Coffee: Amtrak Runs on...

crescent-zephyr said:

BCL said:

crescent-zephyr said:

Tim Hortons and Dunkin Donuts are totally equal to my tastes. Both coffee and donuts.

Which to me means they are just fine... Nothing amazing, I would prefer Starbucks, but better than nothing.

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I prefer Peet's or Blue Bottle, but I guess that's just me.

I can deal with all sorts of styles of coffee. But when you're talking Tim Hortons vs Dunkin Donuts, I find they're the same price, which means Tim Hortons is cheaper since I'm paying in Canadian dollars. I've never been to a Tim Hortons outside of Canada. I've seen some listings for "Tim Hortons" in the San Francisco Bay Area, but they're basically snack bars at ice rinks that are associated with the San Jose Sharks. Apparently all they have is coffee, and it may just be brewed with whatever generic equipment they have on hand.

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Well yeah I'm not going to walk past a Blue Bottle to get to a Starbucks that's for sure. Unless I was broke.. that blue bottle ain't cheap!

What sets Starbucks apart from the Dunkin, McDonalds, Hortons, etc... is that it is an actual coffee shop. If you go to a Starbucks with Reserves, you should absolutely be able to find a good tasting coffee. You may need to order a pour over, or a french press, or get it brewed on the Clover but it's possible.

The Tim Hortons in Dearborn MI (conveniently located in the Amtrak Parking lot!) is a full service Hortons just like the ones I've been to in Canada so they do exist.

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I just recently visited my BIL in the Seattle area. Didn't take any train on the trip though. We did a couple of day trips to British Columbia, and Tom Hortons were everywhere. I've seen full service locations in malls, standalone, and even in an Esso (there's a name that's long gone in the US) station. It's ubiquitous there, but just cross the border in Washington and nothing. Still - when we packed a box of Timbits with us on the flight home, someone said something that we must have been in Canada.

Devil's Advocate said:

No idea if the coffee is any good but around here their donuts are dry and tasteless. Instead of being made fresh daily like in the infamous commercials they're delivered by truck as circles of stale bread from some massive commercial factory somewhere. Kind of like Twinkies, only rounder.

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And without as much taste. Their munchkins resemble ball bearings. Hmmmm. It's a wonder that Amtrak didn't add the donuts to the menu,

I'd prefer Krispy Kreme if Amtrak is going to add donuts. I grew up on those down in SC. Of course Amtrak would never do that while they're in bed with Dunkin.

Which reminds me, a Krispy Kreme store is supposed to open just a mile from my house this month and I'll need to do a quality check.

Interesting comments on the different coffee favorites...

I've found, that if I get "acclimated" to any coffee for about two weeks, and then have some other, it will not taste "right". That being of course, that it is made properly, and not left sitting too long. I tend to like whatever coffee, or any other food for that matter, my taste gets used to.

Where I work, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, we used to have a Tim Horton's. It closed after a year or two, and was replaced by a Jamba Juice. A Starbucks opened later, and it is doing a brisk business.

We also had a couple of Krispy Kreme donut shops, but they too closed, after a couple of years.

Just recently, a couple of Dunkin Donut shops opened.

We also have several other restaurants...

Krispy Kreme did over expand and had an accounting scandal back around 2005 which caused them to close a number of stores.

The Tim Horton's opened because a certain company that holds master franchises for much of Manhattan with many fast food companies had a disagreement with DD. They also changed the one in NYP. DD fired back by giving a franchise to the newstand on the side where the Empire Service trains board.

Krispy Kreme doesn't even taste like actual donuts to me. More like warm sugary plastic. The bizarrely spelled name throws me off as well. Are they trying to skirt laws that define what "cream" actually means or are they trying to brush up against the initials of a famous hate group? I remember how all the business channels were telling everyone to invest in Krispy Kreme right as another wave of fake Atkins diets was picking up steam. The stock plummeted, stores were closed, and the donut market remained weak for several years afterward.

Krispie Kreme otherwise known as Kristie Kreme in NJ

PVD said:

The Tim Horton's opened because a certain company that holds master franchises for much of Manhattan with many fast food companies had a disagreement with DD. They also changed the one in NYP. DD fired back by giving a franchise to the newstand on the side where the Empire Service trains board.

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Interesting...I may be mistaken, but I get the impression that the two Dunkin Donuts stores here in the PABT, are operated by Hudson News, which holds about half the retail space available in 'The Port'.

They picked up the DDs when Riese dropped them in Manhattan. They are the operator of the News stand I referred to in NYP. for D-A: Krispy Kreme was founded in 1936, I'm sure it has nothing to do with truth in labeling. Based on where they come from, your second idea might not be far off, but they would never admit that in a million years even if it were so. They sell 3 billion donuts in a year, somebody likes them. Like all franchised food businesses though, there is always the do we tighten up standards or cash more checks for new stores conundrum.....some companies are much better at maintaining quality standards across the country, and some are very inconsistent. KFC went through a phase like that, giving a franchise to anybody with a pile of cash and a pulse. Quality went to hell. It took them a long time to weed out most of those operators and bring themselves back.

PVD said:

They picked up the DDs when Riese dropped them in Manhattan. They are the operator of the News stand I referred to in NYP. for D-A: Krispy Kreme was founded in 1936, I'm sure it has nothing to do with truth in labeling. Based on where they come from, your second idea might not be far off, but they would never admit that in a million years even if it were so. They sell 3 billion donuts in a year, somebody likes them. Like all franchised food businesses though, there is always the do we tighten up standards or cash more checks for new stores conundrum.....some companies are much better at maintaining quality standards across the country, and some are very inconsistent. KFC went through a phase like that, giving a franchise to anybody with a pile of cash and a pulse. Quality went to hell. It took them a long time to weed out most of those operators and bring themselves back.

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You sound like you're in the business...Or are very knowlegible...

I have never understood the buzz about Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Usually all that's available are the glazed and chocolate iced, and ditto, only custard-filled. I'm not a coffee-drinker, but a friend who is refers to decaf as the "why bother coffee." To me, glazed doughnuts are the "why bother doughnuts" -- they have the calories, sugar, and white flour but hardly any flavor. If I'm going to ingest empty calories, I want them to taste like something. A regular doughnut shop has tons of choices -- regular, yeast, cake, crullers, chocolate (not just chocolate-iced), maple bars, filled, coconut, old-fashioned, powdered sugar, fritters, etc., etc. A mix of textures and flavors. On the website Krispy Kreme does show other varieties, but they don't seem to be commonly available. Of the commonly-available varieties, the only ones I like are the chocolate-iced doughnuts (since I'm not that crazy about custard-filled pastries), but even they don't have much chocolate flavor since the doughnut itself isn't chocolate, just the icing.

Perhaps Krispy Kreme has good coffee, but I wouldn't know about that.

PVD said:

There are close to 700 Tim Horton's in the US. 4600 worldwide. They have changed hands a few times, most recently sold by Wendy's to the parent of Burger King.

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That parent, Restaurant Brands International, also recently purchased Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, making it the third-largest operator of fast food restaurants in the world. Incidentally, Tim Hortons also has partnership agreements with Cold Stone Creamery, in some US stores.

Thirdrail7 said:

Devil's Advocate said:

No idea if the coffee is any good but around here their donuts are dry and tasteless. Instead of being made fresh daily like in the infamous commercials they're delivered by truck as circles of stale bread from some massive commercial factory somewhere. Kind of like Twinkies, only rounder.

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And without as much taste. Their munchkins resemble ball bearings. Hmmmm. It's a wonder that Amtrak didn't add the donuts to the menu,

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All depends on where ya get 'em at...in their native East Coast environment, they are generally pretty decent. Also true in the Chicago-area stores I've patronized. (There's a combo DD-Baskin Robbins--both brands of the same parent company--near O'Hare that I like; easy to get your sugar fix in several forms in a one-stop shop.)