Always Fresh. Always Tim Hortons.

I figured it was time to blog about THE BEST coffee place in Canada.

(founded by Canadians of course)

Tim Hortons, seeing as Canada’s officially bilingual I figured it wouldn’t be a problem if I posted the French version, I couldn’t screen the English one properly… : ) … it says ‘Always fresh.’

You should look it up on wikipedia, it’s pretty interesting… take this for example:

The aggressive expansion of the Tim Hortons business resulted in two major changes in the coffee and doughnut restaurant market: independent doughnut shops in Canada were virtually eliminated, and Canada’s per-capita ratio of doughnut shops surpassed those of all other countries.

Haha, though the doughnuts are not my favourite part of the menu, I’d choose the old fashioned Plain doughnut… It’s a flavour, in case you were wondering, not the kind smothered in icing and sprinkles. The old fashioned plain doughnuts have… nutmeg, cinnamon and other stuff like that in the dough bit… it’s really good.

Bagels. The denser, healthier and not-so-sweet counterpart of the doughnut. Check out this fact;

Bagels – of which Tim Hortons sells one out of every two in the Canadian foodservice industry.

That’s pretty amazing. I have to say, my friend introduced me to bagels… I should inform you, I despise bread (commercially baked loaves such as ‘wonder soft’ or whatever it’s called). And bagels… don’t exactly look tantalizing in the least.

But hey, I like cream cheese. So there was this one time I had to grab something quick to eat before skating and I got a bagel w/ cream cheese. AND MAN! Good thing I liked cream cheese because they gave me a freaking SLAB of it between my bagel. If I had to describe it… I’d say the slab of white creamy goodness made up a third of the final product’s thickness, meaning it had half the thickness of the original bagel. It was good. Unhealthily so.

And I guess there’s not turning back, I mean there’s no way I’m even TOUCHING this thing:

I mean, check out the measly spread ! I NEED A SLAB. 

After the bagels, there are the infamous TIMBITS. Ever wonder where the middle bits of your doughnuts end up? 

They become TIMBITS ! I’m joking, Timbits aren’t doughnut holes… doesn’t really matter if they are. Here’s what they look like, I’ll expand after you begin to drool…

Okay, I admit they don’t look particularly yummy, but they’re just bite sized doughnuts, and hell no, not like the substance-lacking version Krispy Kreme sells. These are the real deal… basically they come in all flavours. It’s a given that one of my favourites is old fashioned plain. But do you see the white powdery one? It’s got strawberry jam in it… YUMMM. And the chocolate ones are REALLY GOOD AS WELL… as are the GLAZED ones. I’ve basically listed all the flavours. I like ‘em all. And I WOULD post more personal pictures… except I didn’t make a habit of posing with my food… damn. I should have.

I remember back in the day… Timbits were the treat our teacher would give us for doing well (at whatever), Timbits were the food of choice to bring in by the birthday boy/girl, Timbits were… an everyday food? Almost. Heehee.

… next is COFFEE. I can’t even fully express how much I love Tim Hortons’ coffee. I buy an XL drink, plain coffee. It costs me a mere $1.78… if I’m remembering correctly. And I forgot to mention, Timmys isn’t a wannabe gourmet coffee place *coughGJScough* it’s a modest coffee place that sells brewed coffee, meaning there’s not fancy schmancy latte, flat white, capuccino… ETC. You want a ‘sophisticated’ overpriced drink? Go to Starbucks. xD

I remember the days when I would see people (in grade 7 or so?) carry Starbucks cups around all day… oh the brand power.

So yeah, brewed coffee. ONE pot of coffee, you tell them the size of your drink, and how many sugars and creams. I’m a freak… I go for 4 creams and 2 sugars. I DID mention I like my coffee creamy, didn’t I? It could count as a ‘quirky’ aspect of my personality… yey. Anyway… that’s the coffee, did I mention the term ‘double-double’ became popular because of… wait I’ve got a quote;

A Canadian term used at Tim Hortons outlets is “double-double,” which indicates a coffee with two creams and two sugars. It was added to the second edition of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary on August 10, 2004.

Summer drink: Iced Cappuccino, my brother’s personal favourite. Can’t really describe it, It’s a slushie, but the flavour doesn’t get sucked out like it does with the cordial and ice stuff here… I didn’t drink it often because I get brain freeze really easily. 

Then in the winter, sometimes there are special menu items… Like the beef stew in a bread thing… BEST THING TO EAT ON A SNOWY DAY. I have a picture, with my brother eating it, but I don’t feel like exposing his face. SRY. : P

Actually, now that I’ve mentioned it, their soups are good in general… let’s see how many I can name; Cream of Broccoli, Chicken Noodle Soup, Chili, Clam Chowder… um… I think that’s about it. (There are plenty more… just can’t remember)

Then who can forget about the Roll up the Rim to Win campaign? It’s probably purely for marketing purposes but basically, when you finish your drink, you can roll up the rim of the cup… and possibly win some marvelous prize. The biggest prize I got was a free doughnut. WOOT !

And… what else, what else…

A Canadian cultural fixture

The ubiquity of Tim Hortons, through both effective marketing and the wide expansion of its outlets, makes it a prominent feature of Canadian life. Tim Hortons’ prevalence in the coffee and doughnut market has led to its branding as a Canadian cultural icon, and the media routinely refer to its iconic status. A series of Tim’s television commercials promotes this idea by showing vignettes of Canadians abroad and their homesickness for Tim Hortons.

 

… wikipedia UNDERSTANDS me.