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Janet Adamy reports that McDonal's will add espresso, latte and other specialty drinks to its menu

Starting this year lovers of Mocha, Cappuccino and Latte will be able to get them in Mcdonald. The golden arches is overhauling its front counters to install an espresso machine where the customers can watch a Mcdonald's "baristas" make drinks. The move is the biggest addition to Mcdonal's menu since it's launched breackfast 30 years ago.

The new drinks put Mcdonald's more closely into competition with Starbucks and other coffee houses, and could reshape the way Americans buy their upscale coffees. Mcdonald has about 14,000 locations in the US while starbuck has about 10,000. Mcdonald is pricing the drinks about 60 cents to 80 cents below competitors.

" We thought we could get into this business because our customers have been asking us to. Their tastes have changed over recent years, we've done a lot of work in this area, we think we'll be able to deliver great products to them."

Mcdonald has told franchisees the drink could add about a billion dollars a year to the company's sales. The chain also hopes they will help increase reputation as providers of we called premium products, not just hamburgers and french fries.

"We thought it was important to position these products in front of the center for the customers to watch them being prepared, to creat a little theater if you will, our employees really enjoy being upfront of preparing beverages, and also happens to be very closely to our drive-thru window, and we sell a lot of beverage through there."

In addition to the coffees, Mcdonal also plans to offer smoothies and bottle drinks, and *markets. Those have included Lipton green tea, redbull energy drink and Mountain Dew made by Pepsi. Coke also gave Mcdonald's a drink fountain that contains flavor shots, which allow customers to creat new favor of soda, like Vanilla Diet coke or blueberry sprite.

For the Wall Street Journal
I'm Janet Adamy