One envious colleague knows about my coffee fetish, and was wondered out loud whether even the coffee tastes better in NYC.  At first, I thought it was a silly comment, but you know what?  IT DOES!  Even your average cup from a street vendor tastes pretty good.

Sure there are artisanal roasting of superior beans here and yes, there are great barristas that care about their craft.  But do you know what I think makes the biggest difference???

The WATER.  Yep, the tap water here tastes great!  This goes against most people’s idea of the state of tap water in this bustling metropolis, but it is true.

I always thought the tap water tasted good, but never really put too much thought into it.  But, while at dinner with a friend that’s a local, she mentioned that NYC’s tap water consistently rates extremely highly as the healthiest and best tasting in the nation.

A bit of research shows that the municipal water system is fed by 19 reservoirs and three lakes in upstate New York.  Most of the supply is protected and filtered by the natural processes of the upstate ecosystems.  In blind taste tastes, NYC’s water frequently rates right at the very top.

So, it makes sense.  If, the main part of a cup of coffee is water, then BETTER WATER = BETTER COFFEE

For those of us that don’t have the luxury of having best tasting tap water, or have municipal water systems that add a lot of chemicals for treatment, the best thing you can do for the taste of your coffee is to run the water through something like a Brita filter.

The fact that NYC’s water may not be kosher is another story… 

As I sat there sipping my coffee, I looked around and saw how many people were like me, taking advantage of the WiFi there and not so much being there for the coffee. This is definitely not the way it was or the way we see it on TV shows like Friends or Seinfeld where a group of friends would gather at a local coffee shop to engage in meaningful or meaningless conversation and enjoy a cup of coffee together. Instead, a new culture has been created where the norm seems to be engaging in conversation through an instant messaging service of some sort rather than with someone a couple of feet away.

What’s the worst part of all of this? I went to a coffee shop to use the Internet and I really can’t recall if the coffee was good or not… My suggestion to us all is that the next time we want to visit a coffee shop, try bringing a friend instead of your laptop.

Yes I am serious! Sure comparing a cup of coffee from Tim Hortons to many of the other coffee houses out there would be kind of like comparing a McDonald’s hamburger to the gourmet one from the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel in NYC. However, there is a lot to be said about a chain that overtook McDonald’s as the largest food operator in Canada, with close to 3000 stores in Canada and over 500 in the US. Besides whats wrong with a McDonald’s hamburger from time to time?  With 62% of the Canadian coffee market being owned by Tim Hortons its no wonder Canadians consider Tim Hortons a national treasure.

Tim Hortons is a Canadian chain of coffee shops that started with only 2 offerings; Coffee and Donuts. Over the past 46 years Tim Hortons has expanded its menu to offer over 100s of products including wraps, sandwiches, soups, and now breakfast sandwiches.

I’ll get into the food more in depth another time, for now I will just give you the low down on the coffee.

Tim Hortons coffee is always guaranteed fresh. They have in place the 20 minute rule where if a pot of coffee is not served within 20 minutes of its brewing it must be discarded. The coffee that they use is a unique blend of Arabica beans that produces a cup of coffee far less robust than what you will find at your local Starbucks and would be more in tune with what they serve at Dunkin Donuts in the US. For coffee connoisseurs Tim Hortons’ coffee is best described as mild in flavour.

What you get is a nice simple cup of coffee, its hot, its fresh and it pretty consistent now a days with their sugar and milk dispensing machines in place. I like to take mine double double, for those that not familiar with this it simply means 2 cream and 2 sugar.

Although I am not quite sure why I like Tim Hortons so much, I sincerely do recommend those who have never tried them to give them a shot and judge for yourself.

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