In the oxymoron category

[patgund]

Much like "Jumbo Shrimp", comes "Gourmet McDonalds"

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7721994.htm

Comments

[silkensteel.livejournal.com]

"'I'm thrilled just to have good coffee,' said Traci Miller, 36, of Cherry Hill, who sat in the play area of the Marlton McDonald's with her two toddlers yesterday."

From Bucks County Coffee Co? Their brewed UNFLAVORED coffee isn't bad. Their espresso drinks... well, why did my latte taste like someone used flavored coffee in the grinder?

On the other hand, good coffee from McDonalds is...

"Bucks County Coffee provides five coffee drinks made on a fully automated Acorto espresso machine."

And Starbucks is gradually switching over all stores to the Verrissimo automatic espresso...um...generators.

There's one good thing I can say about the automatic espresso dispensers - it leaves a nice niche for those of us who want to open our own little cafe. You can _kinda_ do ristretto shots on an auto by hitting the "interrupt flow" button. You can't vary the tamp from one customer to the next, and if you have any customers (we do) who like their shots run LOOOONG, they have to be content with double ristretto. No specifying the times like Mr. "40 second black eye toss in any extra shots you haven't used in the last 10 minutes no room for cream" (who I might add tips us very well.) Each shot is the same as every other shot, each shot runs the same amount of time, you can't really vary or pace the speed at which you run the shots because of... something inside the machine, I'm not sure.

I'll shut up now. :)