Starbucks and Tim Horton’s are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to ideology — Starbucks goes for the upper-middle-class “I will take a skim-milk-decaf-latte-with-sugar-syrup” kinda customer, whereas Timmy’s caters to those down home simple folk who are content to slam back a double double. Yet somehow the two coffee mega-moguls manage to produce one thing in common: pure, fiending addicts.
Devotees. People who make this coffee their religion, and go to church every day, sometimes twice or three times a day, to get their fix. There is something undeniably alluring about the Starbuck’s Frappuccino and sugary Caramel Macchiato. And something equally powerful about the effect of the caffeine in a Tim Horton’s double double.
In Canada, in Nova Scotia or Ontario, it’s not uncommon to see two “Timmy Ho’s” across the street from one another — both completely packed with a line-up out the door. In Vancouver, British Columbia you may see the same with Starbucks, only instead of having toddlers and laborador retreivers trailing behind the double-double weilding customer, they have miniature poodles and chihuahua’s, and immaculate sets of children neatly dolled up being pushed around in strollers.
Personally, I prefer espresso that comes from Italy. But hey, who am I to judge? Ultimately, the customer is always right.
