Has anyone noticed McDonald’s has it out for Starbucks? McDonald's has launched a coffee marketing campaign so massive and fluffy, it's impossible to miss their ulterior motive: to take a bite out of Starbucks foam.

Forget old-fashioned word-of-mouth, McDonald's is spending millions of dollars nestling its lattes into our eyeballs at every turn, from massive outdoor billboards to internet commercials on Hulu.

Guess what? Tedious commutes can be salvaged by whipped mochas! Of course, everyone knew that already, they were just going to Starbucks to get their candy.

It appears that the McStrategy is to do to Starbucks what Starbucks did to independent cafes all over America. Crush them like Honduran coffee cherries.

The irony? Starbucks gave McDonald's the key to the castle a few years back when they streamlined operations and went to fully automatic espresso machines in the majority of their stores from coast to coast. (you can still get a shot pulled from a La Marzocco machine at the Pikes Place Market store, in Japan and most of Europe) Barista’s from Starbucks in Michigan have told me. "Working at Starbucks is like working at McDonald's, all you have to do is push a button." There is no more grinding, dosing, tamping or pulling the shot. It all happens inside the machine.

And it was Starbucks after all that gave everyday Americans an appetite for these double caramel skinny lattes. Heck, these creamy delights are more expensive than a cheeseburger.

Micky D’s looked at the new Starbucks way and realized that espresso coffee drinks could be fast food and easy money. McD's already had the real estate, the hook-up to the cattle industry and what’s better, drive-thru windows. All they had to do was figure out how to automate the milk frothing and they were as golden as their arches. Behold, the McEspresso machine sits on a cube refrigerator where the milk sits and is pumped directly from the refrigerator into a steam chamber where it is frothed perfectly and then shot automatically into the drink. (The health department loves that).

So even though there will be no cooing over the cool foam art at these McCafés, you may find yourself ordering a "Double Fat Santa with extra strips of chocolate sauce" despite yourself.

Now if only McD's would get some comfy velvet reading chairs in there, we'd be all set.

John Roos owns Roos Roast coffee company in Ann Arbor.