How do we know it is really Alishan coffee, which as we all know is very limited in quantity.
Bet ya they throw in Gukeng as part of ‘Alishan MT range’. Don’t trust them at all.
Costco was caught out selling fake Alishan tea recently, of course ‘they didn’t know’ the supplier was mixing in Chinese origin tea which had been imported through Vietnam and mixed with a very small quantity of genuine Taiwan tea.
Absolutely there have been heaps of mislabeling scandals in Taiwan over the years, including over “Gukeng” Coffee which was loaded with cheap beans from Vietnam!
In this case, with the Alishan coffee now on sale, we’d need to trust the integrity of the McDonald’s brand.
This is your call.
Guy
Btw, perhaps the only Taiwan grown coffee I really enjoyed was sold directly in small batches by an old gentleman operating an open-air coffee shop steps away from Chihshang Train Station in Taitung. It tasted great in his shop, and it tasted great at home!
Guy
Another weekend, another coffee adventure—this time for me to try a pourover at one of Louisa Coffee’s lovely Beyond Specialty stores. These stores are stylishly adorned in white on the exterior and serve a range of single origin coffees which are unavailable at their regular stores. The friendly worker I chatted with today at the Xindian branch (near the end of Zhongzheng Road, right before the buses zoom onto elevated highway into Taipei City) told me that there are some five branches now, each serving a distinct menu of single origin coffees along with the usual Louisa fare.
The coffee I tried is called Panama Creative Coffee District Dynamic Cherry. It was prepared mechanically—no human touch here—with a machine-produced pourover spreading the water over a Hario V60 filter. A cup set me back NT$105—cheaper than the McDonald’s single origin Alishan coffee discussed above, and vastly more distinct and layered.
I am not usually much of a fan of fruity coffees, but this one captures some wild cherry flavours layered onto dark chocolate notes below. The closest comparison I can come up with is a black forest cake. I have not had a coffee anything like it. Produced in small batches, this Panama coffee is not intended to be a daily grind. It is instead in my view a testament to Louisa’s impressively expansive vision, here and now: confident, experimental, and on top of their roasting game.
Guy
My first ever coffee review, so take this with a grain of salt. I am not a coffee snob and will drink almost anything that is cheap.
Tried “Two Shots” Americano (hot). I think it was only 40, which is great. I do not know what beans they use, probably their “house blend” ? It drank smooth and without much character. It was a little too tea-like for me but drinkable. I drank about half as I was walking and got tired of carrying it so I threw it away.
Thanks for posting. Every data point helps!
The “I drank half and threw the rest away” part is not a great sign though. 
Guy
Haha… well … I usually am fine with a small cup. Usually the “中被” Americanos are more than enough for me, and sometimes too much 
Especially when I am on a walk down town. I do not want to carry a cup everywhere. I really cannot complain. I would try it again for NTD40.
EDIT: To stay on the cheap, I concluded after multiple tests that Burger King’s Mos Burger’s coffees are the best among fast foods. Totally drinkable, especially the iced americano. The worst is KFC, sewage water.
At par with 7-11 for fast cheap coffee. So much better than starbucks imo. Starbucks always bloody burns the coffee with lava temperature water, so acidic, almost rancid at times.
The trouble with Starbucks here is control over freshness. The beans are roasted in the US (except at the Reserve Stores, where the Reserve beans come from Tokyo)—and they simply have not found a way, as a company, to get the beans and keep them fresh enough. Hence the rancid taste you described.
Guy
If I drink at Starbucks I will order 每日精選熱咖啡 … 最小被.
不是．最小被… 對… 最小被.
Sometimes it is not too bad but you get whatever they are brewing at the time. I never could figure out which of the ones are decent and which are not. It is much better than their Americano though and I think cheaper too.
Could very well be, however I found this issue with basically all the coffees in HK too.
From McDonald’s (which is actually the least offensive) to the almost 250NT cups at like arabica or some other swanky cafes in Central. They roast the beans on site, and they burn them either when roasting or eith the water when brewing.
Such rancid coffees can be found also in Italy at bars (our word for cafes) where they do not care at all about coffee.
Many parts of Europe insist on drinking darkly roasted and burned coffee and will feel anything else is just not coffee but tea. Plus, they add liberal amounts of milk and sugar. Drinking beautiful bright black coffee is not for everyone.
I used to joke to people that know me that Starbucks coffee tastes like somebody put out their cigarette in the cup.
I had a nice cup there today (Wilbeck). Americano 大杯 for only 50. Best cup I have had in a while.
Damn, next beans I buy will come from there… as long as they aren’t too pricey.
I looked at some of the bags and I remember it was like 260 or 280 or something, but they looked awfully light. Maybe it is just their Americano that is good. I am not sure what beans they used.
Weight or roast?
No wonder you have to keep repeating yourself, you’re using the wrong tone for “cup.” 
Happy you liked it, it is a very nice joint. They even give you a glass of cold water with your espresso. That’s the pro touch! (best would be sparkling water, but won’t be picky on this).
Weight!
Neither was a good option but that’s the one that puts me off the most xD
