[Photo: Carey Jones]

When I hear the word "smoothie," I still think of health food or some new diet fad. I do not immediately associate smoothies with fast-food, so McDonald's latest foray into the smoothie market surprised me. Lately, McDonald's has been introducing new beverages left and right—first the iced coffee, then the Mocha frappe. How do the Strawberry Banana and Wild Berry smoothies measure up?

After placing my order for the two smoothies, it popped up in digital green letters on a computer screen at the smoothie station. Before I even knew what was going on, a woman was blending smoothies, and within 100 seconds of verbalizing my order, the smoothies were in hand. The speed at which they came out astonished me. If only McDonald's ran the post office.

Strawberry Banana

My first impression: it was thick, and very yogurtous (to coin a term). "Yoplaity and extremely sweet," said my drinking companion. It was too sweet for her. She thought it tasted a bit fake; I thought it tasted gummy. (Frankly, I equate the two, since Xantham Gum does not exist naturally.) As for the fruit, I definitely tasted the strawberry, but the banana flavor was very weak.

Wild Berry

We couldn't get past the fake taste of the Strawberry Banana, but the Wild Berry was completely different. It was cold and tart, with just the right amount of sweetness. It had essences of raspberry, blueberry, and maybe blackberry—it tasted like real fruit. This one did not remind us of Gogurt. It had a more homemade ice-smoothie quality as opposed to a yogurt-infused, prepackaged one.

We finished all of the Wild Berry, and left some of the Strawberry-Banana, agreeing that if we electively stopped into a McDonald's, we'd order the Wild Berry.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the McDonald's smoothies are a refreshing break on a 90+ degree day. They are cold and sweet, and definitely a bargain at $2.29. The Wild Berry was the better, in my opinion. Have you tried them yet? What do you think?