Tim Hortons

This may very well be the only time you’ll ever see me review a bagged commercial tea. My real life friend for a decade up in Ontario sent me a big ol’ package of teas after she found out I went tea crazy. Unfortunately, I must not have relayed to her I’m a loose leaf guy because I ended up with half a dozen varieties of tea bags of different flavors /sigh

Thus, here I sit feeling obligated to TRY at least one of them once before I give this all away…..so here goes.

I’ve never tasted something so tart yet washed out at the same time. It’s like they are TRYING to pack some flavor punch in it but it’s so shallow it makes me want to laugh. And the worst part is it doesn’t even remotely taste like blueberries! It’s more of a tangy raspberry clone or something.

In honor of the $10 shipping she paid to get all this too me, I’m forcing myself to drink it all….but I am not happy about it >.<

So I was at a comedy show last week and the comedian had a bit about Tim Horton’s and how he was explaining to a non Canadian who Tim Horton was. The story was he convinced this non-Canadian that Tim Horton was the first and greatest president of Canada and to honor him we open a coffee and donut shop in every community in Canada.

So for anyone that doesn’t know, Tim Horton may have been a great man (or not so great depending on who you ask) but he was never premier nor president of Canada. ha ha. Go Hockey!

So I am having a steeped tea because I have a roomie staying with me. I get up at 5 am to get ready for work and try not to make much noise in the morning. I ended up leaving the house super early so stopped at Timmies to get my usual go to. I still ended up being at work a half hour early. It is not too bad this morning. Not as smooth as usual. Must have been the end of the pot. It is still thick and a strong. I think it is a Ceylon base but who knows. Tim is not giving up his secrets.

It’s been just one of those days. Woke up late, broke two glasses (one of which contained milk and got all over my breakfast of toast). So had to go to work with no breakfast and bad Canadian winter roads; took an extra half hour to get to work.

As I’m feeling sorry for myself, my awesome co-worker brings me in my usual order from Tim Hortons: a steeped tea. I am forever indebted!

While it is not the most delicious tea it still somehow manages to hit the right spot every time. It is dark, almost looks like black coffee, the orange pekoe flavour is strong, but not bitter, it feels heavy and it leaves a creamy after taste.

My day is now back on track, and thanks to this tea(and my co-worker), this day looks like it will be pretty good after all.

I’m a very picky mint person. 1. I rarely like to use it and 2. if its at all bitter I will hate it.

This tea is one of those, DO NOT STEEP TO LONG teas. I found after 4 mins it was bitter and nothing would change that. Not a huge fan.

I wouldn’t mind trying it at a lower steep time to see if I liked it a little better in the future.

I found this to be a rather BLAH tea when it comes to an Earl Grey. It lacked body and taste unless you add some sugar and milk. I don’t drink it at all anymore but when I did I found that adding sugar and milk (2&2) made it smell and some what taste like fruitloops.

This tea is a great make me feel better tea.

When ever I have a cold I’ll make a pot, add REAL honey into it and enjoy. It always makes me feel better, maybe not physically but mentally. ;)

You do get a sick lemon flavour if you make it with sugar and by sick lemon I mean a lemon cough drop. Yuck

When I stopped drinking coffee my husband was heart broken because he had no idea what to get me when he went on a “timmy’s run”. I told him a XL Steep Tea would be just fine.

I have to say, I was rather disappointed the first time. Back when I first tried it I was a black tea drinker for all teas. This tea is not one I would ever suggest drinking black. It was way to bitter.

The second time around I asked for 2 milk and 2 sugar, this result was much better and has remained the way I drink it.

All in all the hype they made on TV was sadly over rated. Its an okay tea but its nothing special.

So I’m back in school, and finally have regular access to some sort of computer again. Albeit not mine, which is just not the same thing. Particularly since I can’t access my iTunes…

Still, back in school! I managed to snag a locker someone forfeited from last semester – whoop, you just feel like tourist in school until you get a locker. This is also mighty important when you’re Canadian and need a place to stash all your winter gear – heavy coats on top of books are not fun to cart around a uni campus. And I needed a place to put my tea so I wasn’t hauling bags of leaves around in my bag all the time! So yeah, I got a locker and gleefully stashed my coat in it and went to my second class.

Which was naturally interrupted by one of the school’s normally-rare fire alarms. So I spent most of that class outside with no coat, and getting my Chucks wet in the snow I would otherwise avoid. What can you do.

My school has installed these clean, cold water dispenser things by all the water fountains, so people can easily fill up water bottles! So cool! They don’t dispense hot water, unfortunately, so I still have to trek to a coffee shop/food establishment for that. Still, guess I could try out the shaken bottle of matcha method. People do do that with cold water, right?

Anyway, I ran through a couple of my teas today, but I got a little sick of tasting their flavour being ruined by being brewed in cardboard cups. (I need to remember to bring empty travel mugs that I can brew in!) So I threw up my hands and said, cheap bagged it is so that I don’t keep wasting my stuff. And I went to Timmie’s and got this.

Maybe my standards are low at the end of the day, maybe they added too much sugar (no, I know they did), but this isn’t that bad. I haven’t had a plain EG in forever – what should it taste like? This reminds me more of black licorice than anything citrus. The base could be stronger. It’s not good. But it’s pretty pleasant nevertheless. I could stand to have this again.

Didn’t mind it – good in a pinch if not steeped too long. My first venture was in an XL cup so I had to watch the double tea bag that was added. Once it was pulled, however, it was ok. Let’s face it, it’s not designer tea like DAVID’s TEA but it was good.
You may want to add sweetener though (I didn’t, but that’s just me…)

Mmmmmm. Would I like some tea with my sugar? Yes. Yes I would. :)

Cuz really, this is just a cup of sugary creamy goodness.

I probably shouldn’t order double-double anymore as 95% of the time I drink my teas plain – this is just insane compared to what I’m used to. Insanely good.

Hah! – I just realized that this tea has only been rated on Steepster 8 times in 3 years. I was surprised to see it here.

Back to studies means sometimes grabbing tea a timmy’s on the way to class. On Wednesday, I was way to busy to steep my own tea in the morning so I grab Eg with my breakfast. Even though I don’t want to be back to the daily grind, this tea is one good thing to keep my mind on.

So I had this tea yesterday to fight off my cold/ whatever this is. It was so soothing and relaxing drinking this tea. Really one of my faves.

The past two days have crazy and I didn’t really have time to steep my own tea, so I have been devoted to Tim Hortin’s Earl Grey. No problem here, it my first love tea-wise, the drink that started my love of tea, so to have it’s comfort and aroma in my time of stress and busyness is just perfect. I love getting the large one because I can refil it later and it will taste just as awesome, a real deal.

Honestly a classic for me, this brings me back to the early tea days, it`s all I would drink, earl grey just black. I love this one. There is just something nostalgic about it whenever I drink this tea, it brings me comfort and happy memories. The smell/aroma is just heavenly and the taste is sublime.

I had this one yesterday morning and haven’t been able to log it until now. It was ‘ok’ but nothing special, really. As for the black tea base it was a nice medium strength but the the Earl Grey-ness was a bit on the weak side.

It was a nice-hot-cup for a mellow morning of research and free wifi on the run but not a sturdy or memorable cuppa.

We had some time to kill today while we were out, so we decided to stop in and have sandwiches and drinks. I don’t go to Tim Horton’s often so I’m not familiar with their tea selection. To order quickly I just asked for green tea. I was able to drink it, but it didn’t taste good at all. If I wasn’t told that it was a green tea I wouldn’t have been able to recognize it. It tasted bitter and murky and oh so disappointing, especially when compared to the yummy little chicken sandwich they made me. Furthermore, the price for Tim Horton’s bagged tea confuses the heck out of me. Their prices range by the size, but regardless of the size you still only get one tea bag. The only difference is that you get a larger cup and more water. But to confuse their logic even further, after ordering, we went back and asked for a cup of hot water, and they gave it to us in a large sized cup for free. whaaaaat? Now that’s a head scratcher.

This is my comfort cup of tea. I swing by Timmy’s to pick up some Earl Grey whenever I have long study sessions or am rushing to work, and it never fails to calm and energize me at the same time. Fair enough to those who say it’s nothing special; it’s not the best I’ve had, but it’s definitely a favourite, kind of like an old knit sweater or a frayed pair of jeans. Timmy’s Earl Grey makes for an excellent double-double if you buy it large (my dad was the one who pointed this out to me) and most definitely a latte. But be careful not to oversteep it! That being said, you can most certainly use the teabag to brew another cup. Bravo Timmy’s for this one!

Yeah, I don’t care. I’m just going to say it: I have been loving this stuff lately. It’s delicious. It’s probably the most satisfying apple and/or cinnamon tea I’ve had.

I’m even going to admit that I get milk in it because the first time around I thought it was black tea. It was tasty and comforting so I repeated it. I get it on the way into work and it sits steeping until I get settled in and the phones die down and I finally have time to drink it, and it’s lovely. Also really fragrant! People have been asking me what it is.

No shame here.

A very simple green tea, pretty lackluster as far as green teas go.

I found this version of Earl Grey dull & lacking flavour. Perhaps it was the way that it was made for me but I was surprised because I normally enjoy Earl Grey teas.

I didn’t enjoy it, it tasted quite strange.

This is actually my favourite tea from Tim Hortons, definitely my go-to whenever I decide to go there. I love how light and tasty this tea is, it tastes a lot better once it’s been steeped for a little while. Don’t take the bag out right away!

I enjoy the general spice that this tea offers, although it leaves a bit of an after taste on my tongue.

I tried this as my last free beverage at the hotel, as a double double too (two creams, two sugars). Steepsterites have heard me rave in the past about a local chai bar that makes the best chai ever, and how everything else mega pales in comparison, so I was expecting this to crash and burn.

It so did not crash and burn at all. Way better than expected. Usually the chai you get at restaurants taste slightly bitter and extremely watered, or even milked (?), down. Here, I was able to distinctly taste cinnamon and liquorice. Very nice combination. The liquor looked pure white. I kept steeping and steeping it, trying to draw out as much flavour as possible, and despite the white colour, which led me to believe it would be weak, it was like drinking a creamy cinnamon candy.

It doesn’t sweep me off my feet, but it’s decent. TH spicy teas in general seem the most promising.