Posted on 2/5/2007, 4:03:46 PM by grundle
McDonald's Corp.'s coffee tastes better and costs less than brew from Starbucks Corp., Burger King Holdings Inc. and Dunkin' Donuts Inc., Consumer Reports magazine said.
"We compared the rivals with Starbucks, all in basic black - no flavors, milk, or sugar - and you know what? McDonald's beat the rest," Consumer Reports said in its March issue.
McDonald's Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner introduced coffee made from 100 percent Arabica beans, the kind used at Starbucks, a year ago. The move helped drive 2006 sales up 9 percent, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said last month.
"I noticed the coffee is more consistently good-tasting than it was in the past," said Bob Hooper, a 74-year-old retiree having coffee with two golfing partners at a McDonald's in Greensboro, N.C.
Consumer Reports' "trained tasters" visited two stores of each company, the magazine said. McDonald's coffee was "decent and moderately strong," while Starbucks was "strong, but burnt and bitter enough to make your eyes water," the magazine said.
Starbucks roasts its Arabica coffee beans to "maximize the characteristics of each bean" on aroma, acidity, body and flavor, said spokeswoman Sanja Gould. The company's roasting methods haven't changed since its inception in 1971, Gould said.
McDonald's 31 percent increase in stock values last year outpaced Starbucks' 18 percent gain.
The Consumer Reports test found McDonald's coffee for $1.35, Burger King for $1.40, Dunkin' Donuts for $1.65 and Starbucks for $1.55. The magazine said the prices were "an average of what we paid for the closest thing to a medium cup."
The magazine said Dunkin' Donuts brew was "weak, watery and pricier than Starbucks. It was inoffensive, but it had no oomph." Burger King, meanwhile, served a beverage that "looked like coffee, but tasted more like hot water," the magazine said.
Dunkin' Donuts said in an e-mailed statement that it is "proud" of its "freshly ground, freshly brewed and freshly served" coffee. Burger King spokeswoman Edna Johnson didn't immediately respond to a voice-mail message left at her office.
McDonald's introduced the stronger coffee blend in February 2006, about six months later than analysts including UBS Securities LLC's David Palmer in New York had expected.
The company took enough time to make sure its 13,700 U.S. restaurants had the equipment and training to brew the new coffee properly, J.C. Gonzales-Mendez, McDonald's chief supply officer in North America, said in an interview. The company sells 500 million cups of coffee a year.
Starbucks' sales in the year through September gained 22 percent to $7.79 billion. The company reported a 22 percent sales increase in the three months through December. McDonald's had $21.6 billion in sales last year.
Consumer Reports is published by Consumers Union, an organization that independently tests anything from cars and washing machines to mutual funds. Its annual testing budget of about $21 million comes from magazine subscriptions and donations, according to the magazine's Web site.
Well, there goes the price of Senior Coffee at Mickey D's.
I need Consumer Reports to tell me that? Give me something I can use, like automobile or camcorder comparisons. To paraphrase Jackie Chiles, "Coffee isn't hard to get. I can get my own coffee."
You don't buy the coffee at Starbucks. You buy the cup.
Heh.
Impossible. If it costs more, it must be better! /sarcasm
Having had numerous cups from both sources, I think the evaluation is spot on. A 50cent cup of Mickey's is just as good if not better then the overpriced $1.75 from Starbabies.
You haven't tried the coffee I make at home. My coffee sucks.
Charbucks coffee sucks. Burned and bitter is right. The rest of the gay crap they serve is exactly that, gay!
The best coffee drink they offer is a three shot espresso poured straight over ice with some half and half. Sugar optional. Give it a few moments to settle, give it a swirl or three then pound it down in a few gulps.
Your attitude will get a lot better in a hurry.
Starbucks survival and growth thus far has been surprising to me. They are nothing special IMO. Seem more a trend than anything else.
Don't drink the stuff - never have, never will.
That's always been my main complaint about Starbucks, (besides the pretentious names for a cup of coffee) is the burnt flavor.
Me Too. I look at Starbucks as a fad and predict a major collapse once the young group move on to a new fad.
I brew my own coffee. I got it down to an artform.
LOL
Hilarious.
But I wish they would have rated who makes the best triple macchiatto breve' epsresso.
I agree 100%, starbucks does taste burnt to me.
This test was not double blind and is therefore meaningless. I'm not saying which coffee is better - I have no opinion. But with this methodology the outcome is crap.
Not if they add Body Piercing and Tattooing to their stores.
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