For us it was the Canadian version of the Loch Ness monster or bigfoot…someone once told me that there was a Tim Horton’s in London but in 3 years we hadn’t yet run across it. For those of you unfamiliar, Tim Horton’s is a Canadian coffee shop chain (named after a hockey player) that has become a Canadian institution (see my previous post).
A Tim Horton’s coffee is the drink that hockey moms warm their hands around while sitting for hours in the local ice rink, it’s a pick me up for a long drive or help with a hangover. As with the assumption in the US that there is a Starbucks on every corner, in Canada there is a Tim Horton’s on every corner, in every mall and at every rest stop on the highway. So you can see why we were interested to find such a home comfort in London.

After wandering the general vicinity in London we found it. To be fair it is not its own standalone store its merely a section of a SPAR (British equivalent to a 7-11 or Mac’s). Feeling all nostalgic we went in. We were a bit disappointed to see that the coffee came from a vending machine type thing but were happy to see the traditional cups (oooh the little things). They also had some donut but they just didn’t look the same plus, they didn’t have the walnut crunch that the hubby likes or the one with sprinkles on it that I like. So we passed on the donut and went straight for coffee – regardless of the fact that it wasn’t being served to us by a friendly person in a tan blouse and a visor.
The coffee looked okay but sadly they only had milk to put in it vs the 18% cream that is in normal Tim Horton’s coffee. Once we were all poured and sugared we took the first official taste test…and sadly it was pretty bad, although it smelled pretty much the same, my coffee was completely watered down and didn’t have that creamy taste, the cappuccino was a surprise hit so the hubby agreed to trade with me as I was clearly not enjoying my coffee water (aawww).

So, we can confirm that Tim Horton’s coffee can be purchased in London. As unimpressed as I was with their actual coffee, you can still buy the grounds there and make your own Tim Horton’s coffee at home which will save us from having to fill our suitcase with tins of it on our next trip to Canada.
I was hoping however, that while walking around London with a Timmie’s cup, we would attract at least one Canadian on holiday or an ex-pat or two but unfortunately no one was ooot and aboot…shame as we could do with a few more friends here as a bunch of ours have repatriated (love that word!).