Coffee-lovers in America, rejoice. A better brand of brew is coming to you\u2014one that Australians have touted for years as the superior way to enjoy coffee.<\/p>\n
Starting on Tuesday, Starbucks will add flat-white coffee to its US menu, which Melburnian Andrew Demaria describes as having \u201cless foam than a latte\u201d and a smaller cup as it introduces a new term to many Americans\u2019 coffee lexicon: ristretto, comprising \u201cthe first part, about half, of an espresso\u2014the more flavorsome bit of the actual coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Positioned as part of its move to attract more sophisticated coffee-lovers with its high-end Roastery concept, it\u2019s also an admission that Australians make a better cup of joe\u2014as Starbucks Australia (which describes its flat white as \u201cslightly stronger than a latte, with steamed milk\u201d) would no doubt proudly proclaim.<\/p>\n
However, as Quartz notes in an essay on the debate over the origins of the flat white (New Zealanders lay claim to it, too), Starbucks has floundered in Australia, selling its local stores to 7-Eleven\u2019s parent company in the market last year and clearing the way for homegrown brands such and indie cafes to flourish.<\/p>\n
Starbucks\u2019 acceptance of the flat white beyond Australia comes as another global brand has retooled its coffee strategy after struggling to please Aussies\u2019 discerning palate for how they caffeinate.<\/p>\n
McDonald\u2019s Australia recently re branded Sydney\u2019s standalone McCaf\u00e9 location, downplaying its affiliation with McDonald\u2019s in a bid to hide its corporate parent.<\/p>\n
Now called, simply, \u201cThe Corner by McCaf\u00e9,\u201d Business Insider reports that the outlet \u201chas been stripped of almost all affiliation with the Golden Arches, aside from the word McCaf\u00e9 displayed in small print underneath the store name.\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony is that McDonald\u2019s McCaf\u00e9 standalone speciality coffee store concept was introduced in Australia in 1993 before being taken worldwide.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Australians\u2014being a sophisticated, java-drinking lot\u2014became increasingly disgruntled about the quality of McCaf\u00e9 coffee. And in a surprising admission to its customers Down Under, McDonald\u2019s actually issued a public apology for its sub-par coffee last summer.<\/p>\n
As a result, McDonald\u2019s launched its biggest Australian marketing campaign in two years, all surrounding its in-store coffee bars.<\/p>\n
Under the banner of \u201cThere\u2019s more to McCaf\u00e9,\u201d according to Bean Scene<\/em> magazine the campaign promised to provide \u201cexpertly frothed milk\u201d by trained baristas. \u201cWe know that more and more Australians are serious about their coffee,\u201d said Helen Nash, McDonald\u2019s COO in Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Corner\u201d gambit is reminiscent of the liberties that McDonald\u2019s also took with its iconic name and brand in 2013, when it slapped its local nickname\u2014Macca\u2019s\u2014on signs at some outlets, in social media and in an ad campaign in that market.<\/p>\n Now, having exported a better McDonald\u2019s coffee to the world, non-Aussies can enjoy Australians\u2019 beloved flat-white cuppa at their local Starbucks, too.<\/p>\n Reference:<\/p>\n Blus, D. 2002. Starbucks, McDonald\u2019s Bow to Australia\u2019s Coffee Superiority. http:\/\/www.brandchannel.com\/home\/post\/2015\/01\/05\/150105-Starbucks-McDonalds-Australia-Coffee.aspx (accessed February 25, 2015).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coffee-lovers in America, rejoice. A better brand of brew is coming to you\u2014one that Australians have touted for years as the superior way to enjoy coffee. Starting on Tuesday, Starbucks will add flat-white coffee to its US menu, which Melburnian Andrew Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}