Espresso-based Beverages

The espresso wars have begun. I decided to try out the Tim Hortons latte and the McDonalds latte to compare them to Starbucks. Now, it’s true that I am a loyal Starbucks customer so it is possible there is some bias here, but I did approach each vendor with an open mind.

I’ll start with Tim Hortons. I had their latte one morning. It was sweetened even though I didn’t request it to be. It was also way too sweet. The coffee, unfortunately, had that Tim Hortons smell to it. I didn’t care for it, primarily because it was too sweet.

I decided to give Tim Hortons another shot a couple of days later. This time I was asked if I wanted it sweetened (no). I observed them “make” the beverage. It was done with a Nescafe Milano machine. I didn’t ask anything about the machine. The latte was better, but the coffee still smelled like Tim Hortons and I didn’t care for it.

McDonald’s: I went after lunch. I asked for a decaf latte. They couldn’t do it. So I got a full caf latte. It was not bad, but also not good. I have come to learn that they can make this with either skim or 2% milk. I did not get the impression that the staff knew much about coffee, but I can’t say that I’d call that a revelation.

In general I don’t think I would go back to either Tim Hortons or McDonalds for an espresso based drink. It may be acceptable if I were on a road trip and was in the mood for a latte. I certainly wouldn’t go to sit and meet someone for a coffee there.