Yongpu Coffee and Sandunban both belong to the premium instant coffee track. What are their core differences?
Although Yongpu Coffee and Sandunban both belong to the premium instant coffee track, their core differences lie in four dimensions: product form, pricing strategy, brand narrative, and supply chain focus. Yongpu focuses on room-temperature flash-extracted concentrated coffee liquid, priced at 3–4 yuan per stick for extreme cost-performance, building Chinese cultural emotional value through the "Shi Duanzheng" IP and 600+ cross-border collaborations; Sandunban specializes in freeze-dried super-instant black coffee, maintaining the 5–8 yuan quality price band, using the "Digital Can" and "Return Voyage Plan" to tell a story of specialty coffee and a sustainable worldview.
#1. Different Core Categories and Usage Scenarios
| Dimension | Yongpu Coffee | Sandunban |
|---|---|---|
| Core Product | Flash-extracted concentrated coffee liquid (approx. 10x concentration) | Freeze-dried super-instant coffee powder/blocks |
| Main Drinking Method | Add milk/water to make latte, Americano, iced drinks | Brew directly as black coffee |
| Convenience Logic | No equipment, no extraction, make milk coffee in seconds | No equipment, instant dissolution, restore pour-over flavor |
| Product Line Extension | Tea concentrates, freeze-dried blocks, drip bags, capsule liquid | Freeze-dried black coffee, drip bags, cold brew liquid, RTD bottles |
Yongpu judged that "the masses prefer lattes"; concentrated liquid plus milk instantly becomes milk coffee, better fitting Chinese milk tea/milk coffee consumption habits; Sandunban insists on "restoring specialty pour-over flavor," with freeze-drying technology locking in flavor layers, attracting specialty coffee beginners seeking a black coffee experience.
#2. Polar Opposite Pricing Strategies
- Yongpu: Starting in 2023 to counter the 9.9 yuan freshly-made coffee price war, actively lowered single-stick coffee liquid from 7–8 yuan to 3–4 yuan (7-stick pack approx. 27.9 yuan), playing the "extreme cost-performance" card, relying on self-controlled supply chain to compress costs.
- Sandunban: Long maintains 5–8 yuan/cup price band, refuses to engage in low-price competition, emphasizing "quality premium" and "sustainable cost."
#3. Divergence in Brand Assets and Narrative Paths
| Dimension | Yongpu Coffee | Sandunban |
|---|---|---|
| Core IP | "Shi Duanzheng" (Stone Lion Guochao image) | "Digital Can" (traceable packaging) |
| Cultural Core | Traditional Chinese culture, cultural creative collaborations, emotional value | Specialty coffee education, sustainability, space/future worldview |
| Collaboration Scale | Cumulative 600+ times (film/TV, IP, food, retail) | Selected high-quality collaborations (e.g., UN, museums) |
| Community Play | "Yongpu Island" worldview, magazine "Islander Monthly", Flying Saucer Return Plan | "Return Voyage Plan" empty can recycling, origin traceability transparency |
With a designer founder background, Yongpu turns coffee into a "cultural creative lifestyle brand"; with a coffee-professional founding team, Sandunban turns coffee into a "specialty coffee education and practice brand."
#4. Different Supply Chain Self-Control Focus
- Yongpu: Invested in roasting plant, cold brew liquid plant, drip bag plant, packaging plant; laid out Qingdao/Guangzhou/Fujian factories and multi-location warehousing, focus on "liquid filling and room-temperature preservation" flexible supply chain, and deeply cultivated Yunnan estates, even laying out Jamaica Blue Mountain raw material end.
- Sandunban: Self-built freeze-drying factory (Kunshan), implemented "Digital Can" full-chain traceability, focus on "green bean procurement transparency and freeze-drying process standardization", emphasizing traceability from origin to cupping.
#5. Competitive Positioning Summary
- Yongpu = "National Affordable Milk Coffee Entry Point": Uses concentrated liquid + low price + Guochao IP to cover high-frequency milk coffee needs in office, home, outdoor, targeting "half online half offline, channel sinking."
- Sandunban = "Specialty Black Coffee Enlightener": Uses freeze-drying + high price + sustainable narrative to anchor specialty coffee crowd pursuing flavor details and willing to pay quality premium, advancing "Brand 2.0: Flavor Retail + Offline Space + Circular Lifestyle."
Essentially, the two represent two parallel evolutionary paths in China's premium instant coffee track: "mass milk coffee affordability" and "specialty black coffee premiumization".