Cotti Coffee

It’s super rare for any business to open 10,000 franchised locations within its first three years of operation, and generally a sign that something unusual is going on. That certainly appears to be the case with Cotti Coffee: Founded by executives from Luckin Coffee in 2022 after their implication in an accounting scandal that led to legal proceedings and their exits, Cotti is their second attempt to take on Starbucks with rapid franchising and cheaper drinks. To that end, Cotti has lured new franchisees by taking no franchise or branding fees, and as of early 2026, there are now two Cottis in Orange County, starting with one in the same Tustin plaza as THH Sandwiches, Curry Dō, and Sake 2 Me Sushi.

Oddly, Tustin’s Cotti Coffee isn’t a standalone coffee shop: Instead, it shares space, seating, management, and service staff with the decade-old boba and acai bowl shop Leaf N Cream, even though they’re being operated as separate businesses with different menus and ordering systems. For months, there were signs for both businesses outside – Cotti’s were temporary – and initially, the interior mixed posters and menus that would bewilder pretty much anyone who didn’t already know what separated the two concepts’ offerings. Six months into the co-location experiment, some of that confusion was resolved, and after about a year, most of the Cotti signage had disappeared entirely; Leaf N Cream relegated Cotti to fulfilling online orders only, and expanded its hours to serve an even more appealing menu of non-Cotti drinks starting at 9am.

Our first Cotti experience was so perplexing and mediocre that we couldn’t understand the appeal. The menu was roughly two-thirds coffee drinks, divided into “classic,” “fruity,” or “milk” versions – with fruit teas, milk teas, and frappes as the balance. By local standards, little stands out in Cotti’s menu, which uses lots of oat and coconut milks, spotlights periwinkle-colored pampas crema drinks, and includes several somewhat unusual fruit options, such as multiple grapefruit/pomelo drinks and even a grape coffee (no longer available). Several pastries were initially added as accompaniments for these drinks, in addition to acai and ice cream bowls sold separately by Leaf N Cream; the pastries are now available solely through Leaf N Cream’s register.

On our first visit, we noted that very little of the Cotti customer experience appeared to have been properly thought out: there were dualing ordering systems with separate touchscreens, plus a visual overload of posters and window signage with promotional deals and multiple scannable QR codes. This was later scaled back, directing guests to one QR code to download Cotti’s app, with a sign inside that enabled guests to “order with a barista” while removing most of the overwhelming posters. More recently, signage indicated that all Cotti orders need to be placed by smartphone, rather than at the counter. This enables guests to take advantage of several limited-use coupons to discount the drinks, which are mostly offered at $5 to $6 price points.

Unfortunately, none of the drinks we’ve tried at Cotti has been great, or really even good. We initially went with items that looked good on posters or sounded interesting on the barely explanatory menus; on our second visit, we tried different options just to see if they were better, and returned a third time solely because the line at another Tustin tea and coffee shop we wanted to visit again (Ayêr Coffee Roasters) was too long. On each successive visit, Cotti’s presence appeared to be decreasing.