McCafes idea of ideal

[robusto]

You lose confidence in announcers who cant pronounce... in writers who cant spell... in actors who cant act.... and McCafes by their TV ads!

One burst into my living room a couple of days ago. The ad began with a shovelful of extremely unevenly roasted beans, ranging from light tan to dark brown.

Then up came a jugful of frothed milk (yep, 2MCM, frothed, not textured). It wasnt so much the beach back in the 1980s, as 2MCM remarked in another post, but more like milk bar malted milk of the same era.

Huge bubbles floating like a raft on presumably thin, untexturerd milk. No microfoam here, folks.

And those qualities ---uneven beans and suds--- McCafe tells us, are the essential incredients which make its coffee such a pleasure to imbibe.

Yeeks.

[lucinda]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

*Runs from thread screaming in horror*

[GrindOnDemand]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

My gripe is that expresso is used to replace, marketing-wise, espresso by these sludge merchants.

Im a cafe owner, & yes I get customers asking for an expresso.

I sigh, smile, remember my tongue has enough bite marks, & then politely seek clarification ...

Grrrrrrrr ...
Tony

[greenman]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

I thought an expresso was a non-stop train to the city!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Christop]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

I thought those beans were uneven in colour! The only place I want to see froth is at the beach - just like you said Robusto. Can you actually trust them with making your coffee??

[scoota_gal]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

The only place I want to see froth is at the beach

Only place I want to see froth, is on top of a beer... ;D

[Wushoes]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

at least theyre not misrepresenting their product.

[gregpullman]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

Im a cafe owner, & yes I get customers asking for an expresso.

People adored in the public eye often like to think theyre experts at more than just what we know them for, but sometimes its only themselves theyre deluding. With all due respect to his evident abilities on the football field, Chris Judd once asked me for an expresso while I was at Epic. :

[Lizzie]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

Chris Judd once asked me for an expresso

mmm, he just wanted it bl@#dy fast!!


L

[robusto]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

I thought those beans were uneven in colour! The only place I want to see froth is at the beach - just like you said Robusto. Can you actually trust them with making your coffee??

Can I trust them? That situation has never arisen -- Ive never tried a McDonalds coffee. And never likely to.

[Lizzie]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

actually, i have, and some of the McCafes have quite reasonable coffee... i have had some from their (Jura ?) Super-autos and from their baristi...
and, what is more important, they will make you fresh ones if you are not happy with their first, second, third or fourth effort.
for a quick shot "on the road" ( when travelling by car or truck and having looong ks to do ) i have found them to be better than the fuel-station cafes which have sprung up.
at least the McCafes strive for the uniformity (yes, and blandness)..they also produce their food with... but the result is an acceptable hot drink when on the road.
it beats the "instant" coffee machines in truck stops hands down!!

admittedly, i sigh a contented sigh when i get home to my own stuff: Bott and Beans!

L

[early_morning_]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

my milk drinks > my espresso > maccas espresso > maccas milk drinks > instant

Ill take a short black at maccas rather than go without (emergencies only, like sunday nights in august coming home from the snow - sutton forest on the hume at 10pm, dreary eyes and another ~1hr 30min of driving... somethings better than nothing).

[itsme5k]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

I know this is going to make me sound a whole lot less credible, but here goes

Having worked at Maccas and Mccafe for 4 years ending at the start of this year, I have a few things I must add.
Although the coffee used is nothing special, I did rather it to most supermarket brands of beans (yes, I sometimes brought bags home to play with on my machines) and they certainly were fresher and poured a lot better than most of the cheapo safeway varieties. The taste was never very special, but was not stale or bitter tasting either. The grind needed was a few clicks finer than the stale beans I had been using. This could have also been due to the fact we were going through a few boxes a day of beans so were always getting new ones delivered at least once a week.

However it was not always like this. 2 years ago we got our first machine (A saeco something, I cant remember, It was a superauto that made below average to average coffee, I tried it a few times and didnt bother again.) We didnt sell that much so the consistency was poor as the beans in hopper aged.

When we got the new 2x Jura super autos (and had the tech dial them in set them up etc...) the difference was substantial. It was pulling shots that tasted better than what I was getting at home on my em6900 (from supermarket beans...). And not only that, every time I came to work I could push a button and get a shot that tasted good and was the same every time.
So I started using those beans at home and got progressively better and more consistent at making coffee, and soon "outgrew" the maccas beans, started trying different beans from cafes, roasters etc, finally moving onto roasting at home and well that is how my coffeesnobbery began .

So I (any maybe some others?? cmon I cant be alone here :P) would not be here today if it were not for Maccas and there "average-yet mostly consistent" coffee. I say "mostly consistent" as there are still some employees that use the steam wand and have no idea what there doing.

What I did get out of working there was getting lots of practice on my latte art. (once I got used to the 5 hole tip).

I certainly would rather a shot pulled off one of these machines than a cafe that lets grounds go stale in the doser, or consistently serve 15sec gushers that fill a latte glass half way. :|

[LindaD]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

as there are still some employees that use the steam wand and have no idea what there doing.

Agreed.

Unfortunately there is still the misconception out there in McCafe land that you have to have airy marshmallow based milk. This is the way they are trained at HQ.

Not at my store!

I train all of my staff ( I am McCafe co-ordinator) the way Chris taught me at William Angliss, the proper way of texturing milk. Unfortunately some of the managers on who were trained the "HQ" way still do the texturing wrong, and even though I manage it, they wont change. I guess old habits die hard.

We still have the Cafina Superauto, although it does have its moments, it isnt a bad machine and it puts out a very good crema.
I have actually looked, touched, broken in half, and chewed the Maccas beans and for the bean that they are (and they are around about a 9-10 CS card) they are not too bad.

-Linda

[gilkatho]

Re: McCafes idea of ideal

Just as a point of clarification the automachines that are used at Maccas arent Jura but generally one of two other types: Frankie or Melitta Cafina C5.

Frankies were mostly installed 3+ years ago. Most of the Cafinas in the past 3 years.