McDonald’s has erected a billboard in sight of Starbucks headquarters declaring, “four bucks is dumb.” If Dunkin’ Donuts’ taste test commercials were the schoolyard equivalent of blowing spitballs at the coffee giant from afar, then the latest from McDonald’s is like pulling a wedgie. Starbucks employees driving northbound can see the billboard on their way into the city.
Another billboard slogan jabs, “large is the new grande.” The two phrases are displayed on 140 billboards in Western Washington, some of them near Starbucks cafes.
“The billboard placement was done because we picked high visibility locations,” said Alan Finkelstein, who owns four McDonald’s in King County. “We really wanted to point out that ordering an espresso at McDonald’s is quick and simple. Small, medium and large. It’s easy.”
While the coffee wars received much media and Wall Street trumpeting this year, Starbucks has been mostly silent, maintaining that its customer base is different.
Starbucks could fire back that not all of its coffee costs four bucks, or that extra cents help pay for health care for baristas. (A 12-ounce cup of brew starts at $1.40 at Starbucks, a penny more than the average McDonald’s brew price. A small McDonald’s latte costs $1.99 compared with $2.45 to $3.15 at Starbucks.) Instead, it is fighting back in a more subtle way. Executives have hinted that Starbucks is taking the high road. “We’re not going to get into that conversation. We’re not going to get sucked into the, ‘My coffee is better than your coffee,’ price point type of coffee conversation. We’re going to play at a much higher level.”
I never understood the pretentiousness of Starbucks. And yeah, 4 bucks is dumb.
I never understood why anyone would buy MacDonald’s coffee. It tastes like crap and is usually too hot. (you burn both your hand and lips)
So Starbucks is more expensive. I’ve had Starbucks exactly once, while stuck in an airport. But I would still rather pay a little extra for decent coffee than pay for crap I’ll dump out.
Canadians have their Tim Horton’s. That is one of the best reasons to visit Canada.
I never understood how anyone thinks that the burnt coffee sold at Starbucks is worth 50 cents, much less four dollars.
McDonald’s used to have good American coffee. Fresh, caffeinated, medium roast, that can be drunk properly, that is black and without sugar. Oh, and it was cheap.
I guess they still do. But in addition, they have jumped on the bandwagon of crude oil like coffee that is unpalatable without turning it into ice cream.
The only problem I ever had with McDonald’s coffee is, don’t laugh..too hot. But I find that with nearly everyplace that serves coffee. Burns my mouth (literally, I can get blisters)if I try to drink it as served. But I concede that most folks seem to like it somewhere near the temperature of the core at Three Mile Island, so I just stir and wait until it is cool enough for me.
As for Starbucks, I’m always reminded of the Kurt Vonnegut Jr. character whose last name was “Stankywiz” (sp?) but changed it to “Starbuck”. Their coffee is indeed stanky, and you can smell the burnt beans as you enter their stores.
Don’t forget that AT&T WIFI is available at nearly every location of both.
I prefer Starbucks since I stay in a given store for hours. The patrons and feel of a Starbucks kills the average Mcdonalds. The newer cafe style Mcdonalds stores are nice though… maybe I’ll give it a shot.
Don’t even start with the price/value proposition. It is a useless religious battle.
Page won’t render unless I post… Please ignore this
For a standard drip coffee — Starbucks wins.
The price isn’t even that different here in the Northwest.
When I was living overseas I hosted an international coffee buyer (not Starbucks) in our home for a few days.
Can you guess what coffee he always wanted? Starbucks.
I asked him about this and he said that Starbucks has so much clout, they buy up all the best beans all over the world. This was a pain in the neck for him professionally but he sure liked their coffee!
As for the “burnt” charge — we in the Northwest call that dark. What you other regions call dark, we call “for whimps.”
There is a reason why the Coffee at MacDonald’s is so hot: If it were less hotter people would stay longer at their fast food joints and start a conversation, thus taking up space from pontential clients. Hotter coffee means that the suckers who bought it will have to take it away.
Mr Fusion said:
“I never understood why anyone would buy MacDonald’s coffee. It tastes like crap and is usually too hot. (you burn both your hand and lips)”
When was the last time you had McDonald’s coffee? By the sound of it, not lately given the too hot comment.
For years I never used to get coffee at McDonald’s because I too thought it was cheap crappy coffee, but one day, about 6-months ago I did and was shocked how good it was, I’ve been getting their coffee ever since.
I should note that although I like McDonald’s coffee, I lost my taste for most of the rest of their food once my acne cleared up.
On the road, an Egg McMuffin is nice once in a while. The original one, on the English Muffin with the Canadian Bacon in it. Unfortunately, they stop serving it after 10 AM or some such nonsense.
I can no longer digest their french fries, so that’s out. About once a year I get a craving for McNuggets with the hot mustard sauce. That’s about it. If I want a burger, I go to In-N-Out where both fries and burgers are far better.
For those that havnt done the numbers..
1lb of coffee=
100-150 Cups..EASY
and if you want it REAL strong…75 CAMP coffee..Which Makes espresso look like CRAP.
At $5 per cup, thats AT LEAST $500 in profits, – MILK/CREAM/PAPER CUP/…
NOW I REALLY, dont think they are buying the $200 per pound coffee. I would think they are buying and ROASTING, $6-10 per pound coffee..
If they are buying DIRECT, unroasted beens…its only about $0.50 per pound..
Roasting and adding FLAVORS, is nothing..
I always order a “medium” in Starbucks instead of “Grande”. It drives them nuts. But they still take my money.
Both do not compare to home roasted coffee.The cheapest green arabica beans fresh roasted are better than any commercial coffee out there.Why?roasted beans start going stale after 1 week.Ground coffee after 1 day.That said I know my drugs and when I need caffeine anything hot black and not obnoxious will do.BTW Macs and Starbucks suck.
My time in the UK lead me to tea instead of coffee. My gripe is you can’t find a decently brewed pot of tea at a public place, just a wimpy tea bag.
>> BigBoyBC said,
>> For years I never used to get coffee at McDonald’s because I too thought it was cheap crappy coffee, but one day, about 6-months ago I did and was shocked how good it was, I’ve been getting their coffee ever since.
IMHO, Starbucks wins. But you can do worse than McDonalds!
And, before Starbucks showed up EVERYWERE, McDonalds was often the best cup of coffee you could get in some overseas locations.
I woudl rather spend the $4 then drink McDonalds coffee. I tried it once, and I tasted french fries. This is why I go to a locally owned coffee house. Cheaper, better coffee, and I know I am helping the economy by purchasing from a local company rather then a conglomerate.
And if you need to ask why I said that last sentence, look it up. Start here. http://is.gd/bcow
I have a European colleague who hates McDonald’s with a passion. That said, he reported to me that he tried (for lack of no other offerings on a recent business trip) the new McDonald’s Espresso coffee and reported that they made a decent cup of Joe for a fair price. Big news from him. Said he would try it again. That said, he is a Euro snob. I never liked the McD coffee before. Starbucks is fine, I always suspected that a real sign that a recession was starting was when Starbucks stopped selling coffee. Guess what, they got into trouble about the same time the US economy took a nose dive.
Starbucks coffee naming and sizes: dumb.
Starbucks coffee: good.
McDonald coffee: terrible.
McDonald coffee naming and sizes: rational.
Now, for the real coffee recipe:
Bring known amount of water to boil in tall vessel, quite larger than amount of the water.
Remove from the heat. Stir in 1 rounded teaspoon of finely ground coffee (finer than for espresso if possible, I use 100+ yrs old hand operated burr grinder attached to the modern electric drill) per 1/8th of the cup of water used. Carefully bring back to boil while stirring, remove from heat when foam rises to the top, let it settle, repeat two more times. Pour in the cup. Do not add other ingredients. Drink and enjoy.
I drink about a keg’s worth of coffee everyday. And I actually prefer McDonalds new coffee over Starbucks. Price is comparative, 2$ for Starbucks grande pike place coffee, $1.59 for a medium McD’s coffee. But I think the McDonalds coffee tastes better. And at least McDonalds doesn’t serve a side of arrogance with their cups of coffee.
I feel like I’ve offended someone when I don’t tip my “barista” at Starbucks. Not to mention the people using the Starbucks as their personal office! I feel like I’m bothering someone’s important business if I laugh to hard.
>> turbo said,
>> And at least McDonalds doesn’t serve a side of arrogance with their cups of coffee.
Are you talking about the staff? Really? I find the Starbucks “baristas” perfectly nice. Despite the name, they are just counter people, like any other.
McD is right…anyone can brew good coffee with decent beans and a good technique, and it’s cheap. All they have to do is convince the crew members to toss out the stuff after 30 minutes.
I certainly have no problem with McD’s getting into the coffee biz, more power to them. Their radio ads irritate the crap out of me, though.
The “I used to do things that were intellectually stimulating, but now that I’m getting my coffee at McDonald’s I can wallow in mediocre voyeurism” just seems to have the wrong emphasis. I suppose they’re attempting to appeal to the masses, but putting such a negative spin on intellectual pursuits really does the people listening to the ads a disservice. Most of the things they are portraying as “uncool” are really quite interesting, they just take a bit of thought to realize how cool they are. The “cool” things, on the other hand, rapidly lose their luster the more you think about them.
I tried some.. it was OK.
but the best is still Peets!
An espresso around here costs 60 to 80 euro cents (but can go up to 1.5 euros on snob places) and you can’t find it in any other form.
It just does not exist. Not in a big cup, and don’t even think paper…
I seriously doubt that statement. Ordering hamburgers and cokes at McDonalds has not been quick or easy for some time. Just figuring out which register is open and where the end of the line is, is nearly impossible.
Dunkin donuts has been selling espresso drinks for a while but good luck getting one during morning rush. The employee will glare at you like you are the biggest frou-frou pain in the as that has ever entered his store.
I am happy to pay $4.00 for my Triple Venti Latte at Starbucks because it is ALWAYS good. It is almost always fast and it is often the only enjoyable part of my day.
Good, this keeps the average coffee consumer out of the lines at my coffee shop. Both Starbucks and locally owned. Starbucks and locally owned places is all about the people and the experience you can have there.
Having some 17 year old (with no mannerism) impose some fries to go with my java while the cars behind me honk in disgust at the wait time is just not how I want to enjoy my coffee.
Let alone having to get the wrong coffee from McDees then having to wait in line AGAIN just to get the right coffee. Only to be serviced again with an “Oh, but you ordered this one. Okay so you want this one now?” response.
As opposed to a Starbucks or locally owned joint you would get a “Oh, did we get you the wrong coffee?! It should not of happened, here take a muffin to go for your trouble and let me know if your drink tastes just right or if I can add anything extra with it”
So this is a GOOD thing. I don’t care if it cost a little bit more, it’s a way to keep a certain flock of sheep away from the flock of sheep I actually care to be around.
Thank you Mcdonalds.
McCullough — I’ll never understand why people like you continue to repeat the lie that ordinary coffee — or a shot of espresso — costs $4 at Starbucks.
Why is it so hard to fact-check?
Depending on the city, a “tall” coffee at Starbucks costs about $1.50 — the same price as a shot of espresso.
actually McDonald Coffee is good now. Up here in New England we always have good coffee from Green Mountain Coffee Co. Now McDonal is also using Green Mountain Coffee which is very good coffee!
All “black” coffee is terrible. I have never been able to drink coffee of any sort straight, save for Dunkin’ Donuts. In fact, I had such a good experience with Dunkin’ Donuts that I decided to give Starbucks a run because I keep hearing about how great it is. Not so.
The lattes Starbucks offers I’ll agree are unbeatable. But the straight coffee at Starbucks is far too bitter. It’s like drinking a cup of pencil erasers.
So really, the only reason I see Starbucks viable is for their lattes, but even then it’s only a matter of time before someone else comes and finds a way to make ones that are just as good and charge half the price.
I’m with you Wretched Gnu.
The COUNTER culture of Starbucks should just really piss their way over to Mcdonalds and enjoy their greased up Tofu with their watered down Latte.
I pay $1.78 for my cup of Joe once or twice a week as I grind and brew my own when I can.
But why not BITCH about the 4 or 5 star restaurants that serve steak, shrimp and or rib eye for $50 and $90? You can get the same at Outback steakhouse for less and without having to feel like you have to dress up for a funeral.
Take your COUNTER culture ideals and throw them in your box of to do lists, because they really are not worth much.
Even the $1.75 for a cup of regular coffee is dumb!! McDonalds coffee is good, and at .75 cents for a senior cup, is a real bargain..
Shit eds70, where do ya live and what do ya do in life to where you can’t afford $1.75 for a cup of joe?
If $1.75 is TOO much for your budget, I don’t really see how .75 is any better.
And please don’t begin to tell me how your VCR still works just fine. Don’t want to hear that story.