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McCafé – Art in a Coffee Cup

Rating:

By Veron Ang

Coffee drinkers in Singapore are spoiled for choice. Whether you’re in the mood for traditional coffee such as Old Town or Ya Kun, or Western coffee like tcc or Starbucks, a coffee joint is always nearby where you can get a cup of joe.

For many coffee lovers, McCafé is probably not within your preferred list of coffee joints. After all, McDonald’s is known more for the fast food. When it comes to coffee and coffee alone, there are certainly many larger and more established café chains.

But here’s one thing about McCafé: they always try. A nice cup of coffee can be perfected by a touch of art. Look how prettily they have done up my mochaccino!

Mochaccino

Mochaccino
S$3.70, S$4.10 or S$4.50 for small, medium or large
Rating:

At McCafé, each cup of coffee is adorned with beautiful art that totally outclasses the plainly frothed coffee at other cafés. In fact, I don’t recall having seen any barista at any of the better known cafés whipping up such pretty coffee art. The only other place I can think of is Bakerzin when they drew me a pretty heart in my mocha — and they’re not even a coffee joint!

That’s not all. There are even nifty little surprises as you finish more and more of your drink.

Coffee cup with symbol imprints

“Coffee + Armchair = Happy me!”

Cute symbols that form equations can be seen on the interior of the cup. The equations differ from cup to cup too!

And that’s a smiley created from cocoa powder! This is the cup of mochaccino from the first time I ever visited a McCafé outlet. That was back in 2003, when the first McCafé outlet in Singapore opened at Great World City. Even back then, they had already taken steps to dress up their coffee for customers.

I love it when restaurants go that extra mile (just as I condemn restaurants that attempt to make a quick buck out of their customers).

On top of that, the coffee here costs a lot less than other cafés while not compromising on the taste (at least for the mocha). Having little touches of detail like this may not seem significant, but this is what would distinguish one coffee joint out of the sea of many. It sure has created a lasting impression in me.

Have Your Say!

Have you witnessed any other forms of coffee art lately? Share with us in the comments!

McCafé
List of outlets | Website

Tags: café/bistro, coffee, western

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About the Editor

Veron Ang is the Founder and Chief Editor of Sparklette, a Singapore restaurants guide, lifestyle and travel blog. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and runs a web design firm at Sparklette Studio. To get in touch, head on over to the contact page or follow @Sparklette and @VeronSG on Twitter.

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Responses Leave a comment

vinsion
14 comments

mac realli did some xtra thots for their customers. =)
Reply
Posted June 3, 2008 at 11:22 pm
py
183 comments

It sure has won your heart. :)
Reply
Posted June 3, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Veron
3438 comments

Indeed it has. Too many restaurants worry more about their profit margin than satisfying their customers. So when one actually shows that it cares, I find this highly commendable and worth blogging about :)
Reply
Posted June 4, 2008 at 8:13 pm
VeRonda
1 comment

It’s gorgeous! I wouldn’t even want to drink it (nah, I probably would)… well, maybe after taking a picture like you did could I then drink it.
Reply
Posted June 6, 2008 at 11:00 am
Veron
3438 comments

Yup, yup. Some food and drinks are too pretty to be eaten or drank just like that. Taking a picture before chowing down would do them some justice!
P.S. Our names are almost identical!
Reply
Posted June 6, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Holly
3 comments

Cute coffees! I’d have been amused too! :D
Reply
Posted June 10, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Sihan
6 comments

i adore the himalayan tea latte from mcafe.. it reallie is the real deal!
Reply
Posted June 11, 2008 at 11:51 am
Veron
3438 comments

Thanks for the recommendation. Gotta try that for myself sometime!
Reply
Posted June 11, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Jean
1 comment

I like the chairs at the McCafe outlet at Builders Centre Parkway Parade. Does anyone know where I could buy a few please?
BTW, McCafe coffee is great!
Jean
Reply
Posted January 7, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Aaron
1 comment

wow,simply heavenly. Each photographic impressions really thrills my desire to drink the coffee. Please teach me howyou do it. Can we meet up someday to discuss further on this topic. Maybe a good coffee session would be lovely.
Reply
Posted January 25, 2009 at 1:11 am
armrd
1 comment

which mccafe outlet did you go to on that occasion?
i think i’m not as lucky as you are, because so far, whenever i order cappuccino/latte from mccafe in SG, they serve it the normal way. no art.. no decoration… just normal.
but actually i got my cappuccino & mocacchino decorated when i visited a mccafe in HK! i got addicted to the choco powder so much that i went up to the barrista to give me more (which they did!).
well, i’m not expecting too much from mccafe, but if they make an effort in serving their coffee, i’m sure mccafe will be a good choice to have my cuppa coffee, considering it’s more affordable, and i can have my coffee, while my other friends who are non-coffee-drinkers enjoy their mcflurry & fries.
Reply
Posted April 29, 2010 at 3:21 pm
- Veron
  3438 comments
  
  It was the one at Great World City. At that time, the McCafé had only just opened in Singapore and GWC was one of the first places to have it. Amongst all the mainstream coffee chains, do any of them do coffee art? So far I have only come across it at McCafé, although these days I don’t get it anymore. I think it’s up to the individual barista!
  Non-coffee drinkers can also go for the McCafé drink, cutely named “Fluffy”! It is basically steamed milk with vanilla and marshmallows. Try it!
  Reply
  Posted April 30, 2010 at 12:56 pm
  - krystal
    1 comment
    
    I’m not that sure about other stores but at my local McCafe store, the Baristas there always serve up good coffee with beautiful coffee art, although i dont visit offen, i managed to collect a whole album of coffee art pictures.
    Reply
    Posted August 10, 2011 at 4:25 pm
- Krystal
  1 comment
  
  You may want to try your luck at YewTee McCafe, the Baristas and Barista Leader there decorates the drinks..
  Reply
  Posted August 10, 2011 at 4:29 pm
  - Veron Ang
    3438 comments
    
    Thanks for sharing :) I’ve had pretty good luck at the Great World City McCafe too.
    Reply
    Posted August 10, 2011 at 11:34 pm
Khairul
1 comment

Hello there, I used to work at McCafe. And the cafe that I used to work at is the one which prioritize the customer satisfaction through the quality of the taste and looks of the coffee. We were generous in the amount of choc sauce we used to deco the drinks. We love the look on the faces of the customers whenever they see our creativity on their coffees.
But lately, the managers decides that we can only drizzle the drinks with choc powder. And it’s no longer as beautiful. I love coffee art. As a customer, I would like to receive these unexpected service. And these cafes should learn to prioritize customer satisfaction over profits. Building a strong customer relation is better than a short term customer relation. It creates brand loyalty which is hard to get nowadays with so much competitors. But some of the management follow the book of rules too closely that they fail to notice this. And this is why I chose to quit and find myself another job.
Reply
Posted July 17, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Ash
1 comment

Try Palio restaurant in Hotel Michael @ Resorts World Sentosa. =]
Reply
Posted August 9, 2010 at 11:07 am
george
1 comment

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :)
Reply
Posted October 13, 2010 at 11:04 pm