five people, the lowest total score is 15 points).

After explaining the basic rules and standards for grading, the blind evaluation of 17 iced lattes is about to begin.

In addition to some basic crew, the new member of the little demon tasting brigade is Morris, the sports editor. Because he usually has a habit of drinking coffee (there is also a little research on coffee), I am personally looking forward to the results of his evaluation.

Yves, the little demon film team that I haven't seen for a long time, also reappeared in this evaluation (I finally caught you this time). In the previous blind evaluation units, I was also expected to involve him, but they all happened to conflict with his filming schedule and gave up.

Ivan, who is also a common team member of the blind test evaluation unit, usually has the habit of roasting coffee beans and drinking coffee by hand, so it is of course an indispensable professional analysis role in the blind evaluation of iced latte coffee.

The members of the little demon tasting team are all intently and carefully tasting the ice latte. Because the editor is also one of the members of the blind test, there are only four people in the photo, not a shortage of personnel.

Every member of the blind evaluation, during the blind test of iced latte coffee, recorded the flavor feeling of each iced latte very carefully and thoroughly. Thank you very much.

After a series of repeated drinks and comparisons of iced lattes, the final results of the blind evaluation were officially released. The final ranking list is listed according to the brand's stroke name (numeric, English, and most strokes). The brand with the highest total score is Seattle's iced latte with a total score of 85.33%, while the brand with the lowest score is iced latte from OK convenience store, with a score of 22.67%. But I personally think the special part lies in the comparison between KFC and LAVAZZA. Although the coffee beans used by KFC are provided by LAVAZZA, the flavor of the iced latte is very different, so it can be seen that the coffee shop still has its value.

If the total score passing rate is calculated as 60% (45 points as the just passing threshold), there are as many as 12 brands with an average score of less than 45 points (accounting for about 70% of the total number of blind test brands). The performance of most brands is in a state of failure. However, for the top four brands with higher overall scores (Seattle, LAVAZZA, Starbucks and cama), apart from a small digital gap in total scores, these brands are also well-known and beloved coffee stores (scoring rates all fall above 75%). Since then, the score gap has dropped directly to just passing (the fifth place is 45 points, just over the edge of passing), which shows that it is not without reason that most consumers will regularly choose certain brands of coffee!

From the results of this blind test, the editor also summed up the following phenomena to share with you.

1. Well-known brand coffee stores have achieved good results in terms of scores.

two。 Although the prices of most well-known brand coffee shops are expensive, they do not seem to affect consumers' willingness to buy.

3. Although the score of convenience supermarket coffee is not high, it is still favored by consumers with the advantage of convenience.

4. Although it is also a coffee store, there are still some brands that do not perform well.

5. Among the coffee in fast food chains, only McDonald's coffee got the right passing score, and the other scores were not high.

6. Even if you use the same brand of coffee beans, there will be differences in the flavor of the iced latte.

7. Almost all of the brands with lower scores are in a mediocre state where they can hardly feel the flavor of coffee and milk.

8. Among the top four iced lattes, only cama sells for less than 100 yuan, which is the most valuable choice for quality and capacity.

Collation of data related to ice latte

In the following table, I particularly compare the price with the actual weight that can be drunk. At the same time, I also find that although the performance of coffee that is convenient for supermerchants is not the best, the amount of coffee that can be drunk for a dollar, but it falls in the more area. And several brands with higher total scores all have good coffee quality and flavor, but relatively speaking, the amount of water that can be drunk by one yuan is also much less.

The brand with the largest capacity of coffee per cup is 85 degrees C, and the brand with the least capacity is Moss Burger.

The brand with the highest price per cup of coffee is LAVAZZA, and the brand with the lowest price is the whole family convenience store.

The following is a table to sort all iced latte brands according to the total score, the price and the amount of water you can drink for a dollar (ranked from high to low, and if you have the same score, sort by brand name). Among them, Seattle Gourmet Coffee, Unified Starbucks and LAVAZZA all occupy the top three in terms of total score and price. Although these three brands are expensive in terms of price, they do provide coffee products with good quality and flavor.

Dante Coffee and Yee Ke Coffee, which have been around for a long time, can be regarded as brands that surprise me. Apart from their overall performance, they are not cheap in terms of price (both above 100 yuan). The performance of cama surprised me the most. Although the price was in the middle, it ranked fourth in terms of coffee quality. I think this is the main reason why they are so popular. Of all the convenience superstores, 7-11 Unified supermarket is the most outstanding brand, whether it is the quality of coffee or the amount of water you can drink for one yuan.

{{Special thanks to the Imp colleagues Yves, Leon, Joyce, Morris, Ivan and Judy to help with the purchase and shooting}

In the blind evaluation of iced latte coffee, we can see that the performance of coffee flavor and quality is related to specialty and price to a certain extent. Although the taste of coffee and milk is also a major factor affecting whether consumers will buy it, it is difficult to really judge whether the coffee tastes better or the milk tastes better. After all, it still has a lot to do with personal preferences.

These are the contents and results of the blind evaluation of iced latte coffee, and this is the first time that the myth has not been broken since the editor began to do blind evaluation. Although the highly discussed unified Starbucks did not win the first place, it is still a very high level of performance in terms of the brand's performance. And the coffee brands with the top several total scores are almost all common and popular coffee choices, which shows that if the quality of the product is good enough, consumers will still be willing to pay the bill.

No matter what the result of the blind test is, let's first buy a cup of coffee to comfort the soul and replenish the combat effectiveness of going to work.