McDonalds Increases Coffee Choices

The golden arches of McDonald's are increasing the coffee choices available on their menu. According to articles in the Wall Street Journal and  24/7 Wall St blog  McDonald's is continuing its journey into the land of coffee.

In many of the sites nationwide, the golden arches are serving ice coffee, lattes and cappucinos. 

The market and franchisee reaction is mixed according to Retail Wire and 24/7 blog.

McDonald's has made its reputation on fast, convenient economical choices. I'm not sure how that translates to lattes and cappucinos. 

My thought is McDonald's is hoping people will stop by on their way to work for a latte or cappucino instead of dropping by Starbucks.

Now Consumer Reports did give McDonald's a superior rating on their plain black coffee. But how many people actually go to McDonald's for coffee?

In many locations including Seattle McDonald's has launched their coffee expansion.

I was on holiday last week and had a fantastic time doing very little. I flew and stayed there for an entire week. Did nothing but enjoy myself and stay away from the computer. Since the holiday involved seeing family I did have a couple of trips to McDonald's. Uncles have to do that you know, eh?

The location I visited did not offer the lattes or cappucinos.  Well, while the cousins were climbing around the playgym  I tried the ice coffee. 

Being slightly virtuous I tried the sugar free vanilla ice coffee. It's ok, but nothing to write about. Cold and wet.

Giving up the virtuous part was easy. I decided to try the carmel flavor as the cousins wanted to stay longer and my sister and cousins wanted a break. I only do this once a year so I stayed.

The carmel ice coffee was good. It had the sweetness of the iced espresso with dulce du leche. Definitely a taste I will try again.

As for the playgym, it's a good thing the family gathers only once a year. One cousin lost one shoe, how I'll never know. I swear I saw them place it in the storage box.

So if you're at McDonald's and sitting watching the little ones on the playgym, buy yourself a carmel ice coffee. It's cold, refreshing and definitely not virtuous. Enjoy, it's summer!

Not the usual grind,

Thanks to Deborah Burns realtor from Seattle and her blog for the photo of the billboard advertising McDonald's espresso.