As a coffee drinker, there are a few universal truths and one of those truths is that McDonald’s has damn good coffee for a fast food restaurant.
I’ve always wondered why their coffee is so much better than similar fast food places, or even the gas station coffee.
Well, it all comes down to the coffee that they use in every McDonald’s location.
Keep reading and I’ll share everything I’ve learned researching McDonald’s coffee.
Why Does McDonald’s Coffee Taste So Good?
Let’s face it – McDonald’s coffee tastes pretty good when you order it.
And I’m talking about just their plain coffee, not even the tasty McCafe espresso coffee drinks.
One clue as to why McDonald’s coffee tastes so damn good is that they use 100% Arabica beans.
In case you don’t know, Arabica beans give you a smooth tasting coffee compared to the less smooth tasting Robusta beans.
So, they’re starting out with super high quality coffee beans.
In addition to that, each McDonald’s location is supposed to make fresh coffee every 30 minutes.
Every 30 minutes.
That means you never really get stale coffee from McDonald’s (unless you’re at a location with a lazy employee).
What Brand Of Coffee Does McDonald’s Use?
As you may expect, McDonald’s sources their own coffee from well-known brands.
The brand you may recognize include:
- Green Mountain Coffee
- Newman’s Own Coffee
- Gaviña Gourmet Coffee (based out of California)
- Seattle’s Best Coffee
Since 1983, the main coffee brand supplying McDonald’s locations is Gaviña.
In fact, Gaviña actually created the Premium Roast blend that is McDonald’s signature drip coffee.
In Spain, McDonald’s serves coffee from Segafredo Zanetti.
In New Zealand, McDonald’s serves coffee from Goodman Fielder and Fonterra.
Since we’re focused on drip coffee for this article, I can tell you that the coffee McDonald’s uses does come pre-ground for their use.
It’s only the McCafe espresso drinks that McDonald’s get whole beans for instead of pre-ground.
Can You Buy McDonald’s Coffee Beans?
Yes, you can buy McDonald’s coffee to make at home!
For drip coffee drinkers, you can buy McDonalds McCafe Premium Roast Ground Coffee at Amazon.
For Keurig coffee drinkers, you can buy McDonald’s McCafe Premium Medium Roast K-Cup Coffee Pods at Amazon (as well as other roasts).
You can also buy McDonald’s McCafé Premium Medium Roast Ground Coffee in a canister at Amazon.
There’s actually an entire McCafe store on Amazon, which you can access from any of the links above.
The roasts that you can buy to enjoy McCafé at Home are currently:
- Premium roast
- Breakfast blend
- Decaf premium roast
- Columbian
- French roast
- French vanilla
- Mocha (Chocolate Mocha, Cinnamon Mocha, and Salted Caramel Mocha)
In addition to Amazon, the following places sell McDonald’s coffee for brewing at home:
- Keurig.com
- Dollar General
- Walgreens
- Publix
- Food Lion
- Walmart
- Meijer
- Target
- Instacart
- Sam’s Club
- Kroger
- BJ’s
- CVS
How Much Caffeine Does McDonald’s Coffee Have?
Since this article is all about regular coffee, I don’t have the caffeine stats for the line of McCafe drinks.
But if a regular old cup of joe is your standard order at Mickey D’s, then here’s what you should know about that caffeine content.
One 16 oz. McDonald’s coffee has 145mg of caffeine.
Curious how that compares to the same size coffee at Starbucks?
A grande Starbucks coffee has a whopping 330 mg of caffeine.
FAQs About McDonald’s Coffee
Here are the answers to a few more common questions about the coffee at McDonalds.
What kind of creamer does McDonald’s use for coffee?
Unfortunately, McDonald’s does not share the brand or dairy farm where they source their coffee creamer.
If you enjoy the rich flavor of their coffee creamer, then you should know that is due to it being 6% fat.
Here are the ingredients for it:
- Milk
- Cream
- Sodium Phosphate
- DATEM
- Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate
- Sodium Citrate
- Carrageenan
Does McDonald’s still give free cups of coffee to senior citizens?
Growing up, this was a staple at my local small town McDonald’s, but these days the availability of free coffee for seniors tends to vary by McDonald’s location.
So, yes, some locations do offer free coffee to seniors, but not all locations do.
However, if there is no free coffee for seniors at your local McDonald’s, then you should still be able to get a senior discount.
Final Word
As you can see, there is a good reason for McDonald’s coffee tasting so good – they use high quality coffee beans from well-known coffee brands around the world.
And, a cup of coffee at McDonald’s won’t hit you the the huge amount of caffeine that you get from a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
For those of you who want to bring the McDonald’s coffee experience home with you, you can buy McDonalds ground coffee to make at home whenever you like.