WATCH: When it comes to the best coffee in Canada, Tim Hortons and Starbucks may no longer be on top. Can you guess who has the best brew? Tess van Straaten reports.
Making coffee is an art and here’s a lot that goes into creating a good cup of joe.
“There’s a lot of small details that really make the difference between getting those right flavours, getting those right colours,” Serious Coffee Mayfair barista Lucius Hall explained.
At Serious Coffee, Vancouver Island’s largest independent franchise, it’s all about the beans.
“We’re air roasting our beans, we’re not drum roasting our beans,” said Rick Bylsma, franchise owner of Serious Coffee Mayfair. “And once you grind the bean, it’s a matter of hours between grinding it and brewing it ? you don’t want to roast, grind, package and warehouse and then let it sit, sit, sit before shipping to the outlet and some of the competition do that.”
But when it comes to national chains, Tim Hortons may no longer be on top.
According to a new Maclean’s Magazine coffee ranker, McDonald’s is number one. That’s right ? the fast food giant’s McCafé beat out the biggest coffee chains in the country including Second Cup, Starbucks and Tim’s and the coffee drinkers we talked to weren’t surprised.
“Not at all, not at all,” one woman told us. “They have a better coffee for sure and it’s not over-roasted like a lot of places.”
“I worked at McDonald’s for three years and since working there I switched from Timmy’s to McDonald’s,” another woman said. “McCafé is definitely better.”
“A lot of people go to McDonald’s and I think a lot of people like it since they changed (the coffee) a few years ago,” a man told us outside Tim Hortons. “They make some pretty good coffee.”
With so many different coffee shops now and the growing popularity of options like McCafé, competition is steaming hot and independent coffee shops say it’s hurting the bottom line.
“The big boys, the big names, they have multiple millions of dollars to tell people about their product,” Bylsma said. “They can run ads all the time to gain market share and that’s hard for independents like us.”
Tess van Straaten
