McDonald's opened its first McCafé in 1993, beginning the branded coffeehouse concept.
The first McCafé opened in Melbourne, Australia. It was developed as a café area attached to a McDonald's restaurant and offered espresso-based drinks in a setting designed to feel more like a coffee shop.
The concept became a separate sub-brand within McDonald's wider identity. It expanded internationally and helped the company compete in markets where café culture and specialty coffee were especially important.
McCafé is sometimes treated as a purely modern American initiative, but its origin was Australian. The original 1993 opening preceded the concept's later expansion across Europe, Asia, and other regions.