{"id":4891,"date":"2003-12-12T18:51:39","date_gmt":"2003-12-13T02:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/blog\/2003\/12\/12\/4891\/"},"modified":"2003-12-12T18:51:39","modified_gmt":"2003-12-13T02:51:39","slug":"mccafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/?p=4891","title":{"rendered":"McCafe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I remember in 1995  (1994?  somewhere around there) I joked that there should be a McSpresso.  After an abortive test in the Chicago area in 2001, McCaf&eacute; has made a landing (two landings) in the Silicon<br \/>\n Valley.<\/p>\n<p \/>\nThey seem to be pitched at people intimidated by Starbucks.  Seriously.<\/p>\n<p \/>\nWhen grabbing <i>chashu bau<\/i> from Hong Kong Bakery in Mountain View, we saw these two young guys dressed like Mormons handing out flyers.  One of them had a huge tank strapped to his back which made him look like a supervillain.  He dispensed coffee from a hose that ran along his arm&#8230;  They were very cool, and we did some guerilla counter-meta-marketing by convincing them they needed pork buns for lunch.  We got pamphlets and coupons for free coffee.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n  Anyway&#8230; went to McCaf&eacute; today.  It&#8217;s a McD&#8217;s with half of the space converted into a cafe, with a second counter just for coffee and espresso drinks, and cakes and sweets.  They do have real dishes for &#8220;for here&#8221; orders, which is nice&#8230; this particular installation didn&#8217;t have much in the way of comfy chairs though.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The coffee was pretty good.  The &#8220;medium&#8221; is about 10 ounces.  The coffee is not as strong as Starbucks, and obviously nowhere near as full of drugs as Peet&#8217;s&#8230; so yeah, it is less threatening certainly.  There aren&#8217;t any flavorings that I could see, and the menu is very simple.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>I bantered with an older lady who was pounding some chocolate cake and apparently feeling a little guilty about it&#8230; there were a lot of old people there trying out the new restaurant.  Early adopters!  Everyone was friendly from being full of drugs and being at a palce they felt they knew, McDonald&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p \/>\nThe day had kind of a dot-com feel to it&#8230; new toys, free stuff, and caffeine.  Yay!<\/p>\n<p \/>\nAnd of course there is WiFi at McCaf&eacute;.  Haven&#8217;t tried it yet&#8230; although I have to admit that now the prospect of having &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wayport.com\/\">Wayport<\/a>&#8221; internet in McD&#8217;s is a lot less silly than it was before.  Wifi in McD&#8217;s, silly.  Wifi in McCaf&eacute;, less silly.  Who knew?  They are tricky, those guys at McD&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p \/>\nBecause I am a psychotic, and McCaf&eacute; has no online presence as of yet, I&#8217;ve typed in the entire suite of marketing materials, minus the menu portion:<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The mailer:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"title\">McCaf&eacute;<\/h3>\n<p>Sit back in a comfy chair with a great cup of specialty coffee you actually ordered in three words or less<\/p>\n<p \/>\nThis easygoing experience is all about you, whether you stop awhile or get yours to go<\/p>\n<p \/>\nSo stop rushing and start Relaxing.  Come in to McCaf&eacute;.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p \/>\n<p>The pamphlet:<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<blockquote><p>\nfinally, a coffeehouse without a superiority complex<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Welcome<\/h3>\n<p>At last, a relaxing, friendly place for delicious specialty coffee.  The more comfortable we can make your experience at McCaf&eacute;, the better.  The only thing you do is decide which coffee drink you want.  Then sit back and enjoy.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">User-friendly baristas<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Barista&#8221; is just another name for the friendly person behind the counter ready to take your order.  Baristas make the espresso drinks, too.  If you have questions, ask!  They&#8217;ll be happy to offer questions so you get exactly the coffee drink you want.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Rich, delicious cofffee<\/h3>\n<p>The McCaf&eacute; espresso is full-bodied, slightly woody, smooth, rich, and light with a vibrant character.  The bean make-up is an Arabic bean that delivers the taste profile.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n[Menu]\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p \/>\n<p>Back of pamphlet:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"title\">McCaf&eacute;<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Have a delicious day at McCaf&eacute;<\/h3>\n<p \/>\nWhat makes a rich cup of coffee taste even better?  Something delicious on the side.  You&#8217;ll find an incredible variety of muffins, cakes, cookies, sweet treats, and gourmet sandwiches at McCaf&eacute;.  Fresh every day, we&#8217;ve always got something new that&#8217;s sure to tempt you.<\/p>\n<p \/>\nRead on for a small sample of the wonderful things you&#8217;ll McCaf&eacute;.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Muffins &#038; Treats<\/h3>\n<p \/>\nAt McCaf&eacute;, you&#8217;ll find just the taste you were craving.  Try a <i>Dulce de Leche Muffin<\/i> exuding a tempting combination of sweet cream and caramel flavors for an out of the ordinary taste treat.  Or an irresistable <i>Cinnamon Dream Roll<\/i> with a generous topping of cream cheese frosting.  Let chocolate infused with espresso flavor melt in your mouth with an <i>Espresso Brownie<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Cakes<\/h3>\n<p>McCaf&eacute; is a cake lover&#8217;s paradise.  Sample that incredible incredible mouthful of chocolate pudding tucked between two layers of moist, dark chocolate cake, and you&#8217;ll know it&#8217;s true.  Or try <i>Apple Caramel Cake<\/i>, moist sponge cake layered with tart apples, creamy caramel apple grammies, and walnuts.  A <i>Mocha Cheesecake<\/i>, delicious swirled coffee and mocha flavors on a chocolate crust, is perfect for cheesecake fans.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Cookies<\/h3>\n<p>Everybody loves a good cookie.  At McCaf&eacute;, you&#8217;ll find just the one you wanted whether it&#8217;s a wonderful, cinnamon and gingery sweet classic <i>Oatmeal Raisin Cookie<\/i> or a classic <i>Chocolate Chip Cookie<\/i> that&#8217;s big, thick, and chunky, loaded with rich chocolate chips in every bite.  <i>Crisp Italians Biscotti<\/i> offer the the perfect combination of taste and texture in Traditional and Decadent dipped in chocolate flavors.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<h3 class=\"title\">Gourmet Sandwiches<\/h3>\n<p>Delicious gourmet sandwiches use fresh ingredients to create amazing, unexpected taste combinations like <i>Turkey with Roasted Red Pepper &#038; Gorgonzola on Tomato Focaccia<\/i>.  Or try a <i>Smoked Chicken Salad Spinach Wrap<\/i> with premium lettuce blnd &#038; sliced tomato.  And <i>Smoked Ham &#038; Swiss on Rosemary Panini<\/i> with spring mix, sliced tomato &#038; Swiss cheese sauce is sure to please!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><i>Went to McCaf&eacute; today.  It&#8217;s a McD&#8217;s with half of the space converted into a cafe.  The coffee was pretty good. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember in 1995 (1994? somewhere around there) I joked that there should be a McSpresso. After an abortive test in the Chicago area in 2001, McCaf&eacute; has made a landing (two landings) in the Silicon Valley. They seem to be pitched at people intimidated by Starbucks. Seriously. When grabbing chashu bau from Hong Kong [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-looky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ikillspies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}