McCafé and McDonald's Breaking Up?! McCafé Renames Latte to Milk Iron Coffee!

McCafé Breaking Up with McDonald's?

What? McCafé is breaking up with McDonald's?! Recently, a photo of a huge banner on a building drew many netizens into the discussion.

Facing the situation, McDonald's China quickly responded: "??? What's going on?! Let me ask!"

In fact, that morning McCafé had already announced on its official account that it was breaking up with McDonald's — specifically, "breaking up with McDonald's coffee."

The Difference Between McCafé and McDonald's Coffee

Here's the backstory. For years, because McCafé sits inside McDonald's restaurants, many people have equated the two. In reality, McCafé is an independent coffee brand that simply operates in a store-within-a-store format.

McDonald's coffee generally refers to the drip coffee sold in the fast-food area, made from pre-ground coffee. It is typically brewed in a pot and kept warm, or brewed and then portioned into cups ready for serving, with free refills.

McCafé, by contrast, focuses on freshly ground coffee, grinding beans after customers order — and no free refills. The difference is in aroma, taste, and body, where freshly ground coffee outperforms pre-ground powder.

McCafé Goes Independent

To help people experience the charm of freshly ground coffee and form an independent view of McCafé, it was announced on the 30th that, starting September 1st, McCafé would emerge with its own image.

The move won support from many netizens, some of whom said it should have happened long ago. The sentiment was simple: don't let people miss out on this treasure of a brand.

Introducing the "Naitie" Series

The latte is no longer the latte it used to be; it now has a brand-new name: Niohuru McCafé Naitie. According to McCafé's menu, the Naitie series includes four products: Naitie, Oat Milk Naitie, Thick Coconut Naitie, and Thick Milk Naitie.

The drinks still use McCafé's exclusively customized M10+ blend, made from beans from Guatemala, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, with natural citrus, caramel, and dark chocolate flavors. The ratio of coffee to milk, however, has been adjusted.

According to McCafé, the extraction uses more coffee powder than before, making the coffee flavor richer, while the amount of milk has increased by 30% compared with McCafé's original regular latte formula, giving it a stronger milk flavor than a standard latte — hence the name "Naitie" ("milk iron").

With the launch of the Naitie series, a McCafé barista revealed on Xiaohongshu that the coffee dose has risen to 22 grams. Another barista who says he has worked at McCafé for 11 years stated that the ratio of coffee liquid to milk in the new Naitie is 1:11. This new milk coffee serves as McCafé's exclusive star product, sold long-term in nearly 2,500 McCafé stores nationwide.

McCafé's History and Future

McCafé was born in Australia in 1993, appearing as an independent coffee zone, much like a McDonald's dessert station, set up in a corner of the restaurant. It entered the Chinese market in the new millennium.

As China's coffee market enters rapid development — with the industry's market size expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2025 and the ready-to-drink coffee segment reaching 8.97 billion yuan — McDonald's China announced in 2020 an investment of 2.5 billion yuan over the next three years to accelerate expansion in the mainland coffee market, with the goal of opening a McCafé in every McDonald's restaurant in a store-within-a-store model.

The store-within-a-store model has brought major advantages. With less cost from standalone store rent, more can be invested in the products, and prices can be set for high value. According to the data, there were only 800-plus McCafé stores in 2020, and it has since expanded to 2,500-plus. Around 1,000 new McCafé zones were expected to be added by 2023, mainly in third-tier cities.

Image source: Internet

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If a milkier latte is what you're after, the bean choice does most of the work. FrontStreet Coffee's espresso-range blends are built for exactly this. The FrontStreet Classic Blend is the first choice for espresso and moka pot, designed for outstanding crema — even a beginner on a non-professional home machine can pull a dense, silky layer — with a traditional Mamba-style recipe that is full-bodied and gentle for veterans and newcomers alike. The FrontStreet Dark Cocoa Blend is the value option: 100% Arabica, generous crema, full body, and a friendly price for anyone opening a shop.

Two more complete the lineup. The FrontStreet Commercial Blend was the café workhorse before the Dark Cocoa arrived, cheaper than the specialty blends but tuned for both flavor and cost. The FrontStreet Espresso Blend has served the shop for nearly a decade, pairing Brazil Cerrado and Colombia Huila into the classic espresso taste most people picture.

For milk drinks specifically, the FrontStreet Espresso Blend and FrontStreet Dark Cocoa Blend are the best milk companions: Brazil leads the blend, so a latte shows complex almond, walnut, and nutty notes with a silky, lingering body. If you want a richer crema, choose the FrontStreet Classic Blend or FrontStreet Commercial Blend — both contain a little Robusta for more golden foam and a fuller caramel aroma. If you prefer fruit-forward milk coffee, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy reproduces a vivid strawberry-candy sweetness and works equally well for daily drinking and for cafés aiming to differentiate their drinks.