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Coffee battle brewing?
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MONROE - Would you like a caramel latte to go with that Egg McMuffin?

McDonald's is preparing to offer up gourmet coffee drinks in its 14,000 restaurants all over the country, and Monroe's store is no exception.

"It's up in the air; all this is supposed to happen this year," said Jeff Sullivan, McDonald's area supervisor.

He said Scott and Kris Oudinot, owners of McDonald's in Monroe, Brodhead, Evansville, Darlington and Stockton, Ill., will attend a corporate meeting Tuesday to find out about proposals, costs and investments, and other information.

Remodeling to outfit the store with all the coffee making equipment is "quite a bit of investment," he said. Monroe's store will need an inside wall removed to make room.

The result is that customers will be seeing upscale coffee drinks, like frappaccinos, cappuccinos, smoothies, flavored coffees and lattes joining the regular, decaf and iced coffees already on the menu.

It's a "Starbucks-type deal" without the foreign coffee shop lingo. "A large is a large," Sullivan said.

McDonald's coffee will be high-quality at cheaper prices and available all day, every day, Sullivan said.

McDonald's has already made the new coffees available in its restaurants in Michigan, New York and New Jersey.

Surveys were done a few months ago, but are not finalized yet. Sullivan was not sure when Monroe's survey was taken.

Sullivan called the additional product line "a great deal for smaller area stores" and didn't see any problem with selling the idea of fancy coffees in Monroe.

"There are three other coffee shops already in the city - Perks, Koffee Bean and Chocolate Temptations - and they're doing all right," he said. "There's a lot of money to be made."

But the biggest difference he sees is the availability McDonald's offers.

"Nobody else is open at 5 a.m." he said.