Tim Horton’s in China (Timmie’s secret revealed)

TimmiesI drink a lot of coffee.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this confession, but I thought I’d make it regardless.

I drink so much in a day that I’ve set a cut-off limit of 5pm, anything later and I increase my chances of having night-terrors. Now, instead of night-time misadventures, I find myself cramming cups in the hour leading up to 5pm, causing me to be a tweaking twitchy mess of a person.

When I first moved to China, up in a small town just outside of Dalian in China’s north-east, it was a hassle to even track down instant coffee that didn’t come in crappy satchels and were made of a powder than never quite dissolved.

I’m not sure if it’s my change in location or China’s breakneck development, but now finding coffee (even proper non-instant grinds) isn’t much of a hassle. However, there’s still something missing – it’s just not Timmies.

Tim Horton’s coffee, for anyone not from Canada (or one of the few US states that have a chain), is a quintessential Canadian coffee/donut shop that holds the unique honour of also working its way into our national identity.

Say “large double double” to any Canadian and they’ll almost assuredly know what you mean.

Alas, unlike Starbucks, there’s not a Tim Horton’s drive-thru for more than 9,000 km (Starbucks has a location about 200m from my apartment). Fortunately, for the last couple years my (true and dear) friend Amanda has made it her Christmas mission to stock my Chinese cupboards with Tim Horton’s coffee via their brew-at-home packets of “authentic” Tim Horton’s blend.

The gesture forced me to bite the bullet and purchase myself a coffee maker a while back – but the results have been lackluster at best. The coffee was alright, but didn’t have that “Timmies” quality.

I blamed my coffeemaker (cheapish Phillips), the water, the milk/cream ratio… nothing seemed to work.

So, I started hunting around and found this interesting post. It claims, from a source deep within the Tim Horton’s echelon of power, that no matter what I do, I’ll never get that Timmies’ taste – as the stuff brewed at the shop contains something my packets don’t.

The secret Tim Horton’s ingredient? Roasted black mustard seed. Apparently you just grind them into the coffee (to taste) and voila! True Timmies at home.

One problem – finding roasted black mustard seeds here might be just as hard as finding a Tim Horton’s drive-thru.

But I’m making it my mission (and Amanda’s generously offered to Santa me some seeds should I not find them by Christmas). If any fellow Canucks have tried this, or try this before me, let me know the results.

Note: other Internet sources, and Tim Horton’s corp, state that this is completely false and that Tim Horton’s has no “secret ingredient”. They state that you just require a commercial coffeemaker that (a) super heats the water, and (b) doesn’t burn the coffee while it’s sitting in the pot (Timmies has a 20-minute freshness rule). Though both of these make sense, additional research online showed people who had bought the “official Tim Horton’s coffeemaker”, and the home brew was still missing something.

Update – 8/20/2008

I’ve just heard back from Amanda, whose husband rushed out to buy some roasted black mustard seeds, and we have total success!

Approximate usage:
Amanda put 1/4 tsp of roasted black mustard seeds mixed in with two heaping tbsp of coffee for a 12-cup coffeemaker set to “medium” strength (she’s apparently got a way cooler coffeemaker than my 2-cup beast).

Also – she wasn’t using Timmie’s brand coffee grinds, but just regular Folgers.

16 Responses

  1. Ah I miss that and Tim’s English Toffee Cappuccino. I usually have my parents ship cans of it at Christmas, but you’re right it’s not the same. My girlfriend did get addicted to their hot chocolate though so there is hope for a franchise in China yet.

    Maybe we can convince the Shanghai Consulate to open one in their waiting room? We can use promoting Canadian culture as an excuse — oh wait the conservatives just tried to cut that program.

    J.

  2. I’m a bit in the Starbucks-ruined-Timmies camp by forcing the chain to compete and add a bunch of esspresamoccappuchinos to their menu – but I have to admit, the English Toffee Cappuccino is a guilty pleasure.

    And there we go John – our mission, should we choose to accept it is to get Tim Horton’s to open in China! 🙂 Can I get one in the Suzhou SIP… the consulate in Shanghai, while closer, is still a bit far for a cup of coffee.

  3. Ryan, that is probably doable as there is enough foreigners in SIP who’d probably go for Tim’s over Starbucks any day.

    One challenge though with it’s Chinese marketing strategy. We have to shake off the idea that Tim’s is only for the elderly. When my girlfriend visited Tim Horton’s for the first time in June, her reaction was “why do only old people go here?” How do we make it young and hip? or How do we get lao taitais to start drinking coffee?

    J.

  4. Ok where did he buy the mustard seeds? And how many cups of coffee did she make with the proportions that she used, sounds like you are on to something! (Or Amanda is!)

  5. I’m still waiting for Dunkin Donuts to open in Shenzhen. Or maybe I should take more cheap flights to Malaysia…that cheap coffee (1/2lb. for 12 yuan) I bought in Malacca is really good.

  6. Pingback: If it had just been a mirror, this would all be over now | A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life | The Humanaught

  7. “Amanda put 1/4 tsp of roasted black mustard seeds mixed in with two heaping tbsp of coffee for a 12-cup coffeemaker”

    – is the above portions correct? Most coffee makers require a tbsp for 2 cups. Two tbsps for 12 cups would make a very very weak coffee.

    Anyone try this and come up with the optimum brew?

  8. For a stronger brew you can use 5 tbsp of coffee to one generous tsp of the black mustard seeds!!! Hope that helps! Too much mustard seed = VERY upset stomache!!!

    • How do you roast the black mustard seeds? Are they crushed when added to the coffee or in whole? I can get black mustard seeds at the local east indian store but its not roasted? When you roast them should they turn grey?

  9. THE HOME PACK IS ONLY 2 OZ OF COFFEE; IN STORE COFFEE USES 2.5 OZ OF COFFEE – TRY A BUNN COFFEE MAKER WITH 2.5 OZ IT’S AS CLOSE AS YOU GET

    MIGHT BE A 5 MIN STEEP INSTEAD OF USUSAL 4 MIN – THATS THE TIME THE WATER WILL SIT IN THE FILTER WITH THE COFFEE

    WATER MUST BE BOILING OR AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE
    WATER MUST ME FILTERED IF POSSIBLE
    URN AND BAASKET MUST BE FREE OF RESIDUE AS THIS WILL
    MAKE THE COFFEE BITTER.

    COFFEE MUST BE AS FRESH AS POSSBILE- DON’T OPEN CAN OR PACKETS UNTIL YOUR READY TO MAKE COFFEE
    ID USING HOME PACKETS ADD ROUGHLY 2 HEAPING TEASPOONS FROM A CAN TO EQUAL THE IN STORE COFFEE STRENGHT OR 25% MORE COFFEE BY WEIGHT

    • I found a BUNN coffee maker and I make it at home… I bought the Timmy’s coffee at first but at $16.00 per tin… NOT. So we switched… noticed a change right away. I actually got a packet of coffee from a timmy’s. It measured out to 2/3 of a cup.

      18% table cream… and 2tsp of sugar… = a large dd.

  10. I live in Canada and have tasted coffee all over the world. Tim Hortons is a rather mid quality coffee. You should strive to match a good cup of Italian or Columbian coffee that could be found at the top cafe’s around the world. Tim Hortons is cheap mainstream coffee. However, to each there own. I won’t argue with your taste buds 🙂

  11. Dan’s right! Tim Hortons is cheap mainstream coffee. We all know its addictive and this post was great for explaining that. I bet this wont stop you from drinking it again, and again and again anyways.

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