Check out this partial video tour of the Avalon Mall, circa when it still had the Liquor Store (what I like to call, the good old days), given by a gentleman on his way to get some Tim’s before he “writes some tests”.
Fair warning: his favourite word starts with f and ends with k, if u c what I mean.
Why this isn’t front and centre on the NL Tourism website is beyond me.
[via @colinpeddle]
Are you a caffiend like me?
Between the traffic-jamming lineups at the Tim Hortons drive-thrus and the myriad locally owned cafés concentrated in the downtown core, there’s no denying St. John’s has a bit of a crush on the coffee bean.
We’re like a little Italy, sure, knocking back coffees, cappuccinos, and mocha frappuccinos with whipped cream on top on a day-and-nightly basis. But apart from our poor, shot nerves, is there anything to be concerned about here?
Not surprisingly, it seems that the more syllables one of these bevvies has, the more calories it contains (and, sadly, the less caffeine).
David McCandless, of the Information is Beautiful blog, has put together a handy chart plotting just about every caffeinated drink and snack you could conceive between their calorie and caffeine content.
Here’s a sample:
The full chart goes much higher in calories than this, and details which type of 30 minute exercise will be needed to burn those calories away.
I’m not one to count calories, or anything for that matter, but a chart like this helps put my café choices into some semblance of perspective — at least beyond the usual “I want. Gimme. Yum.”
As it stands, Tim Hortons are currently on board as a sponsor for a National Organization for Marriage (NOM) event in Rhode Island this Sunday, August 16th.
NOM are known for their anti-lesbian/gay/bi-sexual/transgendered stance. That ain’t cool.
It is clearly stated on the Tim Hortons website that they do not sponsor religious groups or political affiliates, so it would seem something is amiss because there they are on the sponsors list for the upcoming NOM event.
As has been already pointed out here, it’s entirely possible that a rogue franchise owner in the area decided to sponsor the event since Tim’s gives them the leeway to do so, but surely it’s with the understanding that they keep within the company guidelines.
Expect a retraction of this sponsorship and an apology from Tim Hortons regarding this asap, or else consider this your last chance/final excuse to ditch the double double. You know you wanna.
UPDATE:
Well what do you know. An excerpt from Tim Hortons’ promptly published response on their website:
It has come to our attention that the Rhode Island event organizer and purpose of the event fall outside of our sponsorship guidelines. As such, Tim Hortons can not provide support at the event.
Tim Hortons and its store owners have always welcomed all families and communities to its restaurants and will continue to do so. We apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this may have caused.
I’m glad this ended the way it did, though I guess this means everyone can go back to drinking their double doubles now.
It’s Camp Day at Tim Horton’s. Go get yourself a hot dog and help send a kid to camp.
But maybe think about getting your coffee elsewhere.
Welcome to our seventh installment of Café Days @ Signal!
After spending some time talking to Jeff LeDrew about coffee, I’ve come to the logical conclusion that the stuff is in his blood — literally.
LeDrew is the owner and founder of Jumping Bean Coffee. Apart from actually growing and harvesting their own beans, Jumping Bean are in the business of everything coffee can be and do.
In their defence, the climate in Newfoundland is nowhere near suitable for growing coffee, but as LeDrew proudly explains, it’s the perfect weather for drinking the stuff.
The Jumping Bean café is situated at 47 Harvey Road, right across the street from Tim Hortons — a seemingly bold move. But as much as he enjoys seeing the occasional Tim’s drinker wander in out of curiosity and leave a new customer for life, LeDrew knows that he and Horton are in two different markets.
And the café is really just a branch on the Jumping Bean tree. It’s roots are in roasting.
Jumping Bean is a major supplier of freshly roasted gourmet coffee in Newfoundland. Along with doing custom blends for many local restaurants and cafés, they also have their own brand of coffees available in grocery stores such as Belbins and Sobeys. Eventually, LeDrew sees Jumping Bean supplying the coffee they roast throughout Canada.
Having never received any formal training of any kind, LeDrew is something of a self-taught coffee virtuoso. The East Coast Roast was Jumping Bean’s first official blend, a discovery LeDrew arrived at after much experimentation and diligence. He’s since expanded his repertoire considerably, but the East Coast Roast is the one that got the Jumping Bean, well, jumping, and so remains his favorite.
Important as coffee roasting and supplying is to the Jumping Bean business, LeDrew says that having the café helps keep things grounded. Afterall, the enjoyment of drinking a great cup of coffee is what got him on this path in the first place.
Along with a wide selection of Jumping Bean coffee brewed fresh at the café every day, there’s also the full line of espresso beverages to choose from like lattes and cappuccinos. Considering they not only roast the stuff themselves but are also one of Newfoundland’s major suppliers and servicers of both commercial and home espresso machines, I think it’s safe to say they know their espresso inside and out.
There’s even an old fashioned Italian espresso machine out front called an Elektra Belle Epoque that looks like a steampunk rendition of R2D2. Though presently in a state of disrepair, Ledrew is looking forward to having it up and running again (as soon as he can spare some time to get in there and start tinkering with it).
Despite being neighbours who both serve coffee, there’s no doubt Tim Hortons and Jumping Bean are two peas in two totally separate pods, so neither is much of a threat to either’s business.
Even so, I’d say it’s more likely Jumping Bean will end up converting the odd Tim’s drinker over the years than the other way around.
Welcome to our fifth installment of Café Days @ Signal!
So let’s state the obvious here: Hooked Up isn’t like most of the cafés in this town. Their main business isn’t coffee, it’s internet and gaming. They’ve got an impressive fleet of computer systems all tricked out to play the latest batch of mind bending, eye twitching games, an array of consoles jacked into beefy HD screens, and a fat pipe with burly security for all your online needs.
But what should also be obvious by the time you finish reading this is that coffee at Hooked Up is in no way an afterthought found somewhere down the line on the mandatory refreshments list for gamers. Far from it.
That’s Hooked Up internet and gaming café owner Ross Barney talking. And no, he’s not repeating himself.
Barney is particular about the beans he brews in his café. They have to smell right, brew right, taste right. But they also have to be produced right, which for Barney means buying only fair trade.
Barney’s spent a lot of time in coffee producing countries serving as a United Nations Peace Keeper and an IT specialist with Geekcorps. He’s seen first hand the difference fair trade practices can make for coffee producers.
Before opening his doors in December of 2007, Barney settled on a fair trade coffee supplier, locally owned and operated Executive Coffee. He then spent the next several months experimenting with different fair trade beans until settling on both the light and dark roasts he presently serves.
Like a true coffee drinker, Barney knows to brew his light roast in the morning, then switch to dark later in the day. As mentioned here before, light roasts give you that pre-noon jolt you’re after, while dark roasts are more of a keep-you-going brew.
Typically there’s only one or the other on, but Barney says if you walk in craving whichever’s not, he’ll glady brew it up for you.
It’s not altogether unseen, Barney says, for a gamer to enter the café and settle in for a session with a Tim’s cup in their hand. As time rolls on they usually wind up needing a second jolt, and when they try the coffee Hooked Up’s serving it can be something of an awakening for them — and I’m not just referring to the effects of the caffeine.
But you don’t have to be a gamer to level up your coffee drinking experience. Barney says many people in the area just pop in to grab a cup on the go. The nearest coffee place from Hooked Up, located at 206 Duckworth Street, is the Tim Hortons on the corner of Duckworth and Prescott.
Maybe the next time you’re lined up outside the Tim’s there you’ll consider the one minute journey east and hook yourself up with a coffee that’s certainly worth crossing the street for.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t show you the inside of Hooked Up’s bathroom, featuring an ongoing photo essay by owner Ross Barney.
[photos by Chad Young]
While Café Days @ Signal is on temporary hiatus, I figured we could at least take a look at what Tim Hortons has been up to in light of our recent suggestion that people try something else in the coffee department.
Clearly we’re having an affect, since Tim’s has just recently announced a nationwide promotion wherein they’re giving away their new Iced Coffee beverage for free on Thursday, June May 21st, between noon and 5pm.
Sheer desperation. McDonald’s did a similar thing recently with their coffee. McDonald’s does coffee? Exactly.
Ok, so maybe I’m not quite so hepped up on meds to believe that this has anything to do with our friendly little campaign,
but you still have to wonder why it took not-so-tiny Tim quite so long to figure out the iced coffee concept. They’ve been doing their Iced Capp for years now.
Just like the Iced Capp, the Tim Hortons Iced Coffee is a blatant rip off of what independent cafés have long been doing, but with that Horton Hears a Who twist of mystery mix (fat, sugar, and who knows what else) thrown in for flavour. Which is to say, thrown in to cut through the real taste of their coffee — something I doubt many people would enjoy on its own (hence the double double phenomenon).
I’d like to see someone order the Iced Coffee without the mix thrown in – if it’s even possible – and then try and count how many heads you’re suddenly seen as having.
If you want a real Iced Coffee, where the flavour of the coffee itself is something you actually enjoy and you can sweeten to your own particular taste, I sincerely recommend you try ordering one from a real café. In the meantime, I expect a lot of people will be idling their cars at the drive thru next Thursday as they wait for their first free taste of Summer by Tim Hortons.
Welcome to our fourth installment of Café Days @ Signal!
Bates Hill, for such a tiny little street, manages to cram in a lot of goodness. Tucked between Duckworth Street and Queens Road, you’ve got a top notch Mexican restaurant, a whimsical children’s book store, and now Folly, the newest addition to the St. John’s late night eatery scene.
On top of serving funky, delicious pizzas, burgers and more, and an awe inspiring selection of beers (36 imports alone), spirits and wine, they’re also a full service café with a wide range of coffees available.
Folly’s coffee follows suit with Bates Hill and it’s good things come in small packages way. They do their coffee as the Italians do. This starts with coffee beans that are roasted in Canada by Italians in keeping with the Italian ways, and finishes with a drink that has the traditional ratio of espresso to milk.
If you’re used to drinking your cappuccino in a cup the size of a beer glass, they can gladly accommodate, but if you’d like to know what a real cappuccino experience can be, go with the Folly flow. Once you’ve experienced the true taste of espresso as balanced by just the right amount of milk, you won’t want to go back to the tall hot glass of beige most North American’s are accustomed to calling a cappuccino or latte.
For the Tim’s drinkers in the crowd, this might be a bit of a leap from what you’re used to. I have my doubts you’d regret it, but if you’d rather take a smaller first step, Folly does your standard drip coffee, too. Standard in that it’s drip coffee, not in it’s authenticity of Italian roasted taste.
As a late night eatery, Folly’s hours are a little outside the norm for most coffee drinkers. Currently they’re open from 6pm – 6am, though that’s going to change to noon – 6am as of June 21st. Still, if you’re a student, a late-shift worker, or simply just a night owl who always tends to see the sun rise from the opposite end of the waking day than most people, know you’ve got a great café available that fits with your schedule in Folly.
There’s free wi-fi, a stylin’ decor full of local art, a chilled vibe, and Mara, Folly’s owner, who is always on hand and knows how to take care of her customers. She’s all about people hanging out and says she’s happy to see people come down with a book or a laptop, order a coffee, settle in and stay as long as they like.
I’m pretty sure this gal never leaves.
It’s Friday evening as I type and Folly is filling up fast. Come 3am they’ll have a lineup going out the door. As far as late night eateries in St. John’s go, Folly’s boldly followed their own recipe and it’s turned out to be a hit. If you ask me, the secret ingredient in that recipe is their coffee — a secret there’s no shame in telling.
Welcome to our third installment of Café Days @ Signal!
Coffee Matters arrived on the St. John’s café scene just two short years ago, setting up shop at 1 Military Road, and in that time they’ve grown to include two more locations: 320 Water Street and 1429 Topsail Road, in Paradise. A unique feature in and of intself for a locally owned and operated café, but it’s not the only way in which they set themselves apart from the crowd.
As their Director of Operations, Scott Hillyer, describes it, Coffee Matters offers people in St. John’s the opportunity to have a fine dining experience with something as simple as a coffee or as romantic as a glass of wine. Which makes them an ideal choice for a date that looks, tastes and feels fancy without the part where you drop north of a hundred bucks for your obligatory meals.
Another reason why they make for a great place to bring a date? Chances are there’s a least a few more couples there in the same boat. So if you’re feeling a little lost or unsure of how to act, just take a look around you and do as the other Romans are doing.
Speaking of which, the decor is another area where Coffee Matters stands out. Romanesque statues and pillars punctuate the ornate styling found inside all three locations. And that consistency in look and feel is matched by their belief in a consistency in coffee, too.
All baristas at Coffee Matters undergo a full five to six days of training and must pass a written exam before they can start making and serving coffee. This ensures that whether you get your latte one day in Paradise and the next day in Downtown St. John’s, you can expect they’ll be essentially the same.
Something that is undeniably different about their Paradise location, however, is the drive thru. While it wasn’t their intention to offer drive thru service, the new location already had one built in. Great for Paradise, really, since many of the people living there commute and are therefore driving back and forth a lot.
So if you’re a Timmy’s drinker accustomed to driving thru, and you live in the area, it would be easy for you to give Coffee Matters a try. Just know they are unable to offer espresso beverages like lattes and cappuccinos at the window — you’ll have to park and go inside for those.
Many a Tim’s drinker accustomed to their version of an espresso beverage, like the when-powder-meets-water French Vanilla cappuccino, might be surprised by what they’d get if they ordered the same thing in a café. The staff at Coffee Matters understand that, and have gotten really good at being able to spot these wanderers from the Tim Hortons fold.
If you turn out to be one such wanderer, rest assuerd that Coffee Matters welcomes you with open arms — and the opportunity to sample a few of their different espresso drinks until you find the one that suits you best.
Welcome to our second installment of Café Days @ Signal!
Brad Burness, owner and founder of Coffee & Company, located at 204 Water Street, has a genuine passion for all things coffee. If you’re looking to branch out from your Tim Hortons habit, he’s a great guy to talk to.
Brad says he can usually spot a Tim’s drinker when they walk through his doors, and he always makes sure they find the coffee that’s right for them.
“I’ll usually start them off with a ‘no surprises’ coffee,” he says, by which he means a non-flavoured light roast. Often times people who are accustomed to cutting their coffee with cream find that milk actually works much better in what Brad pairs them up with.
And if that doesn’t work for you, he’ll try you out with something else — on the house.
When he was walking me through the making of my first espresso for a real live customer (see photos below), Brad wasn’t satisfied with the way the espresso was pouring – something about the grind setting not being right due to a change in humidity in the room. So he made an adjustment to the espresso grinder and we started over fresh, ensuring the customer got the espresso they deserved.
“A barista is only as good as the last coffee they’ve served,” Brad says. And you really get the impression he means it.
When making an espresso, first you must grind your coffee beans fresh from the grinder.
Many careful steps later, you’ve got yourself the perfect pour of espresso.
When it comes to grinding coffee for brewing at home, some people believe it’s best to grind finer so they have to use less grounds per cup of coffee. This is a myth Brad would like to dispel.
Brad also warns that when grinding your coffee beans at the grocery store you’re dealing with major coffee contamination since there is no cleaning that takes place between grinds. Whenever they grind coffee at Coffee & Company, a handful of house blend beans will always be put through first to balance things out.
Along with a wide range of coffee and espresso drinks to choose from, Coffee & Company also offers an impressive variety of Godiva chocolates. Some of their drinks, like the raspberry truffle mocha, are inspired by what you’ll find in their Godiva selection.
Something unique to Coffee & Company, which strikes a chord with many a customer, is their piano, courtesy of Steve Edwards at Music City. You never know when you’ll find the likes of Terry Reilly or Mary Barry sat down to play a tune.
And you’re more than welcome to do the same, to the tune of a coffee on the house, Brad says.
