Coffee: McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Starbucks...or? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Coffee: McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Starbucks...or?

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Ironus Butticus
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Since it's still bloody cold and snowing outside and we can't ride, lets have a conversation.

Your favourite coffee - McDonalds McCafe or Tim Hortons? Or one of the others/independents?

...aaaaannnnnd, fight! ;)
 
Other.

Make my own at home. We have the lazy blend for most days (PC medium or dark roast depending on what we buy that week for wifey and I)

When at work i have Mos Mos, i just LOVE their coffee, even with their beans i can't quite recreate it at home.

And then i buy beans locally at back road coffee roasters (owners have motorbikes!) and they have a lot of single origin stuff and fancier kind of coffee...usually used on the weekends when i have time to use the french press.

... if im stuck on the road, i'll go for McDonalds coffee over Timmies, every single time though.
 
Since Tims lost the Arabica bean contact its just watered down garbagio.

Mcdonalds is leading the way for a nice brew since they *gasp* sniped the Arabica bean contract lol.
 
I don't consider Tim's to be coffee. It is a brown and water beverage. Adding two different colors of brown did nothing to make it better. Kind of like chocolate bars vs candy bars. For the masses, they may be equivalent, but once you experience the good stuff, you never want the crap again.

Normally make at home (most beans from Social Coffee on West Beaver Creek, good people). Espresso (or espresso based), pourover, french press or aeropress depending on time and number of people that want something. If I'm out and really feel the need, the reserve coffees brewed on the Clover at Starbucks are very good (and I will not have a 15K clover at home any time soon). For fast and reasonable, McD's works.

If you want a great flat white, go to Oz, they are almost all outstanding. Flat whites in Canada are quite shite. I am still hunting for somewhere that can make them as I remember (the chains suck, working through small cafes with no luck).
 
Tim’s Double double is still king, must be the crack cocaine secret ingredient.

McDonald’s tries hard but still comes up short.

I drink Starbucks when I’m vacationing in Mexico and there are no other choices.

At home I’m drinking Folgers instant coffee black.
 
Tim’s Double double is still king, must be the crack cocaine secret ingredient.
All credibility died here today.

RIP
 
I don't consider Tim's to be coffee. It is a brown and water beverage. Adding two different colors of brown did nothing to make it better. Kind of like chocolate bars vs candy bars. For the masses, they may be equivalent, but once you experience the good stuff, you never want the crap again.

Normally make at home (most beans from Social Coffee on West Beaver Creek, good people). Espresso (or espresso based), pourover, french press or aeropress depending on time and number of people that want something. If I'm out and really feel the need, the reserve coffees brewed on the Clover at Starbucks are very good (and I will not have a 15K clover at home any time soon). For fast and reasonable, McD's works.

If you want a great flat white, go to Oz, they are almost all outstanding. Flat whites in Canada are quite shite. I am still hunting for somewhere that can make them as I remember (the chains suck, working through small cafes with no luck).
Yeah the Clover is dope.
 
Contigo mugs from Costco plus make my own. Once you’ve played around with a half decent coffee machine at home and some decent beans you realize how much better and how cheap it is to brew your own. I forked out just shy of $500 on a half decent espresso machine with a built in grinder a few years ago and it’s paid for itself with making coffee for me and the wife every day multiple times plus making specialty drinks occasionally and use for dinners etc. Buy the roasted beans from Costco at about $10 upwards for a kilo or I bring them back from holidays from coffee farms and Latino stores for less.

If I buy coffee out it’s because I just need caffeine. Tims is gutrot, McDs is ok, Starbucks is overroasted and overpriced.

edit: A long time ago I also bought one of those pod machines for my office. It made disgusting coffee. Sold it within a few weeks.
 
I would never have thought I would say this but I had to concede that I am a nespresso convert.

I like several coffee shops in the city: Dineen, Sam James, Rooster but the nespresso machine with their frother do the trick. A very economical alternative to a proper espresso machine from Italy (e.g. Saeco)

For the chains, Aroma is the best chain for espresso drinks.
 
You Timmies haters sound like Sunny in the electric car thread lol.

Tastes, just like opinions are subjective.Even though you guys are wrong...:)
 
You Timmies haters sound like Sunny in the electric car thread lol.

Tastes, just like opinions are subjective.Even though you guys are wrong...:)
Sorry, there's a difference between having an opinion in competing for 1st place and not even being in the race.

:p
 
I would never have thought I would say this but I had to concede that I am a nespresso convert.

I like several coffee shops in the city: Dineen, Sam James, Rooster but the nespresso machine with their frother do the trick. A very economical alternative to a proper espresso machine from Italy (e.g. Saeco)

For the chains, Aroma is the best chain for espresso drinks.
The economics are largely dictated by volume. The machine is much cheaper, the cost per cup is substantially higher. You are also dealing with coffee that has been ground for months instead of roasted a few days ago and ground a few seconds ago. It's not bad and compared to the other pods, I prefer it, but compared to make-your-own there is still a huge gap imo.
 
McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Starbucks

That's like asking if you want to be shot or hanged.

Tim Hortons serves warm bong water. Mc Donald's was ok when it first came out. It's watered down now. Still better than Tim's. Starbucks, I like my coffee brewed, not pan fried.

Too lazy for a French press. One touch burr 'n brew it is.

full_c637f544-e425-40c1-8164-7bfd6fbc5549.jpg
 
Thought about a poll but with all the options it would have been a mess LOL.

I should have clarified, I brew at home as well of course. We have a cuisinart Grind & Brew which actually makes a surprisingly good cup from whole beans just dumped in the top - it's actually a burr grinder as well, not just a chopper. For the weekends when there's more time I have a french press as well as any certified coffee snob would. ;)

We've been known to bring a pour over on vacation as well, especially when in the USA where the whole land seems saturated in terrible black swill masquerading as coffee.

I will admit to owning a Keurig as well for those "oh **** I hit snooze one too many times on the alarm" mornings. We typically go back and forth between the Starbucks K-Cups, although I will admit that the Costco Kirkland branded dark roast pods are a very close second.

Despite McDonalds being my hands down favourite while away from home, their K-Cups suuuuuuuck for some reason. I think it's because they are designed in a mostly-recyclable fashion and don't have the full plastic bottom, so the water through the coffee just isn't as focused on the grind or something. It's just not the same.

I used to be a big Starbucks guy, but I have to say...the McDonalds brew is freakin good now. Too bad when I'm in the USA for work of pleasure McDonalds coffee down there is still on par with the dishwater Tim Hortons serves here now.
 
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You Timmies haters sound like Sunny in the electric car thread lol.

Tastes, just like opinions are subjective.Even though you guys are wrong...:)
It's not coffee. SCAA defines what coffee should be (brew temp, % dissolved solids etc). Tims doesn't use nearly enough beans. It is a beverage with a loyal following, it is not coffee.
 
A home espresso machine is also good for one of the quickest (and tastiest) dinner deserts you can make for a bunch of people...affogato.
 
As for what beans we use, we are 90% Kicking Horse now. Fell in love with it about 15 years ago when we were out in BC and actually had a cup of it at one of their small shops. Mere months later we started seeing it at retail here in Ontario and have been loyal ever since. 454 Horsepower or Kick-Ass.

Occasionally we'll pickup a bag of Sumatra from Starbucks.
 
McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Starbucks

That's like asking if you want to be shot or hanged.

Tim Hortons serves warm bong water. Mc Donald's was ok when it first came out. It's watered down now. Still better than Tim's. Starbucks, I like my coffee brewed, not pan fried.

Too lazy for a French press. One touch burr 'n brew it is.

full_c637f544-e425-40c1-8164-7bfd6fbc5549.jpg
FWIW, we bought the inlaws Moccamasters. I like the drip coffee out of them better than a typical drip machine, but they are well over the edge of the diminishing returns curve and don't have one for us.
 

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