A viral trend is reinventing iced coffee, and it’s from McDonald’s. It’s based on South Korean coffee chain Paul Bassett’s bestseller — the ice cream latte. South Koreans found a more convenient and cost-friendly version of the drink by dunking McDonald’s vanilla soft serve into their iced latte. Thus, the recreated drink was named “McBassett.” This hack then gained greater overseas attention after a TikTok post. If ice cream with coffee sounds familiar, you might be thinking of the affogato. I love a good roasted espresso paired with vanilla gelato, and the McBassett sounded like a cost-friendly version.

I had quite an experience attempting to order the McBassett. On my first try, I accidentally ordered an iced coffee instead of the iced latte. I misread the TikTok video and had no preexisting knowledge of McDonald’s coffee menu — I didn’t even know they sold lattes. However, this mishap might have actually been for the better. Here’s my experience with the two drink concoctions.

The original McBassett (McDonald’s ice cream with iced latte)

I immediately noticed that while the TikTok videos showed a distinct separation between the espresso and milk, mine incorporated together. It tasted overwhelmingly sweet and had a slight caramel flavor that had me wondering if I was given an iced caramel latte instead of the regular iced latte. I continued by adding the soft serve which proved a bit difficult and messy like the video. As I stirred around the soft serve, I was reminded of how similar this was to an ice cream root beer float but with a latte. The drink turned thick and creamy, just as the trend advertised, which was a plus! However, things went completely south from here. I found the drink to be too sweet, and after the soft serve had been fully incorporated, any hint of espresso had completely disappeared. I cannot tell if I did something wrong, but it also no longer had any resemblance to an espresso or coffee. Moreover, considering that the McBassett served to recreate a more cost-friendly version of the original ice-cream latte from Paul Bassett, I didn’t think it was worth it, since the McDonald’s soft serve and iced latte in the United States was more expensive.

Revising the McBassett (McDonald’s ice cream with iced coffee)

However, not all hope is lost for the McBassett in the United States. My first blunder attempting this hack had become a treasure in disguise. I would like to introduce you to the better McBassett for Americans: iced coffee with vanilla soft serve sweet cone.

For this, I ordered the vanilla iced coffee, though any flavor might work. At the first sip, I didn’t see any noticeable difference in taste compared to a normal McDonald’s iced coffee. However, as the soft serve mixed in, the coffee turned extra creamy and resembled a vanilla latte. This still very much tasted like a McDonald’s coffee, but the flavors complemented much better than with the iced latte. An additional advantage is the lower price of this drink compared to both the original Bassett and carbon copy McBassett with iced latte. If you like sweet lattes or are looking for a creamier and sweeter twist to your coffee, you should try this! I can’t say how close this resembles the original Bassett drink, but I had a more enjoyable experience with the iced coffee compared to the iced latte.

The journey and result of this experience was far from what I expected it to be. The McBassett might have had better experience overseas, but I hope my small blunder has allowed for a new McDonald’s coffee drink to reign here in the United States.