I've been eying McCafe's mango yoghurt muffin for a while, so when they offered a new seasonal drink that piqued my interest, I decided to order a set. It's relatively affordable, just S$6.40 for a cafe standard drink and muffin, whereas that would have been the price of the drink itself at other cafes. But, I won't call this value yet, because as I'll explain, the trade-off for the money you save is a dip in the quality of the food/drink (not to mention ambience). Still, I guess value-wise it's about the same as a Starbucks-standard cafe.
The drink was soy roasted almond latte. From the creamy colour in the promotional image on the left, taken from the McCafe website, I had high hopes for it. But as you can see, the actual drink was plain white... or slightly off-white. Certainly not any shade of brown.
I know they usually qualify such images with "for illustration purposes only", but I still think it's a bit misleading and cheating... having it so brown gives one impressions about what kinds of ingredients you put into it.
Anyway, the taste was as disappointing as the colour... Firstly, I could hardly taste any soy in it. In fact, I am really wondering if the barista made a mistake and forgot to use soy milk. As far as I can tell, it tasted like normal milk.
As for the almond flavour, well, I'll give it to them that the roasted aspect of the flavour was quite distinct, which I've not experienced in a drink before. So I'm glad I tried it. However, the flavour was very weak to begin with.
Also, the drink was far too sweet in my opinion, especially for its lack of flavour. Assuming they used a syrup to flavour it, it's probably a fundamental problem with the syrup - too much sugar and too little flavour.
Overall, I felt like it was worth trying just one mouthful for the experience, but the rest of it just wasn't worth the calories I gained nor the insulin I expended.
Next, the mango yoghurt muffin. This was an improvement, but still not up to par.
First, the good points. I love the presentation... the drop of mango sauce on top is quite inviting. In particular, I was impressed with the wrapper - it came off so easily as you can see in the picture below. Unlike normal muffin cups which make you dirty your hands, tear off chunks of the muffin and leave a mess, the one below practically slid off the muffin with such ease. It had these corners that stuck out, acting as tabs which allow you to pull the cup apart... and they even make the muffin look good, like it's wrapped in an origami flower. What's more, it's so elegant because it's such a simple concept - it's just a square piece of grease-coated paper folded in a particular way. A really innovative and nifty trick indeed, cheap enough that other cafes shouldn't have a problem following suit.
I also loved that there was a strong mango yoghurt flavour that permeated the muffin, even the parts without mango bits in them. It was like a very milky mango pudding flavour.
What's also pleasant is that they used real bits of dried mango in it, as the darker blur spots in the picture below show. Plus, they filled the bottom core part of the muffin with more of that mango yoghurt sauce that they topped the muffin with, making for a varied experience inside the muffin as well, both in terms of taste and texture.
My complaint is that the muffin was a bit dried out - a rather serious flaw in pastries like these. Furthermore, although there are these whitish crumb-like bits on the muffin top, they are deceiving in that they are not crispy or crunchy at all... Judging from how they look, they were probably supposed to be crunchy bits, a little like apple crumble bits, as many muffins use them to enhance the texture. But in this case, their purpose was purely aesthetic... and in that sense, I felt a bit cheated again because visually, the muffin promised some crunch in the experience, but didn't deliver.
Overall, I would say both the soy roasted almond latte and the mango yoghurt muffin were awesome concepts indeed, but failed to deliver due to poor execution. If they could correct the syrup and use proper soy milk which has more soy flavour for the latte, and if they could cover the muffins to prevent them drying out (e.g. just put some out for display, but serve those stored in the container), then toast them a bit for the top to regain its crunch, I think they would be truly awesome snacks!
I guess for an organisation like McDonald's, which should excel at operations, these points shouldn't pose a huge problem. Usually, such large organisations have a problem with creativity and art I think. In these cases, the problem was the opposite. So I hope they keep up the innovation, and manage to get the execution of it up to par.
I know they usually qualify such images with "for illustration purposes only", but I still think it's a bit misleading and cheating... having it so brown gives one impressions about what kinds of ingredients you put into it.
As for the almond flavour, well, I'll give it to them that the roasted aspect of the flavour was quite distinct, which I've not experienced in a drink before. So I'm glad I tried it. However, the flavour was very weak to begin with.
Also, the drink was far too sweet in my opinion, especially for its lack of flavour. Assuming they used a syrup to flavour it, it's probably a fundamental problem with the syrup - too much sugar and too little flavour.
Overall, I felt like it was worth trying just one mouthful for the experience, but the rest of it just wasn't worth the calories I gained nor the insulin I expended.
Found this drink interesting? Check out more unusual drinks here!
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Next, the mango yoghurt muffin. This was an improvement, but still not up to par.
First, the good points. I love the presentation... the drop of mango sauce on top is quite inviting. In particular, I was impressed with the wrapper - it came off so easily as you can see in the picture below. Unlike normal muffin cups which make you dirty your hands, tear off chunks of the muffin and leave a mess, the one below practically slid off the muffin with such ease. It had these corners that stuck out, acting as tabs which allow you to pull the cup apart... and they even make the muffin look good, like it's wrapped in an origami flower. What's more, it's so elegant because it's such a simple concept - it's just a square piece of grease-coated paper folded in a particular way. A really innovative and nifty trick indeed, cheap enough that other cafes shouldn't have a problem following suit.
I also loved that there was a strong mango yoghurt flavour that permeated the muffin, even the parts without mango bits in them. It was like a very milky mango pudding flavour.
Overall, I would say both the soy roasted almond latte and the mango yoghurt muffin were awesome concepts indeed, but failed to deliver due to poor execution. If they could correct the syrup and use proper soy milk which has more soy flavour for the latte, and if they could cover the muffins to prevent them drying out (e.g. just put some out for display, but serve those stored in the container), then toast them a bit for the top to regain its crunch, I think they would be truly awesome snacks!
I guess for an organisation like McDonald's, which should excel at operations, these points shouldn't pose a huge problem. Usually, such large organisations have a problem with creativity and art I think. In these cases, the problem was the opposite. So I hope they keep up the innovation, and manage to get the execution of it up to par.
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