By Nigel Ong
With competitors like Starbucks and Dunkin offering options to brew coffee at home, Mcdonald’s also offers McCafe coffees in bags. If McCafe’s coffee is your regular, you can now enjoy them at home.
However, does the Premium Roast coffee in bags taste like the ones they serve in McDonald’s restaurants? I picked up a bag of its Premium Roast and gave it a try myself.
In this post, I will review McCafe’s Premium Roast. I brew the coffee in three ways and then also experiment with the coffee with flavorings such as milk, creamer, and sweeteners.
Finally, I share my verdict on whether it is similar to the restaurant coffee and suggest who will enjoy the coffee most.
About The McCafe Premium Roast
Mcdonald’s started the McCafe brand in 1993 in Australia as a way to offer a more premium experience to its customers. McCafe serves espresso-based coffee and operates like an upscale cafe. The brand soon expanded worldwide in 2002.
As McCafe started getting into intense competition with premium coffee chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin, all three tried to offer bagged coffees as a way to build brand loyalty. McCafe started selling its bagged coffee on grocery shelves beginning in 2015.
Today, McCafe offers a wide range of coffee roasts, such as Premium Roast, Breakfast Blend, Colombian, and Decaf. Today, we review the Premium Roast, which is one of their most popular roasts.
This blend is made of 100% Arabica beans and then given a medium roast. The result is an aromatic, comfortable, and easy-to-sip coffee that also works well with many flavorings.
The McCafe Premium Roast is certified Kosher by Orthodox Union Kosher and is 100% sustainability sourced.
The coffee bag has simple instructions and assumes you are brewing with a regular drip machine. Without any clear instructions, I will brew the coffee according to the usual way I brew instead.
How Does The McCafe Premium Roast Taste?
I decided to brew the coffee in three ways to better sample the taste:
French Press: French Press allows me to drink the coffee in a more ‘dirty’ way, where I get to sample the coffee with all its oils and particles.
Pour Over With Filter Paper: This best simulates the regular coffee brewer most of us have at home. Plus, the filter paper helps to filter away coffee particles and some coffee oils, allowing me to sample a ‘cleaner’ version of the coffee.
Espresso: You generally do not make espresso with medium roasts. However, I’ll make one to sample the coffee’s flavor in a more concentrated form.
First Impressions
When I opened the coffee bag, I was greeted with a mild aroma of coffee. It is not as strong as Starbucks’s Pike Place Blend but is quite inviting.
I took a deeper sniff, and the smell of coffee had an earthy, slight cocoa-like aroma. I also do not detect much smoke in the aroma, a tell-tale sign that this coffee should not be too smoky.
French Press
I pulled out my trusty Bodum Caffettiera French press and brewed a 2-cup batch. I used the 1:12 coffee-to-water ratio recommended by Illy Coffee.
I added 15 grams of coffee, and 180ml of hot water, at around 185°F (about 85°C). I let the concoction brew away for 4 minutes before pouring a cup and sampling.
Unlike the Starbucks Pike Place Blend, which smashes my palate with smoke, the McCafe Premium Roast does not do that. There was some smoke, but they were less intense. This is surprising, considering both are also medium roasts.
The coffee is smooth and has a good texture. It glides easily in the mouth and does not make you want to swallow it quickly. I also noticed a little sourness, perhaps indicating that this roast is a bit acidic.
As I continue to sip, and also draw some air in to release the fragrance of the coffee. I detected some cocoa-like flavor, although very mild. The coffee also has a clean finish, meaning after I swallow it, my palate feels clean, and I am not in a rush for another sip.
I also found myself craving a savory sandwich with this coffee, perhaps something with lots of cheese and some tang. A Filet-O-Fish, perhaps?
Pour Over With Filter Paper
After washing my palate with some carbonated water, I started brewing another batch, but this time, with a pour-over set. I use my IKEA Overt Pour Over Set and the IKEA RIklig tea/coffee pot here.
I use the pour-over brewing method from Starbucks. I added 10 grams of ground coffee and slowly poured 180ml of water. I only focused on wetting and blooming the coffee grinds first before slowly adding more water to brew the coffee.
The initial filtering work reveals that the coffee does look a little cleaner. The filtered coffee looks slightly lighter in color, and the sedimentation on the bottom of the cup is also less.
Taste-wise, the coffee does feel a little cleaner and lighter. The coffee glides in the mouth with more airiness and lightness, perhaps due to less oil and particles. There is also less smoky taste.
As I sip a few more, I notice some floral notes, although not very strong. Perhaps the less smoky taste helps release some of the finer flavors in the coffee.
Espresso
I wanted to explore how this coffee would taste as an espresso, so I grabbed my Wacaco Minipresso GR and pulled a shot. The coffee ground is a little coarse, so I first ground it down to a finer consistency.
The result is a great espresso with rich, thick crema. When I smell the crema, it is lighter, without the charred, smoky smell most dark roast espresso has.
I took a sip and noticed the lightness of the drink. This is one espresso you would gladly sip instead of gulping down.
The espresso has some caramel-like bittersweet tastes, which should be quite refreshing. I found myself chasing the bittersweetness by taking additional sips.
What Flavoring Works Best With McCafe Premium Roast?
I understand not all like to enjoy their coffee black, so I pulled out some of my regular flavorings to experiment with the McCafe Premium Roast.
Milk
I started with some whole fresh cow’s milk, UHT. The milk mellows a further mellow coffee, making it even nicer to drink.
The smoke is reduced to a minimum, while the fat content from the milk turns the coffee creamier and smoother. The coffee also has some sweetness, perhaps from the lactose in the milk. The milk also takes away the slightly acidic taste of the coffee.
Creamer
I added two sticks of Coffee Mate creamer into the fresh McCafe Premium Roast cup, French pressed. The results? Not really to my liking.
I think the creaminess is a little too overwhelming. Coffee Mate usually adds more creaminess and may not work well with milder-tasting coffee. The McCafe Premium Roast is mild and does not need that much creaminess.
I adjusted by adding only one stick, and the coffee tasted better. However, the color may not look inviting. I think milk may be better for the McCafe Premium Roast coffee.
Sweetener
I tried the coffee with a single sugar stick and found it nice. Since the coffee is mild and not edgy in taste, sugars blend better with it. The sweetness helps to smoothen the coffee more.
I added two drops of Equal artificial sweetener into another cup to experiment with more. Similar to sugar, Equal helps to make the coffee smoother and easier to sip.
I generally do not enjoy my coffee with sweeteners. Still, I am surprised how sweeteners made this coffee taste quite nice. I also wanted something fatty to go along with the sweet coffee. Some cream puffs, maybe?
McCafe Premium Roast vs Restaurant McCafe
I thought I’ll take the experiment further and ordered a cup of McCafe Americano delivered to me. Since the coffee made me crave a savory sandwich, I ordered a cheeky Filet-O-Fish too.
I made it a point to brew my own Americano. I brewed out a shot of espresso and then added double the amount of hot water on top. Mcdonald’s also offers the Premium Roast on drip too, which we reviewed here.
The restaurant coffee seemed to taste lighter than my brew initially. Still, after I warmed it up in the microwave, the coffee tasted about the same to me. In fact, I think these are the same coffee.
However, since I am in Singapore, the McCafe coffee they serve here may be different from the ones served in the US. My comparison may not be completely accurate.
But one thing for sure though, the coffee made me devour my Filet-O-Fish real quick.
McCafe Premium Roast vs Regular Coffee
The McCafe Premium Roast is a mild, easy-to-sip coffee. I think the blend was made to satisfy as many palates as possible, regardless if you drink coffee regularly or not.
The coffee also feels honest, as in it is not too smoky. I like to think that when the coffee roast is too smoky, the roaster may be trying to hide some weakness in the beans.
While regular gas station or convenience store coffee can help you taste coffee bitterness, McCafe’s Premium Roast can satisfy your desire for a great coffee experience. It definitely has more depth and should give you more satisfying sips.
Despite being a mass-market coffee, it will also beat out many instant coffee, even premium ones. I think only the Illy Clasico roast can come a little closer to the McCafe Premium Roast. Still, no instant coffee can beat a decent brewed coffee.
Who Will Enjoy McCafe Premium Roast Most?
The McCafe Premium Roast does not have an edgy or unique flavor, which means it will not be able to compete with premium, gourmet roasts. However, this is not the market the blend is going for.
Instead, this is the mass-market coffee that should satisfy a lot of palates. Casual coffee drinkers will appreciate its light, less smoky flavor. It also works well with many flavorings, which makes it very versatile.
At the same time, the coffee tastes much better than your regular instant coffee. For many of these regular coffee drinkers, drinking the McCafe Premium Roast will probably feel like an upgrade.
This can be a regular comfort coffee for gourmet drinkers to sip on busy workdays. It is of decent quality that will not make gourmet drinkers spit them out.
It also made me want to eat something as I sipped it. I have a savory tooth, which makes me want something like that. However, I can see you enjoy this coffee with a slice of cake or creamy donuts.
I would consider this coffee a good option for new coffee drinkers too. It is light, easy, and inoffensive. It is also not too smoky, which may turn some drinkers off.