cameroncrazy1984: I have 3 Tim Horton's within a 7 mile radius of my house. I have 1 Starbucks within 30 miles. I wonder who's winning THAT battle.

I moved south from Columbus back to Cincinnati and there are no Tim Hortons here, which blows. Are the Tim Hortons only located near or around NHL cities?

gopher321: Cue the 'Dunkin Donuts is superior' crowd.

Look people, just do what I do - make your own coffee at home. Tastes better and it's cheaper.

I love my Bodum 8-cup french press:


My fav roast?
Bohemian Blend from the Chestnut Street Coffee roastery (pops)

... Earthquake blend from WholeFoods is good too.
But, I suggest supporting your local roaster.

gopher321: rcain: gopher321: Cue the 'Dunkin Donuts is superior' crowd.

Look people, just do what I do - make your own coffee at home. Tastes better and it's cheaper.

I love my Bodum 8-cup french press:


My fav roast?
Bohemian Blend from the Chestnut Street Coffee roastery (pops)

... Earthquake blend from WholeFoods is good too.
But, I suggest supporting your local roaster.

I ordered from here: The Green Beanery - great prices and lots of help for people starting out home roasting. 5 kilos of top end Columbian shipped to my door for $50.

HA! You can roast coffee with a freakin popcorn popper?^
Genius!

I might have to put some serious consideration into home roasting since it seems to be minimal time and effort, and easily saves you about 50%. However, I am concerned about ventilation, but that can always be worked out with some forethought.

Thanks for the heads-up, I've added that site to my bookmarks.

A real Canadian coffee shop.

tim hortons coffee is just plain BAD. sorry, fellow canucks, its true. I know, I know, for some reason we love our hockey player themed coffee store, but realistically, the quality of the coffee is horrible, the food is digusting, and the quality of the donuts is about on par with anything you get anywhere else.

What, did they switch to whole tuscan milk?

I went to one in Hamilton. Was nice eh?

FTA:
Tim Hortons Inc. on Friday reported higher third-quarter revenue.

Earnings, however, fell compared to the same period last year.

Gee, I wonder if that second sentence has anything to do with the price increase?

The ones near me are always lined up - in the morning they have people in the parking lots to direct traffic and try to keep the cars off the street.....they fail since the curb lane is usually backed up a good 5-10 cars heading into the lot.

People will still go there if they raise the prices - smart move

Have 3 timmies within 2 blocks of me. The nearest Second Cup is 1 1/2k away but worth the walk.

gopher321: I ordered from here: The Green Beanery - great prices and lots of help for people starting out home roasting. 5 kilos of top end Columbian shipped to my door for $50

You failed to mention the arm and leg they charge for delivery. I was about to order a sampler of green coffee beans for some simple pan roasting experiments... until I noticed the shipping costs were more than the product itself. :(

Anyway, Sweet Maria's (new window) is right across the bay from me in Oakland and was able to get a few lbs shipped for $6 in fees. And being so close, I can go there in person and learn from what seem to be some very knowledgeable coffee people.

costermonger: Starbucks, on the other hand, has a much better product, I can be in and out in under 5 minutes even if there is a line, the employees seem to be somewhere north of your average crack addict in terms of intelligence.. It costs a bit more, I think, but it's entirely worth it. Same with Second Cup, but the only one anywhere near here is inside a mall.

It doesn't cost all that much more anymore - especially if you remember your mug. A tall coffee (equivalent to Timmies large) is a 1.68 with a travel mug. A large coffee at Timmies runs north of 1.50 now doesn't it?

And as you pointed out, there's a big difference in lines - and at least with Starbucks if you get grinds in your cup, they'll give you a free drink as an apology, same with if the line takes too long. Plus free samples are always nice I think. But maybe it's just the Starbucks I like going to.

Try the double frappe homolka at Tim Hortons. You'll just die.

cameroncrazy1984: I have 3 Tim Horton's within a 7 mile radius of my house. I have 1 Starbucks within 30 miles. I wonder who's winning THAT battle.

I have over 12 Starbucks within 5 miles radius and 0 Tim Hortons. I think it depends where you live.

Bored Horde: A real Canadian coffee shop.

That has coffee that would melt a hole in a iron safe it's so goddamn acidic.

If you aren't drinking coffee that was brewed from beans that were eaten and defecated by a bat, then eaten by a bird and then that bird subsequently eaten by a large predatory cat and re-defecated, well...I just can't consider that living.

Actually that home roasting your beans thing sounds pretty fun.

People that refer to it as "Timmies" need scalding coffee thrown in their faces.

gopher321: Don't know about delivery to where you are, but my coffee was $44 and the Purolator shipping was another $6. Not bad.

Ya, I noticed that you're in Quebec and the site is Canadian.
They wanted $16.00 for shipping to the US... very bad.

$6 is about what I'm paying for shipping from Sweet Maria's.
Just got a few 1lb bags: Colombia Finca Buenavista (super-primo: 1lb limit per order), Indian, Ethiopian and Nicaraguan. What's cool with Sweet Maria's is their site is very personal and they actually go out in the field and visit the farms as well as personally writing about what they got out of each bean as far as roast^. What sucks is that they seem to be out of most stock right now. Maybe they have some shipments coming. But since they are just 20-30 minutes away and accessible (sort of) by BART, I can always get my ass over there and see what's up with their stocking process in person. And they might have better selection in-store.

Anyway, thanks for turning me on to the concept of home-roasting.

Playinodds: tim hortons coffee is just plain BAD. sorry, fellow canucks, its true. I know, I know, for some reason we love our hockey player themed coffee store, but realistically, the quality of the coffee is horrible, the food is digusting, and the quality of the donuts is about on par with anything you get anywhere else.

True, the quality is definately meh. I guess I go solely because they have really convenient locations for me (Got one a block from my house, and another right across the street from work.) For a lazy guy like me, can't go wrong.

Tim Horton's coffee tastes terrible. It's extremely bitter. Maybe it's good with tons of sugar and cream, but I like my coffee plain. I'm a fan of dark roasts, so I can appreciate a stronger taste...but that stuff is just bad.

Timbits, on the other hand, are the food of the gods.

Tim's coffee is meant to have cream and sugar. If you drink it black it tastes terrible. WIth them (in a Double Double especially) it has a nice body and the smell is incredible.

Beside, the coffee's ok, but the doughnuts are the special thing.

I'm not shocked they rocketed profits being they opened up a ton of franchises in New York City. Lots of us displaced Canadians in the Big Apple who love a taste of home.

TimeWaste: People that refer to it as "Timmies" need scalding coffee thrown in their faces.

I prefer "T-Ho's" myself. Coined by our friend Michele in about 1992 in Kelowna, BC. Yes, you thought it up sooner somewhere in Northern Ontario, I know.

And the best coffee I've ever had is at Galileo's on Highway 99 about 3/4 of the way between Vancouver and Squamish, so about 2/5 of the way between Vancouver and Whistler. White building on the side of the highway just before the (cool) mining museum. Was a greasy spoon for years and I ate there many times when I worked for the railway. Now it's this little coffee shop that roasts its own using, I have to assume, unicorn farts or something, because the coffee is unbelievable. Roaster is just a little room behind a glass wall on one side of the shop. Just awesome, and they just roast for that one shop. They sell the beans, and they are cheap. Not a chain, don't ship, don't distribute, which is fine because the coffee just gets better in my head when it's a special effort to get it.

Tremendous and if you ever find yourself on that road, you really should go. Keep a lookout when you hit Brittania Beach, which is a nearly invisible community that most people whoosh by because, hey, there's a McDonald's and T-Ho's 8 or so clicks up the road.

Hau Ruck: Are the Tim Hortons only located near or around NHL cities?

No, we also have them in Hamilton.

/bitter
//farts in Bettman's general direction

saintstryfe: Tim's coffee is meant to have cream and sugar. If you drink it black it tastes terrible. WIth them (in a Double Double especially) it has a nice body and the smell is incredible.

Extra large double double. Holy shiat, that stuff is like crack.

I really need a large double-double after reading this thread. Anyone want to make a run for me?

What they did ~5 years ago in my province was increase prices and make the donuts smaller (at same time).
They stopped freshly baking them and simply import them frozen now.

TheOmni: cameroncrazy1984: I have 3 Tim Horton's within a 7 mile radius of my house. I have 1 Starbucks within 30 miles. I wonder who's winning THAT battle.

I drive past two Tim Horton's on my 5 mile drive to work. I think there's a Starbucks or two as well though. But I never really notice them.

Get it right, eh?

"Tim Hortons", NOT "Tim Horton's".

Why? Tim Horton started the company, right? Well, yeah, but Quebec and Bill 101 meant the apostrophe needed to be removed. To save a couple bucks, they removed it off everything.

(The coffee, sandwiches, and donuts are absolutely horrible by the way. Why can't they make any of the bread or donuts locally, instead of shipping it in frozen?)

Bonehead submitter needs to know the difference between REVENUE and NET INCOME.

Shazam999: Bonehead submitter needs to know the difference between REVENUE and NET INCOME.

Maybe they need to stop spending more than they bring in.

good_2_go: Shazam999: Bonehead submitter needs to know the difference between REVENUE and NET INCOME.

Maybe they need to stop spending more than they bring in.

You mean, they aren't right now? Did you even read the FA?

Profits fell to $61.2 million, down 22.3 per cent, because of $23.1 million in legal costs associating with converting the company into a Canadian corporation.

Do you even understand what these words mean?

So, people really don't understand the difference between Revenue and Profit?

Revenue is the amount they take in from sales. If you pay $1.50 to them, it's $1.50 in profit. The company's revenues increased over the past year.

Profit/Net Income is what you have after expenses are taken into account. If that $1.50 item cost $0.90 to make, that's taken out. Same for wages, taxes, legal expenses like Tim's had here this past year, etc. If the expenses are greater than the revenues, you end up with a net loss. The company's profits fell over the last year.

I'd expect that the company expects the cost of materials and wages to increase over the next year, so they're raising prices. If you aren't willing to pay those prices for their products, I suggest you don't.

Where do people live that ship in stuff in frozen? We've always had it fresh-baked here (Newfoundland), with no plans I've heared of to change it any time soon.

Bored Horde: A real Canadian coffee shop.

Their specialty drinks are ok, but their coffee tastes like cardboard. I would try it every once in a while to see if its just a certain location or if things have changed, but nope; always cardboard.

next you're going to tell me that iPods are produced for much less than they're sold! it's almost as if the cost goes up with the demand!

Where do people live that ship in stuff in frozen? We've always had it fresh-baked here (Newfoundland), with no plans I've heared of to change it any time soon.

I'm reasonably sure it's all frozen here in Ontario, with one exception -- Windsor still has chocolate-dipped cinnamon rolls, so I suspect they still make those in-house there.

Interesting how a bit of ocean in the way may make it cheaper to bake stuff locally instead of importing frozen premade stuff, and thus preserve the way it tasted over a decade ago.

Something changed in the coffee around the time Wendy's bought the company, and it's never quite had that skunk-like smell that it used to emit, along with the taste that went with it. It was still relatively crap coffee, but for chain coffee it wasn't bad.

As for the chocolate-dipped cinnamon rolls... they were heavenly. They're not quite as good now, but I still wish they had them up here in Smogland.

costermonger: My neighborhood is one of what must be a small number of areas in Canada where Starbucks has a greater presence than Tims.

It's an easy choice for me.. Tims has simply ludicrous lines at rush hour, the product really isn't very good, and the employees.. Oh god, the employees. Is it so hard to tell the difference between cream and milk? Where in the concept of "coffee with milk" did I ask for sugar? If you want to complain about it, get back in line for 20 minutes.

Starbucks, on the other hand, has a much better product, I can be in and out in under 5 minutes even if there is a line, the employees seem to be somewhere north of your average crack addict in terms of intelligence.. It costs a bit more, I think, but it's entirely worth it. Same with Second Cup, but the only one anywhere near here is inside a mall.

^ THIS, OH SWEET JEEBUS, THIS!

My wife and I usually hit Second Cup or Starbucks, but once in a while we will have no other choice but a Tims. Swear to God, we have had Tims maybe half a dozen times in the past 6 months and of those times, half of those orders were farked up. We ordered tea and got coffee, asked for milk and got cream, or they added sugar when none was asked for. The only way you can ensure they don't fark your coffee is to order it black.

unyon: kivelo: we have had Tims maybe half a dozen times in the past 6 months and of those times, half of those orders were farked up. We ordered tea and got coffee, asked for milk and got cream, or they added sugar when none was asked for. The only way you can ensure they don't fark your coffee is to order it black.

It's like the quintessential Canadian experience. Like getting your passport renewed or watching the Leafs play. Long, boring, and ultimately unsatisfying.

If there was a Tim's theme park, the roller coaster would have a long line, wouldn't have few corners and hardly any hills, and would be over far too quickly. But it would be called the Canadian Express, so dipshiats would line up anyways.

you know, a year ago I renewed my passport, there was no line, and it only took about 3 minutes because I had filled in the forms at home. Way shorter than a trip to tim hortons at lunch.

rcain: $6 is about what I'm paying for shipping from Sweet Maria's.

I have some of their Keyan now...man...it's good. It will wake you up but it's good stuff.

/likes Larry's Beans on the east coast