Is there a 12-step program for Tim Hortons?

My name is DaniGirl, and I am addicted to Tim Horton’s coffee.

*hangs head in shame*

Not just Tim’s coffee. I like my own a lot, too. But I am a coffee snob and not just any old brackish brew will do when I need my fix. Which is, for the record, regularly. To the tune of three or four large to extra-large cups a day.

*blushes in embarrassment*

I know. It’s insidious, really. You don’t realize how much you’re drinking, or how much you’ve come to rely on it, until your routine is upended by something like, say, starting a new job. You realize that the coffee on the way into the office is fairly easy to integrate into your routine, but that midmorning fix, when you get up and stretch and wander two blocks over to the Rideau Centre to get your second XL with three milks — is no longer really accessible when there isn’t a Timmy’s around the corner. Oh, I can get in my car and drive to one of four nearby Tim Hortons, or I can take about 20 minutes to walk to the nearest one about half a kilometre away. But it’s just not, you know, convenient anymore.

And, for the record, simply doing without? Not really an option. Not if I want to stay vertical and coherent for the rest of the day, anyway. Not only am I addicted, but I have no desire whatsoever to become unaddicted.

That’s not even the worst part, though. The midmorning coffee can, in fact, be rather easily acquired by either driving over to Tim’s myself, or coercing one of my new team members, likewise addicted to Canada’s favourite java, to pick one up for me on the collective morning run. But my previously-established routine also included one last large coffee to get me through the afternoon. Slipping out one to get a coffee each day seems reasonable; slipping out twice makes me feel surreptitious and guilty. “Who me? No, I’m, erm, just going to the bathroom. With my coat on. It’s cold in there, yanno!”

Yes, I know, in the world of addictions, a couple-three coffees a day isn’t too dangerous. But the change in my routine is showing me how deeply integral to my day those coffees have become! And if I don’t get them? You’ll find me face down on my desk, snoring, by lunch time. Probably not the best way to make a good impression on my new team.

Coffee is definitely my addiction of choice. What’s yours?

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

24 thoughts on “Is there a 12-step program for Tim Hortons?”

  1. My name is Wendy and I too have a coffee addiction. Tim Horton’s is my preference. I even follow them on Twitter. It’s bad.

  2. Another coffee addict, here. Between the Tim’s at work and the espresso machine here at home, I take in a fair bit of coffee on a daily basis.

    I can’t help it…it tastses so good!

    (P.S. I just love the word combinations I get for comment verification sometimes. Today it’s “American babushka!”. Awesome.)

  3. Coffee. For sure. And I am even snobbier then you are: it’s expresso allongé or nothing. Black. Don’t dare put milk or sugar in it, it will ruin my day!

    I have my daily fix at home in the morning, and have been lucky enough to have it close to my desk in the jobs I had since I returned from Africa (where I had my own little italian coffe machine on the stove).

    But the thing is: pregnancy. I’m not allowed as much as I would need to these days. So on top of my pregnancy lost of memory, I have coffee deprived short attention span. I wonder how I get through my days really.

  4. hi
    first time i am commenting. i wanted to so many times. we just moved here from somewhere very far away, and your blog is like a window into canadian life for me/us. i read you, and than i tell my husband about it over dinner. it’s like i am describing an episode of flashforward. almost holliwood. i was so sad when you didnt get the job. and so happy when you did…
    BUT i DONT GET THE TIM HORTON THING!!!!!!
    i’m sorry – dont kick me away from you lovely country. don’t report me to the RCMP pllllllease, BUT (brace for it) – the coffee there is HORID!!!!! i can not drink that drip coffee. if you want snob – i am it. i dont even go for the espress/latte at starbucks if i can help it. i cross the street for Second Cup. now, that’s decent coffee…
    also wanted to thank you for the mud lake and lime kiln trails. we did lime kiln this weekend. was a bit muddy and swamppish (we ended up walking all the way back to P8) but a great adventure for the little ones…
    so thanks!!!

  5. I hear you, but mine is far worse. My addiction is Starbucks. You do not understand what lengths I will go to have it. When home on mat leave with my first, on any given day I would drive 40 minutes for one! I kid you not. So I feel your pain, mostly in my pocket book.

  6. Oh, Dani. I feel for you. My addiction is one cup of Tazo Awake tea (made at home) each morning, and sometimes a second one in the afternoon (also at home). I do not consume caffeine after 2 p.m. Otherwise, it affects my sleep and even my appetitie.

    I advise you to use this change in your routine to cut at least one of those massive coffees out each day. I know, it’s none of my business! But I can assure you that you will have more energy in the long term (and sleep and eat better) if you reduce your daily caffeine intake. When I took myself off coffee 10 years ago, it was ROUGH…for about two weeks. I am so glad I did it. I did not realize how horribly it had been affecting me until I removed it from my system. Reduce the coffee, drink more water and exercise more…I promise you that you will feel better overall, sleep better, have more energy, be well-hydrated and enjoy food more.

    And leaving work by car twice a day for coffee would not look so great, especially now that you’re managing people. Not to mention that it’s environmentally unfriendly. =)

  7. My name is Elise, and I am addicted to tea.
    I’m a snob, and if it’s not loose tea, then I’ll tell you it’s not good enough for me. I drink 5 to 8 cups a day, although I cut on caffeinated teas since a new tea store opened in my neighborhood that has awesome rooibos and herbal teas (David’s tea, Queen/Spadina for any Torontonian reader). I’m drinking a delicious caramelized pear rooibos tea at the moment, I love the smell surrounding me.
    But I don’t drink coffee. Love the smell, can’t stand the taste.

    Am I still allowed to comment on your blog?

  8. There’s no 12-step program, but what about something like a Tassimo? They’re really very good. AND FUN TO MAKE. It works out to about $.50/cup (depending on if it’s just plain coffee, cappuccino, latte, etc), so is more than drip coffee, but MUCH LESS than Starbucks or even Tim’s. You could have one on your desk then charge the other employees $1/coffee AND MAKE MONEY off of your addiction. Or at least cover your expenses. 😉

  9. I didn’t drink coffee until I had children, I think they affected my taste buds. Now I crave coffee. Horton’s is my preferred blend ♥ but I have been known to gratefully accept other brands when I am flagging 🙂

  10. I am not a coffee drinker. It’s no merit on my part, I just don’t like. However, I cannot, absolutely canNOT go a day without chocolate. Or, at least, some sort of sweet thing. I am hooked on sugar in the worst possible way. This has also sort of alarmed co-workers in the past, when they see how quickly I can down a plate of brownies if someone is careless enough to leave it in front of me. And then? The regret that follows the indulgence is no fun.

  11. Oh you need to come work for “my” company, where the Tim Horton’s is in the building. Yes, that’s right. The Tim Horton’s is in the cafeteria, just a short elevator ride away.

    I don’t drink coffee – only tea, but quickly became addicted to their steeped tea. When I went on mat leave I discovered I couldn’t drink tea made at home anymore because I was so addicted to Tim’s steeped stuff.

    Now I’m good either way, but oh the Tim’s right in the building is divine!

    (Ha! Captcha: Columbian savory)

  12. Hey Dani – I’m going to put this out there. You don’t smoke. A smoker who goes out for a smoke twice a day spends 15 minutes on break. Your collective agreement entitles you to two 15 minute breaks a day. Cut your lunch short by 10 minutes, or work 10 minutes longer and you’ll have the 40 minutes you need to drive there, line up, and drive back twice a day.

    There’s a system. Use it :o)
    My captcha is “grippe bottle”. No comment.

  13. chocolate and coffee… manna from heaven.
    I know it’s gross and disgusting and all that but some days I still miss smoking. (The detox was brutal though…)

    If you’re worried about time, you could by the beans, no?

  14. I am totally addicted to coffee, but can’t ever bring myself to drink non-fair trade coffee unless I am stranded in an airport between here and Winnipeg and need te caffeine jolt.

    Although I get my coffee fix three ways: at home (with a timer pot that is brewed before we get up), at work when I make sample pots for customers and volunteers, and then from Bridgehead. How I love Bridgehead.

  15. I am also a Tim Hortons addict. I credit it for getting me through my childrens toddler years. Have you ever heard the suggestion that T.Ho’s put a chemical in their coffee it to make it addictive, like KFC? lol There are days some days I think it might be true…

  16. In all my coffee experiences, I have never enjoyed Tims. I don’t get y’all. I’m not professing to know something that you don’t, but I do find that my President’s Choice dark roast is waaaaaayyyy better.

  17. I’ve never had Tim Horton’s. But I used to be addicted to starbucks, until I had to give up caffeine. Then I developed a caffeine-free Diet Coke addiction, and have been known to go well out of my way to obtain one. Now that I can have caffeine again (in limited doses) I have deliberately not allowed myself to have a Starbucks. Because it would be all. over.

  18. Oh, you. You know how I LOVE my coffee – but just one good one in the morning for me is what keeps it special. But, if you want a warm comforting hit…fix…um…treat later in the day, here’s what I go for:

    http://www.teazonline.com/servlet/the-63/matcha-green-tea-powder/Detail

    Sometimes I go to T&T, and treat myself to some stuff that’s pre-packaged in individual servings. That I use for travelling and at work, because I can throw a packet in my back pocket. It’s a great lift without the jitters and sleeplessne – later coffee. The pretty colour is as much of a lift as the flavour and warmth and good feelings too.

  19. i had to buy a bodum when i started my new job as there is no (good) coffee to be had where i am now. i love it!
    though, i do miss breaking up the day with a trip to starbucks.

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