In 2025, criticism of LAP Coffee, a venture capital-backed startup in Germany that rapidly expanded with its coffee kiosks and set prices low, reached a peak. In early 2026, Chinese coffee chain Cotti Coffee entered the German market with even cheaper coffee and even bigger ambitions. The reactions remained largely analytical rather than emotional. Why do we object so much where it hurts less than where the big disruptions are actually happening?
Berlin, 2023. Two people from the tech startup scene, backed by VC money, open small coffee kiosks. The cappuccino costs 2.50 euros, the espresso 1.50 euros. Within two years, they open 26 branches. 19 in Berlin, the rest in Hamburg and Munich. By the end of 2026, LAP wants to grow to 60 locations.
And then, at the end of 2025, something interesting happens. The stores get splattered with paint. There had been criticism since the start, but it reached a peak then. The specialty coffee scene, neighborhood representatives, and loud voices are up in arms, and almost every news station reports on it.
We were also asked to go on camera for Galileo by ProSieben to discuss the LAP phenomenon. We did it, but the show was only aired once – more on that later.
So: we have LAP Coffee, which is pushing into the market with really low prices. I commented on this in a podcast in early 2024. I emphasized how I find it morally questionable from a moral perspective to sell specialty coffee so cheaply. Since then, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, coffee prices have risen, I've given it a lot of thought, and inflation has made a massive comeback.
I saw the logic for why specialty cafés and neighborhood cafés might feel threatened. Because we've been working for years to explain what coffee is worth. And then someone comes along, pushes the price down, and many people flock to it.
But then I realized: specialty cafés and neighborhood cafés are not actually the endangered species here – they can lean back a bit.
And what's really bad about offering coffee cheaply?
Because: who are we reaching with expensive coffee – and who are we not?
But in all the noise, it went unnoticed that a Chinese chain called Cotti Coffee is just taking off in Germany, offering even cheaper coffee than LAP Coffee, but there was no noise. That's why I'm discussing the LAP and Cotti Coffee phenomenon here, but above all the irritation they trigger – or don't – and the navel-gazing of an industry that might be better off looking at itself.
The LAP Coffee Logic
The concept of LAP Coffee certainly breaks with what artisanally prepared specialty coffee stands for. If specialty coffee 15 years ago stood for craftsmanship, for a real and unique coffee experience, for hospitality, for the special in coffee, then that might still be true for this generation that learned to know specialty coffee that way.
But things continue to turn on all sides, and that's what LAP Coffee has done. Everything automated. They've smartly eliminated the pain points of the gastronomy business. Labor hours are expensive, frothing milk is slow, advising on which coffee is for what – that takes time. And there's hardly any waste potential, neither with the coffee nor with the milk, because everything is automated.
Of course, this stands in direct contrast to what has defined specialty coffee for decades. Of course, cafés that rely on high-quality coffee also need to calculate hard and precisely in order to be successful long-term, but automation clashes with craftsmanship for many. But LAP brings the craftsmanship element in by having 19grams do the roasting.
We tasted LAP Coffee's coffee. It's a medium-dark to dark roasted coffee from a large farm in Brazil. Not fancy, not distinctive, but an absolutely solid choice to reach consumers where they are. But here's the thing: roasted by a local roaster who stands for specialty coffee.
The Criticism of LAP Coffee
The mood shifted in spring 2025. Criticism of LAP gathered, and the specter of gentrification made the rounds. I could follow all this from an armchair in Basel and understood the logic, but then I also thought that LAP absolutely doesn't embody what cafés with sensory aspirations or the idea of building a physical community do.
The emphasis is on physical, because all the criticism and attention to LAP actually gave LAP's social media page a lot of traffic. When cafés were then splattered with paint, I felt transported back to the time when I was at an anti-WEF demo in high school, but wasn't quite sure what I was actually doing there.
The criticism also went to the fact that LAP just wants data. Sure, that's the case with every AI today and for everyone who uses credit cards, it's been that way for decades. For me, LAP is more the real-world lifestyle that is primarily portrayed through social media, but has little to do with reality.
Us at Galileo
And because it felt like all media were reporting on it, a production company that produces for Galileo approached us. We filmed, talked, and drank coffee for a day in November 2025. It was really interesting to see how much work goes into a 14-minute segment. We calculated who earns what from the coffee. The show was then aired and I thought it was really balanced – the reporter asked the right questions and presented different positions.
Unfortunately, one of the interviewees had such poor audio quality that ProSieben took the video offline again.
Who Should Be Afraid of LAP Coffee
Anyway, we contextualized the LAP case from our perspective. As a coffee company that isn't based in Berlin, operates cafés, and roasts coffee. Our conclusion was:
LAP is not the competition for neighborhood cafés, LAP is competition for Starbucks and Co. The chains also made everything fully automatic, but set much higher prices for their coffee drinks.
And that's what LAP Coffee is aiming for. Where everything is automatic. And where in the end brands fight against brands.
A neighborhood café is not a brand, it's a social place. Some say you see David against Goliath here. I think the comparison is flawed – different concepts appeal to different audiences. And if someone should feel threatened, it's the chains: Starbucks, McCafé, etc. Especially when the new outlets open in well-trafficked locations.
And against this backdrop, a new player is now coming. One that is much bigger than LAP, one that is cheaper than LAP, one that is even more funded than LAP, one that wants to operate globally: Enter Cotti Coffee. From China.
In early 2026, the big chain from China launches simultaneously in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Düsseldorf. And Cotti is even cheaper than LAP via app ordering. Cotti works through franchising – the model that made McDonald's grow so fast and so big.
If you're just thinking about growth, you need huge amounts of coffee. So let's look at the coffee: where do LAP and Cotti get their raw coffee?
Where Do LAP and Cotti Coffee Source Their Coffee?
We know that coffee isn't infinitely available because it's grown on finite land. But the LAP and Cotti concepts express infinite scalability. LAP sources coffee from 19grams in Berlin, who in turn buy from a large farm in Brazil. Solid coffee, solid farm, solid roasting – I tasted the coffee during our Galileo shoot. The coffee is specialty coffee by definition because it scores over 80 points, but that doesn't mean much anymore today.
It's a consistent flavor profile because it's a large farm that produces a lot of volume, efficiently, and can stay cheap. And: because it's not a "crazy" coffee profile, it makes it easier on one hand to reach many people, and on the other hand easier to grow and guarantee consistent flavor. LAP is – still – very locally oriented, but will eventually have to find another roaster if they want to expand internationally.
And Cotti Coffee?
They already have nearly 20,000 branches in 28 countries. Now it's Germany's turn. The funny thing is that the founders are former Luckin Coffee people. So while LAP is still a dwarf compared to Cotti and has their coffee roasted in Berlin, Cotti Coffee has its own sourcing and production strategy.
In Anhui Province in eastern China, Cotti not only has its own roastery but also its own sourcing strategy that puts all other roasteries in the world in the shade. Because Cotti doesn't just buy raw coffee; they rely on direct agreements with governments and large producer groups when sourcing.
In Uganda, for example, there is a well-documented deal with the Ministry of Agriculture to export Ugandan coffee on a large scale to China. This deal aims to position Uganda as the leading African coffee brand in Asia. Specific regions like Bugisu for Arabica beans and the Victoria Basin for Robusta beans are being focused on. Additionally, Cotti is preparing to establish its own supply chain bases in South America, Ethiopia, and Vietnam to secure supplies for its branches worldwide.
You see: different scales, different markets – and suddenly LAP looks like a dwarf. I said initially that comparing LAP to neighborhood cafés doesn't offer much comparability. Fairly, I have to admit that comparing LAP to Cotti offers no more comparability either – except, and this is important to me: they're rolling out their concept really big, in many cities, at many critical points, and even cheaper than LAP. And if price is one of the main criticisms, we need to compare here.
Where's the Criticism of Cotti Coffee?
The reaction to Cotti is much more analytical than emotional. There's no outcry on social media, or I'm not seeing it. Other media report – those that favor infinite scalability, but far less so the daily media. I recorded this with Arne from Coffeeness, who drank coffee at Cotti Coffee and didn't find it particularly interesting sensorially. Arne also said: where's the criticism of Cotti? Thanks for that setup, I'll ride that pony.
Cotti is doing the same as LAP, just bigger, and nobody's splattering the stores with paint. Because: protest needs a face.
When I was in school, McDonald's branches were destroyed on May 1st. Also banks like UBS and commodity companies. McDonald's was – if not a personal – face for nefarious globalization. Today I almost don't see that anymore. Globalization is complex, the term has gone out of fashion for criticism, and the issues have shifted.
Today protests are more concrete. Paint attacks on company X because they buy oil from Russia, or media protests against Oatly because BlackRock got in as an investor. Protest needs a face to gain traction. And LAP is just easily attackable for that reason. A founder with a Red Bull past and storefronts where small shops used to be – you can really put someone like that in the pillory. Cotti, on the other hand: who is that? Is there a face? Is there a founder story? It's a name, nothing more. Even Starbucks with Howard Schultz and today with the former Chipotle CEO is much more person-centered. In Cotti's slipstream comes, rolls out 20,000 branches in four years and travels completely anonymously.
What's the "Right" Price for a Cup of Coffee?
When it comes to the price of a cup of coffee, it seems to me that we have a very locally determined understanding and a massive ineducability.
Because if we're outraged that 1.50 euros is too little for an espresso, then we have a "right" price or at least a price range in our heads. 1.50 euros in Italy, on the other hand, are broadly accepted.
There's also outrage when espresso is too expensive, then it's a pretentious specialty and hipster café product. There's an invisible price band in our heads. And I see that too with specialty beer, sourdough bread, wine, and clothing. Not too low, not too high. Those who've gotten used to higher coffee prices can understand low prices as a predatory approach. Those who drink cheap coffee anyway or can only afford cheap coffee don't find LAP and Cotti threatening.
And finally, on social space. The "third space" – the place where you sit, drink coffee, and are neither at home nor at work, where social interaction takes place – this concept is breaking down. The big sofas are no longer found in coffee shops; that was in the 2000s. Today we see fully automated processes and fully automated machines. In that sense, LAP, Cotti, etc. are only responses to a reality and demand that we create ourselves.
I said at the beginning that the coffee industry would do well to engage in a lot less navel-gazing. Otherwise, we'll end up lamenting like other restaurateurs who complain that less alcohol is consumed and smoked today and present that as a problem. When I hear from cafés saying that less coffee and more matcha is being drunk, that's probably true in some places and is first of all an assignment to adapt the offering. Or not – and then sharpen one's profile accordingly.
The coffee world with all its facets turns really fast. And today it's no longer just craftsmanship. We ourselves are becoming ever more digital and are just testing a fully automatic milk frother in our cafés. Romanticism has never been good for the industry. It's high time to question what seems self-evident.
