Regular BK Joe, Burger King

Yes, I order coffee in fast food restaurants. Better than soda, right? Many times, it's just, you know, fast food coffee. I learned not to expect much.

I was surprised to learn that Burger King decided to up the ante a notch with their coffee. Summer last year, I tried their Big Joe, upon the recommendation of one of my brothers. 

It's brewed coffee, yes, but they have began serving it in three variants: regular brewed (sorry, I forget what they call it), turbo, and decaf, as printed on the other side of the cup. Other fast food joints would also have these choices on the cup or the lid, but for what? They have only one type of brewed coffee, which may come in two to three shades, depending on how long it was left on the warmer. 

Unlike other fast food coffees, the BK Joe comes in a better, sturdier cup, with a lid that has a raised drinking spout, which can be opened and resealed with a snap. I love that their coffee also comes not with a packet of non-dairy creamer, but with those little brown sealed cups (like in hotels and planes) with milk in them.

I tried both the BK Joe regular (I already had two coffees earlier that day) and the turbo (on a day when I badly needed coffee to keep me going). Not bad... In fact, they're very good. No grey color and you won't grow hair on your chest with every sip. I was told it was Gourmet Coffee's Mountain-grown Arabica, one of my faves since late college.

Try their cuppa-joe with BK's NY Cheesecake or Apple Pie. If you have a sweet tooth, have their sundae or Hershey's choc candy pies instead. Whichever -- the coffee is good, so it won't matter. 

I would have it anytime over the coffee of my all-time fave fast food restaurant (because I used to work there and wolf down those two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun and large fries, with a sundae for dessert, when health and fitness were not yet life's challenges), which differs from branch to branch, and from crew shift to crew shift, even if quality and set standards are two of their business mantras.