The iced Americano with milk foam has gone viral. Luckin Coffee and Goodme have been wildly "creatively remixed" by netizens across the whole internet. How can they capitalize on this wave of traffic?

The ways to drink coffee can never keep up with the wild imaginations of young people.

Following the "all ice no water" trend, a new DIY coffee method has quietly become popular this summer — iced Americano with milk foam.

From Luckin and Manner to Cotti and Guming, the basic menu items of almost every major brand have been "creatively modified" by netizens one by one. Praises like "this basic drink is a total game-changer" and "you're a genius for this pairing" keep popping up all over social media.

What needs of young people does this trend hit? And what signals does it send to the whole industry?

1

Luckin and Guming get wildly modified all over the internet

"Iced Americano with milk foam" is taking over social media feeds

When you open social platforms these days, a new coffee hack keeps popping up nonstop: add milk foam to your iced Americano.

The process is super simple — buy a basic iced Americano, pay an extra 3 to 5 yuan for a serving of milk foam, and the whole drink will have a totally new layered taste profile.

Before long, basic menu items from brands like Luckin, Manner, Cotti, and Guming all became popular targets for netizens to modify.

When they find a coffee shop that doesn't let you add toppings, many consumers even "shop across stores": they buy their coffee first, then head to a tea shop to order a separate serving of milk foam, and mix them up on their own.

On social platforms, comments like "this basic drink is a total masterpiece" and "whoever first came up with this pairing is a pure genius" keep going viral. Many people who tried it even said straight out that "it's way more amazing than I expected" and "it tastes better than iced latte".

I went to try this hack in person too.

Take Guming for example: I ordered a 7.9-yuan basic iced Americano through their mini-program, paid an extra 5 yuan for a serving of milk foam, spent 12.9 yuan in total, and my regular iced coffee got a total "makeover" upgrade.

When I got the drink, the fluffy milk foam sat on top of the dark coffee liquid, with a very clear separation between layers. The first sip gave me the salty-sweet, silky taste of the milk foam, then the slight bitterness and roasted aroma of the Americano came through. The two flavors mixed together made the drink way more memorable than a regular iced latte.

If you don't like the layered look, stir it up before drinking, and you'll get a smooth coffee with a soft milky aroma that tastes surprisingly well-balanced.

It's worth noting that besides the classic cheese milk foam, flavored versions like matcha milk foam and crème brûlée milk foam are also quietly gaining popularity in this DIY trend.

Actually, "milk foam + coffee" is not a new combination at all.

Starbucks launched its "Cloud Cold Brew" back in 2018; Grid Coffee released its Cold Brew Vienna in 2024; M Stand's Salty Cheese Black Coffee, Luckin's Gesha Cloud Cold Brew, and Coffee Bank's Tiger Stripe Orange Milk Foam Americano have all proven the market potential of this flavor combination.

In the past, brands pushed these products to the market from top to bottom, and consumers just passively chose; but this time, netizens came up with the idea on their own and modified their drinks actively, making the flavor concept that used to be limited to a few stores go viral, and turning it into a popular drinking trend that spread across the whole internet.

2

Not every Americano can "put on a milk foam hat"

These pitfalls are worth avoiding

Still, not all coffees are suitable for this "creative modification". Beneath the trend, there are also many failed attempts, which is a reminder for both consumers and brands.

First is the flavor compatibility issue: not every coffee tastes good with milk foam.

Deep-roasted espresso has strong bitterness and thick crema, which will easily taste too greasy with milk foam; fruit coffee drinks like orange C Americano already have natural fruity notes, and milk foam will cover up the fresh fruit flavor, making it an unnecessary addition.

From the compatibility lists netizens have summed up, cold brew and light-roasted iced Americano are the most popular choices. For drinks that already have milky flavors like fruit coffee and thick milk latte, adding milk foam will easily mess up the original taste.

Second is the ordering method: takeout is not recommended, it tastes much better when you drink it in-store right after ordering.

The fluffy texture of milk foam is extremely time-sensitive, so it's best to order and drink it in the store right away. If you get it via takeout, after 10 to 20 minutes of bumpy delivery, most of the milk foam will usually collapse and mix fully with the coffee, losing all the beautiful layered look and tasting way worse.

Even if the milk foam and coffee are packed separately, the melting ice during delivery will dilute the coffee and break the flavor balance.

3

From "drink what brands give you" to "drink what you mix yourself"

The industry is going through 3 major shifts

Adding a serving of milk foam to an iced Americano may look like a simple "1+1" combination, but behind it reflect several key shifts in the current consumer market.

1. Customization is booming, consumers no longer only accept the "standard answer"

From the "all ice no water" custom order, to Heytea gradually rolling out DIY drink features in all its stores nationwide, to the milk foam Americano trend that's all over the internet now, a series of bottom-up DIY crazes have popped up one after another, sending out a clear signal:

Consumers are no longer satisfied with passively accepting the "standard answers" on the menu, they're starting to actively mix bases and toppings, and create popular drinking methods on their own.

What you add or don't add to your coffee is no longer totally decided by the brand, it's "order whatever way I want to drink it".

This shift in demand is giving part of the product definition power from brand R&D teams back to consumers.

Brands need to realize that instead of just pushing their own ideas unilaterally, it's better to leave enough space to accommodate the endless creative ideas of young people.

2. The lower the participation threshold, the easier it is to spark DIY enthusiasm

The milk foam Americano became popular so quickly first because it's super easy to get started with.

The process is simple, barely requires any skills, and the pairing is super flexible. Even if you mix milk foam and coffee in different ratios, the taste may vary a bit, but the combination of milky aroma and coffee itself has a super high fault tolerance rate, it's really hard to mess it up completely.

This kind of low-risk, high-freedom activity perfectly meets consumers' psychology of "wanting to make something themselves but not wanting to take big risks". More importantly, the fun of modifying the drink by yourself is naturally perfect for social sharing.

3. Products with strong social attributes provide more emotional value

The strong visual contrast between dark coffee liquid and white milk foam (or bright green matcha) makes the drink super shareable with just a casual photo.

Nowadays, a drink is far more than something you just consume — it also plays a social role. Milk foam Americano, no matter in its look or the sense of participation it brings, is naturally a great conversation starter.

On the taste side, it breaks the single flavor of traditional Americano, and uses progressive layered tastes to meet consumers' dual needs of "wanting something refreshing but also satisfying".

Notes like "this order looks so good" and "the hidden Americano ordering formula" keep going viral. This kind of controllable pleasant surprise keeps bringing great emotional value to consumers.

Conclusion

From "all ice no water" to "Americano with milk foam", the creative modification of drinks by this generation of young people is essentially another boom of customization demand.

They don't want to just take the "standard answers" from brands anymore, they want to define what "tastes good" themselves — it can be a bit stronger, a bit sweeter, a bit more good-looking, or even something that "only I know how to order".

For brands, this is not necessarily a challenge, but more of an opportunity.

Luckin added the "all ice no water" option to its official menu, Heytea gradually rolled out DIY drink features in all its stores nationwide, and the market feedback has already proven: brands that can catch the "wild creative ideas" of consumers are usually better at keeping this generation of young people who "want drinks that taste great and are fun too".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Kamen" (ID: KamenClub), written by Wuyue, republished by 36Kr with authorization.