Tim Horton's

While sitting in my personality psychology lecture today and learning about the variety of personality characteristics of humans that derived from higher-order primates, my mind started to wander off and brainstorm about what I should write about next in my blog.

Attentively listening to the lecture—and certainly not on facebook, #whatshouldwecallme or lululemon.com (which actually originated from Vancouver)—I got a brain blast like no other.

Even though the professor kept mumbling things like “important”, “need to know”, “may not pass class if…”—all I could think about was the fact that I had not yet written about the one establishment that embodies everything that is Canada.

I could not believe that I had failed my moral duty, as a Canadian, to shed light on the most magnificent Canadian-made place in the history of ever. Why yes, I am indeed talking about the one, the only, Tim Horton’s.

Before any trip up to the cottage, chalet, airport or hockey rink it customary to make a quick stop at your local Tim Horton’s.

It is known under many names: Timmy’s, Tim’s, Timmy Ho’s, but they all mean the same thing, a great Canadian shop to get real good and real cheap, food.

When explaining Tim Horton’s to my American friends, I get many perplexed looks. “So it’s the same thing as Dunkin’ Donuts?” they ask…to which I reply, no, not even a little bit—it’s so much more.

Obviously Starbucks has the better espresso drinks, but you don’t really go to Tim Horton’s for the fancy shmancy lattes.  You go for a cup of Joe and a box of 20 timbits, all for just a little more than toonie.

Tim Horton’s is such an important facet of Canadian culture, that its menu items have been embedded into our vocabulary.

For example:

·      Timbits: the little donut holes, (known as munchkins at Dunkin Donuts), but they are 10x better than munchkins I can assure you. My favorites are the sour cream glazed ones, but the chocolate ones are usually the first to go in a party pack.

·      Double-double: a coffee with two creams and two sugars (the standard drink order at Tim Horton’s)

·      Ice-cap: The Tim Horton’s version of an iced cappuccino—the drink of choice during the summer. However, if you ask an iced cappuccino instead of an ice cap, they might not know what you’re talking about!

After talking to some people from Rochester, I recently learned that several Tim Horton’s have opened in upstate New York. However, if you want to get the real Canadian experience, the true Tim Horton’s environment—you gotta go north of the border to grab your Tim’s.