First encounter with McCafe

With my laptop on life support, we went shopping for a replacement this morning. After walking through a few tech shops, we noticed a McCafe nearby, went in and ordered a long black for her and a cappuccino for me, and two pastries as well.

Well, the long black, which was in a transparent glass, looked decidedly odd - very light in colour. Actual drinking confirmed our suspicion - it was a glass of water with a hint of coffee! My cappuccino was better (perhaps with the milk and the chocolate powder on top), but not much.

We told the shop manager about this and she proposed to make another long black for her. The second cup, unfortunately, was not much of an improvement over the first. She agreed that there must be something wrong with the coffee (due perhaps to a malfunctioning coffee making machine) and proposed to refund not just her long black but my cappuccino as well.

I don't know whether this was an isolated incident or that McCafe, which sells coffee no cheaper than cafes, has a bad reputation. Anyhow, our first encounter with McCafe coffee was disastrous.

Having said that, we must also mention that the "freshly baked" pastries were quite OK, and the shop manager dealt with the problem well.