Q&A: How Yutianchuan Made 1L Ready-to-Drink Coffee a Hit – The Logic Behind Large-Format RTD Coffee
Question: I’ve seen Yutianchuan launch a 1L ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee line, even with a One Piece co-branding. Can a product like this actually taste good?
Answer: Put the taste aside for a moment and look at the numbers: after launching its 1L Americano series in 2025, Yutianchuan hit over 10 million bottles in annual sales, a monthly sales peak of 1.2 million bottles, and an impressive repurchase rate of 62%. In the beverage industry, these figures speak volumes.
(Image: Yutianchuan Coffee | Source: Yutianchuan Coffee)
Question: A 1L coffee? Isn’t that basically drinking Americano like water?
Answer: Precisely—that’s the core logic. Traditional RTD coffee is mostly 200-300ml small bottles, dominated by lattes, consumed for a quick energy boost. But Yutianchuan is betting on repositioning coffee as a
drink replacement: one bottle for a full day, kept at the desk for on-demand pouring, served over ice with a tumbler, or DIY-ed with orange juice or coconut water.Nielsen IQ data confirms this trend: the 600-1249ml "large-format RTD" category has seen the fastest growth in recent years. Consumers crave the convenience of RTD products and cost-effectiveness, and the 1L format hits this sweet spot perfectly.
Question: But black Americano is quite bitter—can the average consumer stomach it?
Answer: This is where Yutianchuan’s ingenuity shines. It doesn’t force consumers to adapt to bitterness; instead, it crafts coffee with beverage-centric logic, offering flavors like Orange C Iced Americano, Jasmine Iced Americano, Rose Iced Americano, and fruit and vegetable-infused variants. These options mellow the bitterness with fruit and floral notes, while still staying zero-sugar and zero-fat. Luckin Coffee lowered the barrier to coffee with Coconut Latte, and Yutianchuan is doing the same for RTD coffee with flavored Americanos.
Question: Can you add all these flavors and still keep it zero-sugar and zero-fat? Is that technically feasible?
Answer: This is where the upstream supply chain comes into play. Take TELLCAN SCIENCE as an example—we partner with numerous brands exploring this exact direction, with targeted technical solutions for every key demand:
- Zero sugar without sacrificing sweetness: Compound sweeteners balance out the inherent bitterness of coffee.
- Authentic floral notes (rose, jasmine, etc.): Food flavors build layered taste profiles, rather than just adding a superficial scent, without masking coffee’s original flavor.
- Prevent oxidation and fading when adding fruit juice: Compound color fixatives are engineered for this exact purpose.
- Uniform texture with no sedimentation: Compound emulsifying and thickening agents work in synergy with colloidal microcrystalline cellulose for a consistently smooth sip.
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Industry Insights
- The logic of large-format RTD coffee: Reposition coffee from a "energy-boosting beverage" to a "daily drink replacement"—one bottle for a full day, maximizing cost-effectiveness.
- Flavor is the key barrier to entry: Mellow bitterness with fruit and floral notes to make black coffee accessible to non-coffee drinkers.
- Technology underpins consumer experience: Zero-sugar without bitterness, authentic flavors, sediment-free texture—all rely on professional support from the upstream supply chain.
Question: So is Yutianchuan competing with freshly brewed coffee?
Answer: No—it’s complementing it. Freshly brewed coffee has cultivated consumers’ coffee-drinking habits but is limited by space and time. RTD coffee, by contrast, is grab-and-go and twist-to-drink, covering scenarios where freshly brewed coffee can’t reach: office desks, home fridges, and on the go outdoors. The Japanese market has long validated this path: Suntory’s Craft BOSS repositioned coffee as a slow-sip drink replacement for the workplace, and today RTD coffee accounts for nearly half of Japan’s total coffee consumption.
(Image: Suntory Craft BOSS | Source: Suntory Official Website)
Question: What’s Yutianchuan’s ambition with this move?
Answer: Its founder Lin Hao once said: "Coffee is a universal 'language' that connects people." The three circles in Yutianchuan’s logo symbolize two people sharing a cup of coffee. A 1L bottle on the office desk, poured and shared with colleagues at any time, strips coffee of its elitist aura and turns it into a medium for daily communication. But to turn this vision of connection into reality, it all comes down to the product itself. Curiosity may drive a first purchase, but repeat buys depend on the genuine taste experience. Brands are responsible for capturing consumer demand—and technical partners like TELLCAN SCIENCE translate that demand into a truly great-tasting beverage. Every "invisible pain point"—from flavor and color to texture and stability—must stand the test of shelf life.
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Final Takeaway
China’s per capita coffee consumption stands at just 25 cups a year—10 times less than Japan’s 300-400 cups. How to fill this gap? Not just by opening more freshly brewed coffee shops, but by making RTD coffee a part of daily life. Yutianchuan’s bet on large-format RTD coffee is not fighting in a red ocean, but pioneering in a blue one. And its confidence to pioneer comes from two places: half from the brand’s insight into consumer scenarios, and half from the supply chain’s support for product quality.