Luckin Coffee PR photo.
China’s Luckin Coffee has opened a new automated roasting complex in Qingdao, including what the company claims is the world’s largest coffee roasting machine.
Announced April 22, the Qingdao roastery project represents a total investment of approximately RMB 3 billion (roughly US$415 million at current exchange) and provides an annual roasting capacity of more than 55,000 metric tons.
By comparison, Starbucks has said its York, Pennsylvania, roasting plant roasts up to 3 million pounds of coffee per week, which equates to roughly 70,800 metric tons per year.
Luckin described its new plant as housing “the world’s largest single coffee roaster.” The company did not disclose the machine’s specifications or manufacturer, and DCN has not been able to immediately verify the claim.
The Qingdao plant is the third of four major roasting facilities in Luckin’s network. It joins a 15,000-ton-capacity plant in Pingnan, Fujian, that opened in 2021 and a 30,000-ton-capacity Kunshan, Jiangsu facility, which Luckin said was China’s largest coffee roasting plant when it opened in April 2024. A fourth facility in Xiamen, also planned at 55,000 tons and RMB 3 billion, remains under construction.
“Luckin Coffee Kunming store” by Amin is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Once Xiamen is complete, Luckin says the four plants combined will exceed 155,000 metric tons of annual roasting capacity.
The Qingdao facility is positioned to take advantage of Qingdao Port, one of China’s major foreign-trade hubs, for direct green coffee shipments from origins including Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia. In late 2024, Luckin signed a Brazilian supply agreement covering 240,000 tons of coffee from 2025 through 2029.
The plant features full-process automation from green bean processing through roasting, packaging and warehousing, a flameless regenerative thermal oxidation (FRTO) emissions system, and is designed to meet both China’s Three-Star Green Building standard and LEED Platinum certification, according to the company.
The facility underscores the pace at which Luckin has rebuilt since settling SEC accounting-fraud charges in 2020 and emerging from Chapter 15 proceedings in 2022.
The company said it had 31,048 stores globally as of Dec. 31, 2025, making it the largest coffee chain in China by store count, though still smaller than Starbucks’ 40,990-store global system.
Luckin opened its first U.S. stores in Manhattan in July 2025 and now has 10 locations in New York City. The company’s controlling shareholder, Centurium Capital, is also reportedly in ready to acquire Blue Bottle Coffee from Nestlé.
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