If you haven’t heard, this summer McDonald’s expanded its beverage portfolio with a national launch of McCafe Iced Frappes. On Wednesday, we hit the Rooftop Lounge at Thompson Toronto for a few post-work cocktails, a photo-worthy sunset (despite the call for showers) and to try the Iced Frappes for ourselves.
Hosted by Canada’s beloved gossip columnist and on-air etalk correspondent, Lainey Lui, the launch event featured a civilized set of frappe sipping, easy-on-the-eyes guests who got to try both the Coffee Iced Frappe and the Vanilla Chai Iced Frappe.
Our thoughts? We kind of loved them and couldn’t quite decide which of the two was a better choice. The Coffee Iced Frappe offers a perfect balance of coffee flavour and is sweet and smooth, blended with ice. The Vanilla Chai flavour brings together the two flavours and also includes cinnamon and nutmeg. Delish.
McCafe launched in 2011, it has been well received by the general public, who were as probably as skeptical as we once were on the quality of the coffee. Since we first tasted the coffee about a year ago, however, we’ve opted for it over the likes of Tim Horton’s.
The McCafe lineup includes premium roast brewed coffee, authentic espresso-based beverages made with freshly ground beans as well as Iced Coffee and Real Fruit Smoothies. The introduction of the Iced Frappe sees McDonald’s enter the blended ice coffee category, which represents an estimated 130 million annual servings and surpasses smoothies and iced coffee servings in the quick service industry.
The Iced Frappes provide a cold pick-me-up during the inevitable McDonald’s weekend road trip stop or for a convenient (and affordable) mid-day boost at the office. The beverages start at a refreshing price of $1.69 plus tax for a snack size. Over 1,000 restaurants across Canada carry McCafe offerings.
