Who has had a Maccas coffee of late?

Cuir Beluga

Oh dear, while hubby, junior no. 2 and I were out and about last night I decided to grab a Maccas coffee.
I think it was the worst coffee I have ever had, it was like charcoal. Never again, even worse than the On The Run servo coffee a few months back.
Considering all the advertising they have done about their coffee, baristas blah, blah, blah I thought it might be ok. Wrong!

I kind of feel bad for the poor kid that has to churn them out and then be on the receiving end of the backlash  :-[

mycuppa

What about this......we see it every couple of weeks on our Contact Us page..... Hi, have you got a coffee that tastes like the Maccas coffee ? I don’t know why, but I like that type of coffee and I want to make it at home. Or this...... Tradie turns up at our roastery in the morning half asleep with a Maccas takeaway in hand.........I then say.....”would you like a nice fresh cup ?”.......tradie responds with, “sure mate, white with 4x sugars”.......I go......”what.......4x sugars.......sorry we don’t have any sugar here”.......tradie goes “ok, no worries, no thanks. After talking to the tradie further, seems he goes there every morning, told me that most mornings it’s really busy there waiting for a coffee........shite, he even goes there on weekends and gets that same monster with 4x sugars and loves it......won’t drink anything else.......hates the coffees from pretentious cafes, etc. Moccopan (part of the giant Suntory beverage group) roasts all the Maccas coffee for Australia and New Zealand on a new 600kg Brambati in Coburg......previously it was all roasted on a 300kg Brambati. The 600 is a brand new monster plant with full robotics and automation and massive external green bean silos that have special insulation. The largest plant in the Southern Hemisphere. Also does some coffee for Coles private label. At 65 tons of coffee every week ( scaling to 150 tons a week) t’s clearly the largest cafe chain in Australia.......you can imagine the cost optimisation being done on that volume. In news the other day, Hungry Jacks has finally admitted they had been sitting on their hands for 20 years allowing Maccas to run amok with McCafe........and now they are late to the party in trying to build a cafe style coffee offering......

Cuir Beluga

I can't even imagine MyCuppa. Of course it could well be a one off, it was my first and if they are all that bad I can't imagine anyone actually asking for something that tastes like that, even worse preferring it. I can't even visualise 600kgs of coffee, let alone a big enough roaster top roast it all in one hit. It's pretty mind boggling and sad, all at the same time. I noticed HJs has $2 coffee the other day. I wonder if that is the start of their cafe style offerings.

Brett H

Wait... what.... do you mean the integrity of the Cannstar review, revamp then award of Australia’s most loved coffee was... inaccurate. Can the shining beacon of integrity and authenticity of Cannstar be... bought??? All that glitters is not gold!

mycuppa

Careful Brett........don't mention the word gold with coffee, else you'll have the seemingly always busy lawyers from that old-school Sydney Coffee mob issuing you a writ for infringing their trademark. In case you were not aware......a certain brand of supermarket coffee trademarked "Gold", or I should say the Italian spelling of that word, which I'm too scared to write here in case we are also taken to the Federal court for acting with reckless indifference and causing them to lose sales. Fascinating dispute........a shrinking Australian coffee icon (with an aparently questionable reputation of taking legal action against customers that try to exit onerous contracts) versus an aggressive global Italian brand, arguing over whether the Australian consumer gives a toss about the word Oro when they purchase a pack of coffee......oops, should not have used that word........probably caused another lost sale. Just a whimsical aside......there are a handful of Australian coffee companies (and I'm not referring to those mentioned above) that went rampant in trademarking almost every term associated with coffee.......and when their business declines and shows the visible signs of failure from a lack of adapting to changing market conditions, they resort to legal action to prop up their ailing financials. No names......

askthecoffeeguy

I had a Macca's coffee last year and it was terrible but I had one at Australia zoo recently and it was even worse yes there's bad coffee out there but at least Macca's is consistently bad so you know what you're gonna get

lukemc

Macca’s coffee isn’t all terrible. Mostly but not all!! In my employment I meet at McDonald’s (don’t work for them!!) nearly daily and often try a coffee to see what it’s like.  Don’t shoot me!!! I have had some really good coffee (always milk based and not very often) from Mccafes and always ask the barista why theirs is good/better than the others. Usually it’s because they or the manager is passionate about coffee and keeps the beans in the grinder fresh and the machine clean (shock!). There’s one opposite keysborough shopping centre that does single origin offerings and always seems to make a decent lartay or flat white. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cuir Beluga

on 1567825760:

I had a Macca's coffee last year and it was terrible but I had one at Australia zoo recently and it was even worse yes there's bad coffee out there but at least Macca's is consistently bad so you know what you're gonna get

Well, I have to say I wondered if it may have been a one off or not. Sounds like it may not have been. One of the mums at school yesterday was telling me how much she liked the Maccas coffee. Perhaps it's a case of taste being subjective  ;D

on 1567927425:

Macca’s coffee isn’t all terrible. Mostly but not all!! In my employment I meet at McDonald’s (don’t work for them!!) nearly daily and often try a coffee to see what it’s like.  Don’t shoot me!!! I have had some really good coffee (always milk based and not very often) from Mccafes and always ask the barista why theirs is good/better than the others. Usually it’s because they or the manager is passionate about coffee and keeps the beans in the grinder fresh and the machine clean (shock!). There’s one opposite keysborough shopping centre that does single origin offerings and always seems to make a decent lartay or flat white. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I may give another one a go one day. That was my main reason for giving it a go, to see what it was like. I've bought probably less than a dozen coffees out since I started doing my own. Perhaps three years or so. Last Saturday night when we were out and about I braved a $1 coffee from a local-ish Caltex "The Foodary" outlet and it wasn't great, or even good really but it was a marked improvement on the Maccas one.

Brett H

on 1567825654:

Careful Brett........don't mention the word gold with coffee, else you'll have the seemingly always busy lawyers from that old-school Sydney Coffee mob issuing you a writ for infringing their trademark. In case you were not aware......a certain brand of supermarket coffee trademarked "Gold", or I should say the Italian spelling of that word, which I'm too scared to write here in case we are also taken to the Federal court for acting with reckless indifference and causing them to lose sales. Fascinating dispute........a shrinking Australian coffee icon (with an aparently questionable reputation of taking legal action against customers that try to exit onerous contracts) versus an aggressive global Italian brand, arguing over whether the Australian consumer gives a toss about the word Oro when they purchase a pack of coffee......oops, should not have used that word........probably caused another lost sale. Just a whimsical aside......there are a handful of Australian coffee companies (and I'm not referring to those mentioned above) that went rampant in trademarking almost every term associated with coffee.......and when their business declines and shows the visible signs of failure from a lack of adapting to changing market conditions, they resort to legal action to prop up their ailing financials. No names......

Wow... Sir you are a veritable font of information. Thank you for the enlightening post!

Cuir Beluga

on 1567825654:

Careful Brett........don't mention the word gold with coffee, else you'll have the seemingly always busy lawyers from that old-school Sydney Coffee mob issuing you a writ for infringing their trademark. In case you were not aware......a certain brand of supermarket coffee trademarked "Gold", or I should say the Italian spelling of that word, which I'm too scared to write here in case we are also taken to the Federal court for acting with reckless indifference and causing them to lose sales. Fascinating dispute........a shrinking Australian coffee icon (with an aparently questionable reputation of taking legal action against customers that try to exit onerous contracts) versus an aggressive global Italian brand, arguing over whether the Australian consumer gives a toss about the word Oro when they purchase a pack of coffee......oops, should not have used that word........probably caused another lost sale. Just a whimsical aside......there are a handful of Australian coffee companies (and I'm not referring to those mentioned above) that went rampant in trademarking almost every term associated with coffee.......and when their business declines and shows the visible signs of failure from a lack of adapting to changing market conditions, they resort to legal action to prop up their ailing financials. No names......

Holy Heck, that is very interesting MC.

askthecoffeeguy

I average about one Maccas coffee per year I don't know why I guess I'm just a sucker for punishment or perhaps I just really need the caffeine ! Anyway the flavour profile never seems to change with charred toast and cigarette ash being the predominant flavours / aromas in so far as I can tell! It's like those old school Italian roasts on supermarket shelves that always taste the same and I can only assume that they are made this way to punch through the milk for large takeaway coffees and / or so that the flavour does not deteriorate any further (than what it already has)

Lwowiak

Some Maccas coffee is not bad, it all depends on the passion/skill of the barista. It is pot luck, just like the hit and miss coffee in qantas lounges. Airport coffee can be horrid.
If desperate a maccas coffee with sugar has saved the day, but only under duress.
When driving around Europe a few years ago, I did come across some nice coffee from Maccas from time to time. A lot better than some of the small town cafes we came across.

Would still have to be better than the 7 Eleven coffee on offer.

askthecoffeeguy

Never tried 7/11 coffee no doubt Europe has a different roast for their coffee ?

Brett H

Yep, I to average about one desperate measure a year and can reliably attest to it being drek! At least they don’t charge much for their dreadfulness.

askthecoffeeguy

Had one about 6 months ago it tastes like an ashtray crossed with a camp fire but in a good way