There’s no denying it. Canadians love their Tim Hortons coffee. It’s one of the few things folks across this country share in common. While bacon, maple syrup and hockey are the icons people around the world most likely identify us with, the double double is perhaps the most common bond we share in how we identify ourselves.
It’s sort of comforting in a way to know we have at least one thing in common with our neighbours. It makes all those fussy differences we seem to have from province to province just a little less distressing. A sort of coffee break from the rigors of nationality in such a geographically vast country.
But let’s set aside our national identities for just a moment and focus on what’s brewing underneath: the coffee itself.
Beneath all that cream and sugar in a Tim Hortons double double is an always fresh serving of Tim Horton’s coffee.
There are those who will argue that Tim Hortons coffee on its own is actually not that pleasant a beverage. That, compared to other coffees, it’s an inferior brew.
Some say you can taste nicotine or MSG in there, and that these ingredients are added by Tim Hortons to try and encourage an addiction to their coffee — an accusation Tim Hortons flat out denies:
Tim Hortons would like to clearly state that there is absolutely NO nicotine or MSG in our coffee. Tim Hortons coffee has NO ADDITIVES whatsoever. It is made only from a blend of the highest quality premium Arabica beans from several different coffee growing countries.
I’m happy to take their word on this, but that doesn’t change the fact that when I drink a Tim Hortons coffee (milk, no sugar) it tastes like someone put their cigarette out in my cup.
None of that matters, of course, if you don’t taste it that way. If you’re a double doubler, then maybe the cream and sugar masks the coffee’s true taste, or perhaps even mixes with it to make a new taste that’s indescribably delicious. Maybe Tim Hortons coffee, however you take it, is the best coffee you’ve ever tasted in your whole life and that’s the reason why you drink it.
If that’s the case, I’d just like to ask: how much other coffee have you tasted?
Outside the comfort zone of Tim Hortons, coffee can have the appearance of being intimidating. You’ve got your light roasts, dark roasts, long and short espressos; the café au lait, americano, latte, cappuccino. Then there’s how you take whichever of these oddly named brews (the seeming complexity of how a coffee can be ordered is a tired gag in film and television). It all gives off the impression that there’s a lot to know, and if you don’t already know it then you should probably keep it that way lest you embarrass yourself by trying.
So maybe it’s best you just stick with your double double. You already know the code for ordering that one, you know you like the taste, so why even consider branching out into new coffee territory?
Allow me to spill the beans:
- Contrary to how it may seem, the coffee beverage range is not that complicated and revolves mainly around whether you’re having brewed coffee or espresso and how much milk you want with either.
- No one expects you to know anything in particular about coffee when you go to a café, and no one will judge you if need to take a minute to read the menu board or ask a question or three before ordering.
- Most coffees don’t require two heaps of cream and two more of sugar to be paletteable, so you can cut back on all that fat and sugar while still really enjoying your cup of joe.
- It’s not the complexity but the variety that makes extending your reach beyond Tim Hortons such a worthwhile venture.
There are other, not-so-caffeinated reasons for wanting to get your coffee from someplace other than Tim Hortons, such as the fact that most of the other coffee spots in town are locally owned, which means more of the money you spend there stays in our local economy, and the lineups at peak times of the day there are not nearly as long or traffic-jamming as they tend to be at Timmy’s.
Still, I can sense you’re not convinced. Which is why I’ll be profiling a different café in St. John’s a day over the next two weeks.
So keep checking in with Signal for a daily walk through of what may well soon be your next favorite place to get a coffee.
[original white mug image via]
When I first started telling people late last year that I was going to start a blog in St. John’s, the St. John’s blog no less, their first question would often be, “how are you going to make money from it?”
Signal, the St. John’s blog, has been diligently working behind the scenes for the last four months to develop a top notch blogging presence in this city.