I love coffee in all of its forms. Straight up, hot and black. I love it iced. I love lattes, and mochas, and macchiatos, espressos, and cappucinos.
For the past five or so years I’ve been roasting my own beans, fresh daily, and have developed particular passions for Sumatran Mandeeling, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Tanzanian peaberry, and a few other varieties of coffees.
Besides the coffee I roast, grind, and brew at home, there are very few places where I truly enjoy the coffee, due to rampant, crass commercialism that makes it difficult to find good varietal coffees in which to imbibe. There is a coffee shop near my home that does a phenomenal job, and whose varieties, ingredients, and techniques are top notch. But no matter where I’ve traveled and where I’ve tried the coffee, I have found none to hold a candle to the local shop and what I brew at home.
I am not a fan of Starbucks and laugh at what McDonald’s calls “premium” coffee. McDonalds especially is turning out coffee that is simply undrinkable, not only due to the poor quality, but because of the troubling list of ingredients they put into the specialty drinks. Just a simple cup of coffee at McDonalds, not so bad all things considered, but if you get a latte or an iced coffee or some other premium choice, look out.
If having the latte, watch out for the caramel syrup, containing, sugar, water, fructose, salt, caramel color (with sulfites), potassium sorbate, citric acid, and malic acid. Even the chocolate drizzle should be skipped since it contains corn syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, high fructose corn syrup, glycerin, nonfat milk, cocoa (processed with alkali), food starch-modified, disodium phosphate, potassium sorbate (preservative), xanthan gum, artificial flavor (vanillin), salt, and soy lecithin.
People, McDonald’s is not your friend. When they created an iced coffee drink and marketed it to you, they were not doing you any favors. Do not try to convince yourself that they are selling you a quality product for a low price.
These are the ingredients for McDonald’s Vanilla Iced Coffee:
Premium Roast Coffee. Light Cream: Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, sodium polyphosphate, DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium citrate, sodium alumionosilicate, and carrageenan. CONTAINS: MILK. Vanilla Syrup: Sugar, water, fructose, natural (plant source) and artificial flavor, caramel color (with sulfites), potassium sorbate (preservative), citric acid, malic acid. Ice.
Let’s take a closer look at the ingredients for a Vanilla Iced Coffee, shall we?
What is sodium phosphate? Well, for one thing, it is “used to treat constipation and to clean the bowel before surgery, x-rays, endoscopy, or other intestinal procedures. Sodium biphosphate and sodium phosphate enemas are also used for general care after surgery and to help relieve impacted bowels.”
Sodium polyphosphate – adds texture and is used as an emulsifier to prevent ingredients from clumping together. The Material Safety Data Sheet for this compound warns, “do not ingest”.
DATEM is an acronym for Diacetyl tartaric acid ester of monoglyceride, and it is used for emulsification and foaming. It contains a series of esters which react across the chemical chain of water and fatty acids in various ways, some reactions of which are not fully understood.
Sodium stearoyl lactylate is a solid powder which is irritating to eyes and skin, and can be hazardous in case of inhalation.
Tetra sodium pyrophosphate, when ingested can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. It is toxic and mildly irritating. Toxicity is approximately twice that of table salt when ingested orally. It is sometimes used in household detergents to prevent clumps from being deposited on clothing. If the crystals of this compound become deposited in joints, they can cause the painful and inflammatory medical condition known as pseudogout.
Sodium citrate includes diarrhea as an adverse reaction. It should also be “used with caution in patients with cardiac failure, hypertension, impaired renal function, peripheral and pulmonary edema, and toxemia of pregnancy.”
Sodium alumionosilicate is known to potters as albite feldspar, and is used as a ceramic glaze and strengthening agent. Sodium alumionosilicate is used in foods as an anticaking agent.
Carrageenan – There is evidence from studies performed on rats, guinea pigs and monkeys which indicates that degraded carrageenan (poligeenan) may cause ulcerations in the gastro-intestinal tract and gastro-intestinal cancer. Poligeenan is produced from carrageenan subjected to high temperatures and acidity. A recent publication indicates that carrageenan induces inflammation in human intestinal epithelial cells in tissue culture. Consumption of carrageenan thus may play a role in intestinal inflammation and possibly inflammatory bowel disease, mutations of which are associated with genetic proclivity to Crohn’s Disease.
Sulfites are counted among the top nine food allergens, but a reaction to sulfite is not a true allergy. It may cause breathing difficulty within minutes after eating a food containing it, but more commonly causes headaches and skin irritation within a few hours after consumption. Asthmatics and possibly people with salicylate sensitivity (or aspirin sensitivity) are at an elevated risk for reaction to sulfites. The reaction can be, but is not often fatal. Other symptoms include sneezing, swelling of the throat, and hives. Sulfites are also known to destroy vitamin B1 (thiamin), a vitamin essential for metabolism of carbohydrates
The truth is, as should be seen from this information, McDonald’s Iced Coffee is not a drink with simply coffee, milk, and sugar. This is another reason to be selective about your food and beverage intake. The coffee based drinks I consume, for instance, are made with all natural ingredients, one drink at a time, and contain none of the list of chemicals cited above.
Let’s all do ourselves a favor and stay out of the drive through.