00:00 So how often do you do this?
00:02 Do you do this multiple times a day?
00:03 - I spend most of my day here.
00:06 - Mornings would be so hard without my coffee.
00:09 Hi there, can I please get a small regular double-cupped?
00:12 So good.
00:17 For so many Canadians,
00:18 Tim Hortons is a part of their daily routine.
00:21 It's cheap, it tastes good,
00:22 and you can find one in basically
00:23 every corner of the country.
00:25 But did you know that all Tim Hortons coffee in Canada
00:28 is produced in a small town just outside of Toronto?
00:31 I was recently invited to take a tour
00:33 of Tim Hortons Roastery in Ancaster, Ontario.
00:36 The warehouse stores and ships
00:37 1.5 million pounds of coffee a week
00:39 and produces enough coffee to make 270,000 cups an hour.
00:44 When I first stepped into the warehouse,
00:45 I got a big waft of that familiar Tim's coffee smell.
00:48 The plant manager started the tour
00:50 and showed us how Tim Hortons coffee
00:51 goes from bean to brew.
00:53 They really have their process down to a T.
00:55 Their beans are shipped in from Central and South America,
00:58 from countries like Guatemala, Brazil, and Colombia.
01:01 Tim Hortons is a blend of five bean types.
01:03 Side note, did you know coffee beans are green in color
01:06 and only turn brown before they get roasted?
01:08 I'd never seen a raw coffee bean before.
01:11 So the process starts with inspecting beans for defects
01:13 and cleaning them to remove any sticks, stones, and metal.
01:16 Then they move to the blending and roasting process.
01:19 Tim's uses the Neptune 3000 Roasters,
01:21 which according to them
01:22 are the world's most advanced roasters.
01:24 10,000 pounds of coffee is roasted per hour
01:26 and it takes approximately 12 minutes to roast a batch.
01:29 After being cooled for two hours,
01:31 the beans head to the grinders
01:32 and then move to the degassing stage to keep them fresh.
01:35 Finally, it's on to packing.
01:36 The equivalent of 975 pots of Tim Hortons coffee
01:39 are packaged every minute.
01:41 - And then you can see here where it's flickering,
01:44 it's adding 16 pouches on a layer
01:47 to 144 pouches in a case.
01:49 So we're doing about seven and a half cases per minute.
01:53 - Then a very cool looking robot
01:55 automatically stacks 64 boxes on each pallet.
01:58 The plant manager called it one of the best employees
02:00 because it works 24 hours a day, it doesn't go for a break.
02:03 Then the boxes are put in storage and shipped within two days.
02:06 The plant manager says they rarely have any issues
02:09 with their process.
02:10 And if they do, they're easily able to backtrack
02:12 to which bag it came from.
02:14 Which brings me to my next point.
02:15 Something else that really amazed me
02:17 about the roastery was quality control.
02:18 They go through such great lengths
02:20 to get that signature coffee taste profile.
02:23 How would you describe the flavor notes
02:24 of Tim Hortons coffee?
02:26 - The medium or dark?
02:28 - Medium.
02:28 - Medium.
02:29 Medium coffee is all human.
02:32 It's all man.
02:34 It's kind of medium range.
02:36 Sweetness, acidity, quality.
02:39 Everything is medium range.
02:40 Sweet, caramel, nutty notes, citrus, a touch of spice.
02:45 It's nothing, all quality.
02:49 - While on tour, I learned this new term called cupping.
02:52 Basically, it's another word for sampling coffee.
02:54 Tim's taste their coffee multiple times
02:56 throughout the process
02:57 to ensure it maintains the same taste and quality.
02:59 Some employees that work at the plant
03:01 actually cup coffee all day long.
03:03 It's wild.
03:04 So how often do you do this?
03:06 Do you do this multiple times a day?
03:08 - Yes, actually, this is,
03:10 I spend most of my day here.
03:14 In the morning, I roast coffee.
03:16 And then cup for five tables.
03:20 It's full of cups.
03:21 So we cup 250, 300 cups a day.
03:25 - As I mentioned, Tim Horton's coffee beans
03:27 come from Central and South America.
03:29 By the time they reach the warehouse,
03:30 they've already been sampled three times
03:32 to ensure their quality has remained uncompromised
03:34 throughout their journey.
03:35 - We re-juiced about 10% of coffee.
03:44 - Then the coffee is tested again after it's roasted and packed.
03:48 - Every hour, we keep three pouches of the finished goods.
03:52 Every fifth batch, which is every hour on each roaster,
03:57 we take a sample and we cup that
03:58 to make sure that it's our standard.
04:00 - The other two pouches are kept in storage
04:02 until their expiration date,
04:03 so the team can go back
04:04 if there's ever an issue at store level.
04:06 Does everyone who work here
04:07 have the exact smell memorized?
04:10 Like, how do you know what a bad batch is?
04:13 - You sip Tim Horton's coffee long enough,
04:15 you get to find the fine notes, right?
04:18 And you get to know 'em.
04:19 And you can pick out defects very quickly.
04:22 - Now, how do you cup?
04:23 Well, Tim's gave us a chance to blend her own coffee,
04:26 then taught us how to cup properly,
04:27 starting with smelling the coffee.
04:29 Then you go in for a taste.
04:40 (chill music)
04:43 I made my own blend,
04:54 mixing the five types of beans available
04:55 from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Indonesia, and Colombia.
04:59 Guatemalan coffee is known to have more nuttier notes,
05:02 whereas Indonesian coffee is stronger
05:04 and has notes of chocolate.
05:05 Okay, moment of truth.
05:07 Let's taste my coffee.
05:09 (chill music)
05:12 Let's just say,
05:15 I will not be working at Tim Horton's anytime soon.
05:17 My coffee tasted so bad.
05:20 But I couldn't believe how meticulous
05:21 the team at Tim Horton's was
05:23 at ensuring that every cup of coffee
05:24 that came out of that plant tasted just right.
05:27 So it got me thinking,
05:28 now we know where Tim Horton's coffee beans come from,
05:31 we know how the process works,
05:33 but what actually goes into the blend
05:35 that makes the recipe so unique?
05:38 I've been here for 11 and a half years,
05:39 I don't know the recipe.
05:41 So the commodity group will be cupping the green beans,
05:46 and then they put in the formula.
05:48 The formula will go into it in the background
05:51 in the computer system.
05:53 Then they'll send me an email saying,
05:55 here's the number that you're gonna use today
05:57 to use in recipe 419.
05:59 We'll put in 419 in the background
06:01 and start drawing the amounts of coffee for the roast.
06:04 (chatter)
06:07 - You know, I don't know what is in the blend.
06:12 There's only a select few of us
06:15 that can tell you what that is.
06:17 - No one on the tour can actually tell me
06:19 what goes into the Tim Horton's recipe,
06:21 because no one actually knows.
06:23 Clearly a highly guarded company secret.
06:25 I have to say, the Tim Horton's Roastery Tour was exceptional.
06:29 It really gave me insight into everything
06:30 that goes into making this beloved Canadian drink.
06:34 What surprised you most about the tour?
06:35 Let us know in the comments.
06:37 (upbeat music)
06:39 (electronic music)
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