Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Marisa Petrarca
I rarely meet a cup of coffee that I don’t like. I’ve enjoyed plenty of gas-station iced coffee through the years, and for a brief moment of my life, I swung back espressos in the South of France. My point? I’m a curious coffee-lover who devours caffeine in all forms, and I’m willing to try anything once. This anything-goes attitude toward coffee is definitely the reason the McDonald’s Korean iced coffee hack landed on my TikTok For You page. Since the algorithm seemingly knows me better than I know myself, I took it as a sign to give the viral trend a try.
The TikTok trend started gaining traction in other countries as early as April, and it just recently exploded in popularity in the states. Content creators call the drink the “Korean iced coffee hack” or the “McBassett.” (The latter name takes inspiration from a drink sold at the East Asia-based coffeehouse chain Paul Bassett.) One of the most popular videos documenting the trend was shared by a TikTok user who goes by @snackqween. McDonald’s reposted the clip, and the original video has amassed three million views and counting since she posted it at the beginning of July.
@snackqween I think I like it better than their flavored iced coffees #mcdonalds
So at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, I made my way to my local McDonald’s in the sweltering New York City heat. I took my cues from TikTok and ordered a large black iced coffee and a vanilla ice cream cone, only slightly embarrassed to be ordering soft serve for breakfast. After securing the goods, I took a big swig of coffee (to create some room in the cup), flipped the ice cream cone upside down, and dunked the ice cream into the drink. After a few seconds, the ice cream flopped out of the cone and into the coffee, and I mixed it all together with my straw. I handed the empty cone to my fiancé, a reward for escorting me to McDonald’s at an odd hour.
After a quick photo session with my trendy drink concoction, I took a sip, and honestly, I was surprised. I expected the ice cream to make the drink super sweet, but it didn’t. The coffee was moderately sweetened and strangely not too creamy, despite the coffee’s light color. As someone who craves the taste of coffee, I was happy to find that the coffee flavor was still very much present, even with a hearty serving of ice cream mixed in. My favorite part of all was the drink’s frothy texture, which made the city’s soaring temperatures feel a little more bearable.
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Marisa Petrarca
The verdict? I enjoyed it! I can’t say I’m impatient to get another one soon, but it’s undoubtedly a refreshing treat to try this summer. If you love trying fun TikTok food trends like I do, this is a great one because it won’t break the bank, and it gives you yet another reason to go to McDonald’s.
