I'm claiming shenanigans on this taste test. No coffee snob worth their salt would go anywhere NEAR McDonald's.

Giving McDonald's 33.5/60 is much too generous. There's a reason why flavor shots are free. And I regretted the time I asked for a double.

McDonalds wants to push into the coffee shop game, but it just wont work (at least for me). I went there the other day to get some work done and have some coffee. The problem is that you still have the crappy, loud, baby-crying crowd. On top of that, the place smells like grease and french fries all the time.

Even though the newer locations are quite nice, you cannot change the crowd that goes there. If they were able to make different sections within the store, it might be a different story.

I like McDonald's coffee for take-out, the Mocha is nice, but the quality is inconsistent.

@Michael Belisle: I agree. I tried a McMocha once, only once. It tasted like liquefied evil and was strangely... textural.

I will never buy a McCoffee again.

McDonald's McCafe drinks are so gross. I've worked at several coffee shops in my day (yes, including sbux). McDonald's tastes like they make it with some weird watery powdered milk substitute or some nasty crap. Their "espresso" is way subpar. I can't drink it.

Surprisingly though, I enjoy their regular iced coffee.

I'm not surprised they liked Dunkin's drip coffee. I've been slowly converting my Starbucks-drinking friends to Dunkin for years.

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles:
It was a "blind taste test". I suspect a non-drinking coffee snob collected samples and conduct the tests off-site.

Ahahahaha! Godlike? As a barista I shudder to think of any McDonalds employee struggling to make the good foam necessary for a capuccino. That is, if it's even made by a human and not a robot.

It doesn't surprise me that Dunkin' Donuts came out on top. It's very mild, very weak coffee, but it appears this is what the majority wants, so that's what they get.

For me, regarding just regular coffee, the best of these three is McDonald's. Their coffee is just barely good enough that I can call it "coffee" and I'm willing to pay their prices for it. SB and DD both charge more, for coffee that's worse ... nope, not doing it. No way.

The lattes and mochas at McD's and DD are ... ugh. That's all, just ugh. Once upon a time, SB used to make these very well, but a little over a year ago they stopped using coffee grounds to make them, and changed over to fireplace ashes. I've remarked before on the distinct ashen odor that SB's coffee drinks now exude; it's an old story.

If you want a really good fancy coffee drink, like a latte or cappuccino, you pretty much can no longer get those at a chain outlet. You have to go to an independent coffee shop that makes them their own way, carefully, and (dare I say it without sounding pretentious?) artfully.

@PsiCop: If you want a really good fancy coffee drink, like a latte or cappuccino, you pretty much can no longer get those at a chain outlet. You have to go to an independent coffee shop that makes them their own way, carefully, and (dare I say it without sounding pretentious?) artfully.

Quality food made at a high level is considered very difficult and an artform. Why should we think any differently when it comes to our beverages?

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: Many coffee snobs have rated McDonalds coffee as better compared to the likes of DD & Starbucks.

In the fast few years they have really upped their game. In our area they use Green Mountain Newman's. It is not burnt like Starbucks and not watery like DD. Sometimes I have found it to be a little older than it should be though.

I think the espresso drinks are better at Starbucks though, but only slightly.

@PsiCop: Yes, but the problem is out of the independents only a few are really good - and MANY are worse. If you are in a strange town and aren't sure, you can take a chance for a great cup at an independent and usually loose or go with McDonald or Starbucks and at least get something passable.

I try to Stay away from DD because although there coffee is OK if made correctly, I find it is often watery. I think some of the franchises are cheap(given the correlation to the weak coffee and doughnut size) or catering to people who like coffee much weaker than me.

@yank368: so McD's is supposed to open some kind of roped off "elite" section? that's idiotic for too many reasons to list

@Theoutlet: i hate to say it, but making foam isn't exactly rocket science. i could give a monkey a $3 hand foamer and he'd probably figure it out in a couple minutes

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: Up in Canada, they gave away their coffee free for two weeks. I'm not a regular coffee drinkers at all, but I did try a couple cups. And I gotta say, it is a pretty good coffee, and I don't usually like the stuff. Needless to say, when I rarely do buy it, I go to McDonald's.

PS, eating their food outside of breakfast makes me wish for sweet sweet death.

Also, you need Illy brand beans, ground fresh just before brewing. And you should be prepared to pay a lot more than you would at a chain place.

@Theoutlet: I'm fairly sure they don't even make the foam there themselves and it comes prepackaged in something like dehydrated bricks that looks like astronaut food.

@craptastico: "so McD's is supposed to open some kind of roped off "elite" section?"

Don't forget the soundproofing!

@frank64: "lose".

Despite the spelling, "loose" does not rhyme with "choose".

I hate people who confuse similar-sounding words. Does that make me homophonic?

Giving taste a numerical score is bull to me. Like those numbers advertised next to bottles at the liquor store. "ooo. this one got a 92! HOLY SHIT!" I just go with my own personal tastebuds.

@morganlh85: How do we know it isn't made with a powdered substance? Isn't that how they make 'milkshakes'? Besides, Starbucks frozen drinks are made from powders also, no espresso.

@czetie: This makes me annoyed as well. Along with your and you're, their and there, here and hear and even heir, reign and rein and rain...ugggh...

@czetie: I don't no, I am just sorry you hate me.

@dilbert69: The problem with Illy is they are old. Much better to get beans from a local place roasted in the last week. If you order on line they roast them and mail them out to you.

This place is very good, but there are many others.

[www.terroircoffee.com]

@PsiCop: I actually find that the regular, medium drip coffee costs more at McDonalds than it does at Starbucks. The iced-coffee is significantly more at both. Perhaps this is a regional thing, who knows...

You know this economy has brought society to its knees when it tries to employ the elitist techniques of culinary snobs to mass produced coffee that's produced daily by the oil-tanker-full.

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: The operative word in the post title is "chain": no coffee snob would go near any of the places in the evaluation pool. I dislike Starbucks and McDonald's, but one could make a case that a McSpresso is better than Starbucks.

Also reread the last sentence in the post, which highlights the fact that "best" is still a F on a standard scale.

Here is a link from Coffee Review on espresso drinks:

[www.coffeereview.com]

"Although we preferred the more intense Starbucks cappuccino to the milkier McDonald's version, many consumers understandably may prefer the McDonald's. The difference in caffè lattes was subtle, perhaps not worth fussing over for most palates, although we found the Starbucks version livelier and more nuanced.

However, the superiority of the Starbucks versions of caffè mocha and caramel latte was dramatic, and significant, given consumer preference for espresso beverages involving added syrups. From what we could tell, Starbucks simply used considerably better quality syrups and whipped cream and added them with a subtler, more controlled hand.

Finally, it appeared to us that the darker roasted, sharper and more pungent Starbucks espresso blend, although much derided by coffee insiders ("Charbucks"), nevertheless contributed a livelier and more complex coffee flavor to the milk and flavorings than did the apparently rather woody and flat McDonald's blend."

i just can't even see trying a mcdonald's coffee after listening to radio ads with wording around going from being a hippie coffee snob back to being a polyester wearing something or other after being rescued by mcdonald's coffee. it's up there with the most off putting ads i have ever heard.

I prefer coffee made by my own hands using whole foods beans, but that's just me. I'd rather die than drink coffee at Star*ucks, McyD's or Dunkin. Caribou or a local place are my only alternatives.

Theoutlet 12:03 PM

Ahahahaha! Godlike? As a barista I shudder to think of any McDonalds employee struggling to make the good foam necessary for a capuccino. That is, if it's even made by a human and not a robot.

Yeah, I guess to make a good foam, you have to have majored in philosophy in college. Is that what you get tipped for?

@pecan 3.14159265: (If this appears twice, blame the site).

I'll forgive someone when they mix up the various versions or there or its, since even someone who's good with spelling can make that mistake every now and then. However, when you mix up completely unrelated words, like lose and loose and waste and waist, then it kind of annoys me.

Of course, any time you try and correct them they take it as an insult. I'd rather be told I'm making a mistake than continue making it.

This fails to take into account consistency. I am willing to believe that McDonald's equipment is capable of producing a good tasting beverage, and I know that Dunkins can. But since fancy coffee drinks aren't their main squeeze, they are only good if the employee happens to be focused on steaming the milk properly and adding the shots while they're fresh. Starbucks employees are more likely to produce good drinks on a consistent basis because that's really their only job.

@czetie: Your write.

@frank64: I'm a coffee snob, and after drinking a McDonalds iced coffee I damn near threw up. Maybe I had a bad McDonalds, but it was horrible. Granted, it did sorta taste like soap...

I love how reviewers rate McCafe fairly well, and yet people here are still so biased against the company and its seemingly bad reputation when it comes to fast food chains. I was one out of the only few to defend them in an earlier post: [consumerist.com]

@GMFish: Well you are not going to steal the starbucks crowd when at mcdonalds, you have to sit between a family of 6 with a 5 year old throwing french fries, and the homeless guy on the other side.

YOU READ THAT, GESD?!?!? I WIN!! MU HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......

(For all those not following, GESD and I are at war. I believe, DnD has the best coffee. He believes I am... well, let's just say I shouldn't be released into the general public.)

@tbax929: You, my friend, now have a red heart next to your name :)

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: All I have to say is "tee-hee, Coffee Snob".

I mean, really. It's coffee. I thought the whole point was that it a. contain as much caffeine as possible and b. be just bearable enough to gulp down in copious quantities.

Now if you're a froufy drink snob (double mocha lite caramel cappa-frappa-chinospresso, etc) that's your own deal.

But please, for those of us who actually drink coffee, don't sully it.

@takes_so_little: Recently, I had to purchase a bottle of vodka because I was making a number of sorbets, and the texture is greatly enhanced by the anti-freeze properties of alcohol. For me, this was a particularly torturous task because 1) I am obsessive about the quality and type of ingredients that I cook with, and 2) I don't drink alcoholic beverages.

So there I am at Trader Joes reading each and every bottle of vodka that they carry, and cross-referencing several varieties with a few quick google searches. Ideally, I just wanted one that was no bat-shit crazy expensive, and had a very neutral flavor profile. As I understand, vodkas are supposed to be neutral, but the last thing I wanted to do was adulterate my sorbets with some noxious swill.

I settled on a semi-expensive bottle of "360 Vodka", partly because it was eco friendly, but mainly because it was quadruple distilled and quintuple filtered, and my hope was that that process would remove any inkling of flavor from the spirit.

Because I'm obsessive, I tasted it about a dozen times while using it. Every time it was an explosion of rubbing alcohol, with a faintly sweet fruity finish, not that I have any sort of baseline to compare that to.

@Wombatish: I heartily disagree. just as the point of wine isn't the alcohol content to achieve a desired effect, some people actually (myself included) really enjoy the taste of coffee in its many forms. The humble coffee been, like grapes, is an incredibly complex culinary vehicle, capable of imparting subtle nuances of region, roast level, even aging; acidity, a variety of flavors like chocolate and fruit show up in really good coffee. My personal preference is either straight ristretto (short espresso) or machiato (not starbucks macchiato, the real kind that's been "marked" with a touch of steamed milk)

The difference is, that unlike wine, you can enjoy some of the best coffees in the world, every single day for mere pennies (ok maybe dimes or nickles) per cup. for me, a pound of beans cost less than a decent bottle of wine- and I get wayyyyy more out of a lb of coffee than 4-5 stinking glasses.

@craptastico: They make it more like soap suds - very dry, it is just air and has no taste, the coffee goes straight through and does not mix with the foam. It is often still there after finishing the coffee, stuck to the sides.

It SHOULD be denser and creamier, and mix with the coffee as you drink it. Most people have never had it made correctly.

Also it should be about 1/3 of each for a cap - espresso, steamed milk and foam.

@kepler11: And all artists have a degree?

@craptastico: Making foam in general is indeed quite easy. Making it right is something completely different.

@kepler11: I want to amend my statement by saying I am in no way an artist, but I just wanted to point out the error in your logic.

I will not however, apologize for taking pride in something I do

@hedonia: Where I live the McD's products are all cheaper, at least as far as I can tell. Although the price difference for iced drinks is very small.

@catastrophegirl: if they're anything like the TV ads, they'd probably cause me to throw a few desks around, instantly.

Cubiclé? If i ate 70 pages of hemmingway and washed it down with some bleach, the resulting excrement would be a script for a better ad.