Flavors of McCafe Coffee – Names and Options at McDonalds

For starters, the most common blend you will find is the Premium Roast from McCafe. This medium roast is often served inside McDonald’s restaurants. Unlike Starbucks, where you can specify the type of roast you want, McDonald’s serves the one kind as their coffee on the menu – at least I have not seen a McDonald’s that offers a choice of roast when you order a regular coffee. All of the roasts are from 100% Arabica beans. The Colombian roast uses Colombian beans. The origin of the Arabica coffee beans, as stated on the coffee can: …’from locations in the mountainous regions of Central and South America’.

The available coffee blends of McCafe include: Premium Roast, Colombian, French Roast, and Breakfast Blend. The hard to find roast is the Espresso Roast. I’ve seen the Espresso Roast for sale on Amazon, but not in grocery stores. The primary blend I have seen in grocery stores is the Premium Roast, as ground coffee. Breakfast Blend and French Roast have been available in stores like Walmart. The Espresso Roast borders on fictional, as far as being available in grocery stores. Just not enough shelf space for all of the McCafe varieties.

What kind of coffee does McDonald’s use in their McCafe coffee?

List of McCafe Coffee ‘flavors’ you can buy and make at home:

McCafé Breakfast Blend
McCafé Colombian
McCafé French Roast, similar to the Folgers Black Silk Coffee
McCafé French Roast Dark Ground
McCafé French Vanilla (flavored)
McCafé Premium Roast
McCafé Hazelnut (flavored)
McCafé Espresso Roast

Breakfast Blend – Colombian Blend – Espresso Roast – French Vanilla – Hazelnut – Premium Roast

Quick History of McCafe:

McCafe coffee became available in the US 2009, but the first McCafe existed in 2007 in Bulgaria. In 2010 McDonald’s started to redesign the interior of some restaurants to have a more ‘coffee shop’ look, without the standard McDonald’s colors, such as the ‘golden arches’. I photographed one of the early redesigns in the Sarasota area of Florida:

The color theme in the upscale McDonald’s consisted of silver and brown (wood). Much fancier than the kid-friendly Ronald McDonald color theme. The standard colors of red and yellow would still be seen on the food products you ordered in the new restaurant design, just not on the coffee cups – these had the brown and white color theme. Of course Christmas designs have different colors on the coffee cups.

I managed to get a photo of Ronald McDonald himself, while I was drinking a McCafe coffee. Not only did I get a photo of the moment, I even had Ronald waving at me as I took the photo:

McDonald’s did not offer the coffee grounds, or beans, in grocery stores until 2014. Shortly after, you could find the McCafe in Keurig K-Cups. The whole beans and ground coffee were widely available at first, in standard coffee bags. Grocery stores, in 2020, have the McCafe in small 12oz and large 30oz coffee cans, in the ground coffee format. Whole bean McCafe can be hard to find.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCaf%C3%A9
http://www.mcdonalds.com/mccafe

McCafe Premium Roast Coffee Facts and Information:

100% Arabica Coffee
Distributed by Kraft – Heinz Foods, Chicago, IL 60601
The best-before date tends to be about a 1-year length – the can I bought in March 2020 has a best-before date of Feb 2021.
To brew: use 1 heaping teaspoon of coffee grounds to make a 6oz cup of coffee. I know, who drinks 6oz of coffee?
The large can of Premium Roast is 30oz, or 1lb 14oz.

The Color Theme, and HEX data for McCafe Coffee*

Hazelnut – Tan #D19f62
Colombian – Blue #32a6cb
French Roast – Purple #4953b5
Premium Roast – Red #ea173a
Breakfast Blend -Yellow #ffbc0d
Espresso – Off-White #f4f3f3
*approximately

The McDonald’s menu* has quite a few varieties of coffee drinks. Aside from the standard coffee you can get one, or more, of the following coffee drinks:

Premium Roast Coffee
Caramel Macchiato
Cappuccino
Caramel Cappuccino
French Vanilla Cappuccino
Mocha
Caramel Mocha
Latte
Caramel Latte
French Vanilla Latte
Americano
* as of 2020

Iced coffee varieties also exist, including the Frappe. Most of the same drinks you can get as hot drinks, you can also get as cold drinks.

The current (2020) mobile app allows you to get a free McCafe drink when you buy 5 McCafe drinks. Not required to get the 5 drinks all at once. It works like a digital punch card. The program is called McCafe Rewards. Looks like it ends September 2020.

Ground coffee bags – 12oz
Whole Bean – 10.58oz (Espresso)

The types of coffee grown in South America:

Brazil – Bourbon Santos coffee beans, Arabica and Robusta.
Colombia – Highest quality ‘supremo’.
Venezuela – Carcas from coastal mountains.
Peru – famous for organic coffee.
Ecuador – Most of the coffee grown here, is also consumed here.
Source:
https://www.tripsavvy.com

The McCafe coffee is, as stated, 100% Arabica beans. The coffee bean origin is Central and South America. The ground coffee is great when it is fresh, and even better when you can grind your own McCafe beans at home.