Illustrative image generated by AI.
Starbucks built its empire partly in China. Now China's café giants are returning the visit — opening on American street corners and bringing a price war with them.
The move
Luckin Coffee — China's largest coffee chain, with more than twice as many outlets as Starbucks at home — is set for its biggest leap yet with a branch planned in Lower Manhattan, after entering Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Cotti Coffee, founded in 2022 by former Luckin executives, has just opened outlets in Brooklyn and Manhattan, offering drinks for as little as 99 cents to first-time app users. HeyTea landed in New York in late 2023 and has since spread to Boston, Seattle and Los Angeles. A broader Reuters review adds Chagee, Mixue and Auntea Jenny to the list of Chinese beverage brands that opened first U.S. stores in 2025.
Why now
China's tea-and-coffee market is saturated and fiercely price-cut; the obvious release valve is abroad, first across Southeast Asia and now into the United States. The chains arrive with hardened economics — app-first ordering, tight supply chains, aggressive promo pricing — honed in a home war where Luckin and Cotti pushed cups well below a dollar. In the U.S. they will still likely price under Starbucks, analysts say, though the gap will be narrower than in China.
Why it matters
This is the beverage layer of the same Asia-Plays-America story playing out in toys and apparel — but on Starbucks' doorstep, in the most saturated café market in the country. New York is both the obvious entry point and, as one analyst put it, one of the most competitive. Higher wages, tariffs that erode supply-chain advantages, and a generational split in how Americans view Chinese brands all stand between these chains and scale.
What it signals
If app-first, deeply discounted Chinese coffee finds a foothold in New York, expect the model to travel the way it did across Asia — city by city, undercutting on price. The question bcd-W is watching is whether American consumers treat a 99-cent Cotti latte as a novelty or a habit. Convert the habit, and the U.S. café map starts to look a little more like China's.
bcd-W angle. Asia Plays America in F&B: a cohort of Chinese beverage chains carrying a China-born price war onto Starbucks' home ground. Not one store opening but a brand group moving as a front — the discrete to watch is the first New York queue.
FAQ
Which Chinese chains are entering the US? Luckin Coffee (planned Lower Manhattan), Cotti Coffee (Brooklyn and Manhattan) and HeyTea (New York, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles), with Chagee, Mixue and Auntea Jenny also opening first U.S. stores in 2025 per Reuters.
How do they compete? App-first ordering and aggressive discount pricing — Cotti has offered 99-cent drinks to first-time app users — generally undercutting Starbucks.
What are the obstacles? A saturated, high-cost New York market, tariffs on supply chains, and mixed U.S. consumer perceptions of Chinese brands.
Sources
NBC News — China's coffee giants are brewing a US expansion · The Star — China's new-style tea brands find a hot new market in the US · Reuters — China consumer giants push into the US
bcd-W Worldwide — web only. This is a daily news brief, not an email edition. This is a trend read built on prior reporting; store counts and opening dates should be re-confirmed before republication.
