There are few things more Canadian...

...than drinking Tim Hortons coffee at the Tim Hortons Brier.

What better opportunity to try out some Tim Hortons than at the afternoon draw at the 2008 Brier yesterday?

Before I get started on my impressions of said coffee, I should mention that some people would immediately dismiss Tim Hortons as "not good coffee." However, a lot of people drink it, and while it may not have all the flavors and aromas of fine coffee (which don't matter anymore when you make it a "double-double"), it is ubiquitous, and relatively fresh — especially compared to a lot of the other options out there (7-11 anyone?).

I ordered a large black coffee (see above) for this hack of a review. Typically I have Tim's with milk, but wanted to be able to taste only the coffee today.

First impressions? It's served very hot — too hot to taste right away without destroying your tastebuds, and probably too hot for the good of the flavor and aroma compounds in their coffee. There's an aroma of burnt/toasted with a slight hint of burnt caramel.

Once it cools off enough to start tasting, a bit of bitterness and a fair amount of acidity is noticeable in the cup. There is essentially no body/mouthfeel — it's like drinking black water. There don't appear to be any oils on the surface of the liquid either.

As the coffee starts cooling down, things only get worse. The coffee becomes noticeably acidic/sour, bitter, and "carbony" — more or less lacking any smell or taste resemblance to what I would consider coffee. And the aftertaste: the best way I would describe it is like the smell of extracted espresso just knocked out of a portafilter. Yuck.

Finally, a note about everyone's favorite (legal) alkaloid: caffiene! Other bloggers have commented on it, and I will certainly agree that there seems to be a lot of caffeine in Tim Hortons coffee. There's a definite and noticeable rush that follows the consumption of a cup. The only problem with that is the inevitable crash that comes after that rush. But that just means its time for another cup of Timmys. Perhaps I've cracked their (addictive) marketing technique?

The Bottom Line:
Reflecting upon the popularity of Tim Hortons coffee, I can only conclude that people enjoy it so much because they can't actually taste the coffee. Given the popularity of the double-double (Which I must note is a 230 Cal for 16oz. of coffee — more than a similarly sized caffe latté at Starbucks), the coffee really just becomes a faint source of flavor and bitterness to offset the cream and sugar, as well as a nice source of caffeine to jolt you awake in the morning. If you actually want to taste good coffee, you'd best look elsewhere.

That being said, if you are going to drink Tim Hortons coffee (and there are reasons to do so, such as the caffeine kick), here's my advice:

1. Drink it as hot as you can stand, or don't drink it at all. The hotter it is, the less you will be able to taste the not-so-good flavors.


2. Don't drink it black. While I don't recommend the double-double, you should consider adding a little milk or sugar to take the edge off — you really don't want to taste the coffee on its own.


3. Don't order a double-double. (Or a triple-triple — I kid you not I've heard this one before at university.) I'm not a big calorie counter, but I'm sure you can think of more enjoyable ways to consume 230 Calories than by quaffing a large (16oz.) Tim Hortons double-double.