For the past year and a half (or so), whenever I’d be on the road with a hankerin’ for some java (which is maybe once every few weeks), I’d stop at… McDonald’s.
Why, you ask?
Because for the past few years, they were serving a high quality coffee marketed by Newman’s Own, not a company that tends to scrimp on quality, and had stopped serving the bland, watered-down coffee of Mickey D’s past (i.e., the type of coffee one expects from a late night convenience store run by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.)
And most importantly, at McDonald’s, it would cost me only 99 cents for a medium coffee vs. the $2.00+ cost for a Starbuck’s or even D&D equivalent.
And, so, about 2 months back, I noticed that McD’s coffee began to taste like, well… like McD’s coffee of yesteryear.
I finally got around to Googling this thesis that McDonald’s no longer offered Newman’s Own nor a coffee bean of comparable quality. First-page-search-results pulled up “McDonalds poor decision on coffee change” [sic], a 4/24/14 post on a site called http://mcdonalds.pissedconsumer.com:
Here in Maine my local McDONALD’S HAS DROPPED NEWMAN”S OWN ORGANIC COFFEE .Now after 25 years of selling specialty coffee (I now own a window cleaning company), I have developed a knack for knowing quality.
Getting a cup of Newman’s Own Organic Coffee was THE main reason for me going to McDonald’s rather than Starbucks. Recently I went through my routine of stopping at McDonald’s for breakfast (the only meal I eat there). I typically get scrambled eggs, a breakfast burrito and a medium black coffee. My crew comes with me.
Driving down the road I told one of my employees that the coffee wasn’t right. Not burnt, but weak, less complexity and of lower quality. The next day I did the same and it dawned on me after the first sip: Is it possible that they have dropped Newman’s Own Coffee?”. This morning when stopped in again, and asked a young counterperson if it were true, my suspicions were confirmed.
She proceeded to rattle off McDonald’s rote jargon that they fed her about, “…well, it’s still an Arabica coffee of the highest quality”. Okay lady, I get it.
It’s over. And I instantly knew that I had little reason to go to McDonalds any more nor will my crew whom I drive.
Just like this dude, I’ve stopped getting my coffee at McDonald’s.
