Mystery: The Tim Hortons Obsession

someone told me they put drugs in the creamer, I've yet to confirm this because I take my coffee black.

I believe the draw is more a convenience thing, especially when they're on every corner.

The draw is definitely the coffee (for me). When I have people visit from out of town, they always rave about Tim Horton's.

It could also be that there is a bit of a connection with the person the company is named after, considering his short stint with the Sabres back in the 70s.

Eight o clock coffee made in a french press is the best brew for the least $$.

I like Tim hos a lot but I dont go anymore because of rude service and stale baked goods. Sounds picky I know but when you are paying somebody to perform a service that you could do if you had more time you sould at least expect a fresh muffin and a less than hostile employee taking your money and lecturing you on the flaws of your ordering.

If you want to get good coffee without waiting in line just get a cheap french press and a bag of grounds to keep at the office. As long as you have a hot water valve on the water cooler you will be all set. For baked goods just stop by a bakery or better yet make them yourself.

I have stopped getting coffee at Tim Hortons all together. We have gotten countless old cups of coffee that were undrinkable, tasted like burnt dirt. We have thrown out plenty cups of coffee from here, mostly because we usually do the drive thru and by the time you wait 15 min. for it to reach a drinkable temperature, we are too far away to turn around and request a fresh cup. I too, don't get the obsession with Tim H. They are inconsistent and are horrible at accommodating the long lines, I still don't understand people sitting in the road on Rt.20 risking an accident just for an old cup of coffee. (the Rt. 20 and Hamburg village locations are terrible with this).

And I agree that a french press makes a better cup of coffee than a coffee maker.

It is odd, I travel quite a bit to the finger lakes, CNY and other areas. You can't even get in the parking lot of some Tim Hortons on a Sat AM in Buffalo - in Syracuse you might be the only customer in the place. It has been like that for quite sometime, when they first opened, I though it would take a while for them to steal some market share from DD, Starbucks and the others. Tim's has been in CNY for well over 6 months and it is still the same.
It is kind of odd too, that Starbucks closed one of their new modern looking cookie cutter stores, and Tims reopened it, all they did was change the sign. It has to be the oddest looking Tim Hortons in the chain........

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I will get a bagel or peanut doughnut once in a while. I agree, it's nothing special enough to wait in line for. It's one of those anomalies in Buffalo I guess. I wont call it "over hyped" becasue I believe the hype surrounds the coffee (something I don't like to begin with). I don't really know many people who go out of their way for the food.

I blacklisted this place about 2 years ago. I tried to get a egg/cheese bagel one day around noon, and was told I couldn't because it was lunch and they were no longer serving breakfast. However, I could get a egg and cheese sandwich, or just a bagel, but no egg and cheese bagel. I thought the premise of this placed was based on coffee/breakfast, if breakfast did not exist, there would be no Tim Hortons. The girl working the drive-thru intercom was clearly getting frazzled by this point, so i just drove off. I felt like I was living a Seinfeld episode, so it was somewhat amusing. That being said, I just get my coffee fix at home every day, and always have.

I just wish I could buy one of those commercial coffee brewers for my kitchen. I think this is just a Buffalo and Canadian thing, its what we know, the coffee is good but the food is below par. Buffalonians probably have fond memories of Tim Hortons on summer weekends while staying at their Canadian beach houses. It brings back fond memories of summer mornings with coffee and donuts. Also buffalo has blue collar roots and this is a blue collar breakfast after a 6 pack of beer and a half a pack of ciggys the night before. The tradition probably stemmed from that. I find it hard to believe that people from out of town rave about this coffee. I prefer DD coffee and McDonalds but usually go to TH because they have the paper biodegradable cups, not the styrofoam "Last forever in land fill cups". Waiting for a half hour for a cup of coffee while your engine is running is completely insane. Get a life or buy a coffee maker.

The coffee is OK....nothing stellar, but light years ahead of Dunkin' Donuts. Dunkin' Donuts has the most vial swill I've ever tasted. Strangely that seems to be a Buffalo issue. I've had countless DD cups in NY, Boston and other places east of here and it's just fine.

That said, I don't go to either much. I'm a black coffee person but when I visit one of the Donut shops I need cream so I can't really taste the coffee. Both DD and TimHo's coffee have a weird taste to them if tasted black.

I do visit Starbuck's a couple of times a week. Regardless of time of day I select the morning roast and they will brew it up if there is none available (Company Policy that a lot of baristas are unaware of, but you can get it if you push them).

And just to answer a previous question, yes, I make coffee everyday. About 2 cups black of either Starbuck's (anything but Pike's) whole beam or Wegman's (Seattle Roast) whole bean coffee. Haven't started making my own French Press yet, but I'm thinking about it.

This probably has something to do with the cultural connection between Buffalo and Canada... whether we think about it or not we are bound in many ways. Embrace it more instead of pushing it away. Plus our obsession with Timmy Ho's is no different than other cities obsessions with DD or Starbucks.

I think for the volume of customers they get, they do a pretty good job. I never would wait in a drive through when you can usually just walk in and out with your drink. Much faster. The idea of a drive through bothers me.

I would agree that their food is alright. Nothing specialty but their soup and sandwich combo is a good and cheap. Plus a bit healthier then going to Burger King or McDonald's. Which brings me to another reason I feel they are popular. They fill the American in us for Fast Food but drive in us to want something healthier than Burger King. People substitute Timmy Ho's in place of other chains when choosing a lunch destination.

I think its the Canadian connection. Buffalo, Detroit and other border towns have an identity that is tied to its relationship with Canada. We love the Hip, drink Blue, play hockey and stop at Tim Horton's on the way to work. Everywhere else in the NE has a DD on every corner akin to TH.

Liquid cocaine - that's what coworkers, friends, and family, call it. I don't drink coffee, but taking it black, with cream/not, etc., they all claim an addiction.

During last year's Downtown Housing tour, one woman said the area became a candidate location only because TimHo's was available.

Level of service and freshness of brew does vary by location, possibly by franchisee. We gave up on the THs in Rochester, but are well served by the Buffalo units.

Canadian affection hooks some out of town visitors. And that they will serve tea in a ceramic pot/cup. Yeah for real pottery.

RealSbrof, I agree that it serves a middle ground between trendy coffee shops and traditional fast foot places. Older folks feel comfortable meeting there.

I love Tim Horton's because I think it's better than any of the American doughnut chains. (I enjoy their Nanaimo bars, too.) With that said, I find the service much better and the coffee fresher in Canada.

Buffalo and most of the northeast is spoiled with their choices. Much of the southwest suffers from doughnut shops that are revoltingly bad with doughnuts that look like they've been aging on shelves for months. In LA, there are two locally-owned shops that make amazing doughnuts. With such little competition here, I would think Tim Horton's could do quite well.

Yuck, tried 2 different locations, one city one burbs [Clarence Center], service was the worst in both, in fact at the burb location I walked out without anything. I also did the make your own for a week to check out the savings. Pretty amazing actually, as a morning Latte drinker [1] and about 2 other black coffee's during the day, with tips it worked out to nearly 50 a week, thats a lotta mulla over the course of a year!

I go to school in Albany and have the choice of either DD or Starbucks out there. I can't stand the taste of DD coffee and don't like their overpriced menu. As for Starbucks, I have never received good service at any location I've been to. The personnel there always have a snobby attitude and make it seem like its an inconvenience to fill my order. Whenever I go to Tim Horton's, the coffee always tastes good and the donuts are always fresh and reasonably priced.

My personal opinion of Timmy Ho's seems to be the opposite of most commenting on the subject. I absolutely love their coffee (triple triple)and their Iced Cappucinos are to die for on a hot summer day, so I make sure I get there at least once a day. Its convenient during the semester to grab a quick cup of coffee, a delicious blueberry muffin (which I highly reccommend) as well as a chocolate chip cookie to get me through my morning classes. I know this seem pretentious but us Buffalonians are lucky to have franchises such as Tim Hortons and Mighty Taco here in Buffalo. I have friends who have moved away from Buffalo for better job opportunities and a smaller tax base who miss Tim Hortons. I def prefer Timmy Ho's over both Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks. I will admit that sometimes I do get a stale cup of coffee but if you bring the cup back they are more than happy to give you a fresh cup for no charge and your choice of a baked good for the inconvenience. The location in the delaware commons is the worst location so I stay away from there. The one on Colvin across from Dash has very courteous employees who are always nice, they even call me by my name. I am drinking my extra large triple triple as I write this comment as a matter of fact, and its delicious!

Given the Buffalo connection with Tim, we should have had one of these soon after the first one opened in Hamilton, Ont. back in 1964.

Wow, wikipedia says there are 80 TH in Buffalo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Horton

Cafe Aroma, Taste (EA), Spot, heck Allentown Trading Company(MiniMart) have better coffee then Tim Hortons. Not sure what the appeal of this place is.. got me.

ilivpitbuls - Eight o clock coffee is incredible with or without the French Press!

do you really care about the taste of the coffee if you are drinking a sugar/cream laden triple triple! ugh.

Kornerstone Coffee. You can find them at a few farmers markets around town, as well as a few retail outlets. Grab a hot cup on site, and take home a pound of beans for $7.00 (whole or ground)!! I think they limit the number of roasts/blends to 5 or so. Their web site is Spartan but the quality of the brew is outstanding.

http://kornerstonecoffee.com/default.htm

they have one in kandahar, AFG because obv. the Canadians are down that way. never made it that far. but it was a pot of gold; tim ho's is better than that garbage dunkin.

Convenience, cost, and trend.

I love the coffee and sometimes even brew it at home. The way they make it in the stores is hard to replicate. I think it has something to do with the precise temperature of the water or duration that it is brewed.
I also think some of the appeal has to do with its limited availability outside of canada/western new york and surrounding areas.
We like feeling special.