What is coffee made of, and why does the gingerbread oat latte design fail?

McDonald's released a gingerbread oat latte for the Christmas season, topped with a gingerbread man drawn in cocoa powder on the drink's surface. The official poster showed a neat figure, but customers who ordered posted cups where the design dissolved, deformed, or never appeared, and comment sections filled with roast-style complaints.

The drink is currently sold only at McDonald's stores in Hong Kong and Macau, so mainland consumers cannot order it. The gap between promotion images and served cups matters because the cocoa-powder design sits on the liquid surface and breaks up on the first sip or during transport, which is why results vary so widely between stores.

During the Christmas season, major brands have rolled out limited-edition drinks, and McDonald's gingerbread oat latte successfully went viral with its cute gingerbread man drawn in cocoa powder on the cup's surface, attracting many consumers to place orders and check in right away. However, not long after the new product launched, a group of netizens claiming to be the "first batch of victims" emerged on social media, sharing the actual products they received—some gingerbread men turned into Voldemort after just one sip, some bore no resemblance to the official poster, and some cups were so clean that not even a trace of the gingerbread man could be found. This huge contrast between "buyer's show vs seller's show" sparked heated discussion, and the comment section turned into a roast session. It's worth noting that this Christmas limited-edition drink with the gingerbread man is currently only available at McDonald's stores in Hong Kong and Macau, so mainland consumers can only watch from behind their screens for now.

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On the eve of Christmas, various brands have launched limited-edition coffee drinks related to Christmas elements, and McDonald's is no exception. Recently, it released a gingerbread oat latte. To echo the Christmas theme, the surface of this drink features a gingerbread man decorated with cocoa powder.

The gingerbread man on the surface of the gingerbread oat latte in the official poster is very fun, and its cute appearance made many netizens fall in love with it. As soon as the new product launched, they immediately placed orders and rushed to the stores, eager to receive the drink from the staff and have a friendly meeting with the little gingerbread man.

So netizens quickly posted photos of this drink on social media, especially with many praises for the cute gingerbread man. But just then, some netizens mocked themselves as the "first batch of victims of McDonald's new coffee," complaining that the gingerbread oat latte they received was "too ugly," prompting netizens with similar experiences to come forward one after another, and the comment section turned into a "victims' roast session."

Victim No. 1 said that before drinking the coffee, the gingerbread man on the liquid surface was so cute that people gasped, but after one sip, the gingerbread man instantly turned into Voldemort looking back at them. Out of politeness, shouldn't they respond with "Avada Kedavra"?

There are quite a few victims with similar situations. Some netizens got what looked like the world-famous painting "The Scream," while others stared face to face with a gingerbread man wearing an "awkward but polite smile." Facing a gingerbread man that "looks like it got plastic surgery after drinking," Victim No. 1 wanted to cry, while onlookers laughed very happily, with "hahaha" echoing endlessly in the comment section.

Next up was Victim No. 2, who posted the gingerbread oat latte they received and said bluntly, "The buyer's show and the seller's show can't be said to be exactly the same—only that they're completely unrelated."

There are also quite a few netizens with the same experience. Although they successfully met the little gingerbread man, the "unrecognizable" appearance of the little gingerbread man was really hard to like, and instead made it somewhat difficult to accept the reality that "the picture doesn't match the actual product."

After hearing the complaints of the first two, Victim No. 3 shook their head and said their experiences were nothing. The one who really wanted to shout that they were "scammed" by McDonald's should be them. Because the moment this victim received the coffee, they couldn't even meet the gingerbread man, let alone briefly have one. Looking at the clean white liquid surface with not a trace of cocoa powder after opening the lid, this victim said that if they hadn't mentioned it themselves, no one would know this was a gingerbread oat latte.

Netizens with similar experiences to this victim posted the coffee in their hands. The good luck was that this drink had cocoa powder on the liquid surface; the bad part was, "it smudged before I could even see it." The entire liquid surface was uniformly black, and the original gingerbread man shape was completely unrecognizable.

Although several victims have already come forward to share their experiences, some netizens still want to have this little gingerbread man. Unfortunately, this Christmas drink with the gingerbread man is currently only sold at McDonald's stores in Hong Kong, so McDonald's fans in mainland China can only look at it on social media.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.