Sampling the McDonalds Menu: McCafe Strawberry Lemonade

As someone who enjoys McDonalds beverages, I was pleased to encounter a variety of McDonalds coupons in the Sunday newspaper. One of the most intriguing was the McCafe coupon for a free strawberry frozen lemonade. With no purchased required and a day predicted to reach 90 (it actually reached 92), I knew I had to take advantage of the offer. After all, the strawberry lemonade pictured on the coupon was about half strawberry puree and half lemonade, making for the perfect blend of sweet and sour.

After standing in line, I was given a cup of lemonade with only the bottom of the cup containing strawberry puree. This was not the picture I saw earlier, but it was free so I took my cup and left the store. On the way out, I decided to sample the new McDonalds menu item. Had I paid for it, I would have brought it back and asked for one that looked like the picture. Since it was 95% lemonade and only 5% strawberry, it had to be the most sour drink I have ever had. In fact, where most lemonade is sweet or semi-sweet, mine tasted like it had just been squeezed straight from the lemon.

On a positive note, the little strawberry I was able to sample was excellent and reminded me of the strawberry sundae topping McDonalds uses on their strawberry sundaes. If you are interested in purchasing the McDonalds McCafe Strawberry Lemonade, I highly recommend you check your cup to make sure it matches closely to the item's pictured description (the ratio of strawberry puree to lemonade). Otherwise, you will be drinking something that you would rather have spent your $2 on elsewhere.

For people interested in McDonalds coupons to purchase this item, the ones in the Sunday circular featuring a free strawberry lemonade will/has expired on April 15, 2011. Hopefully, there will be more McDonalds coupons in the newspaper at another time so you can take advantage of this and other money-saving offers.

People with dietary restrictions or concerns can find information about McDonalds nutrition on their website; however, since drinks can have variables during their preparation (ratio of strawberry puree versus lemonade), this should be an approximation, as no two drinks are prepared the same.