Bienvenue vers Nouvelle Angleterre
I'm sure I butchered the French. I didn't retain it well, and don't need it often, which is to say, never.

I'm not the donut aficionado I once was, either, which means I don't eat them by the boxful anymore. But I'm nonetheless quite happy to hear that the chain of bankrupt Bess Eaton shops (including the one on State Street in Springfield) was purchased by Canadian bilingual donut king Tim Horton's, and all the BE stores will flip in the next month or so.

I like me some Timbits, berry muffins, croissants and danishes when up in the TO, or around Buffalo where they've had a sprinkling of shops for a while. Blows Dunkin Donuts away, on all fronts. Oooh, blasphemy!

Note well those words. Krispy Kreme and Honey Dew have carved their niches in Dunkin land, but none of those other places has been able to offer the selection of baked goodness you get from Dunkin, 'till now. And, since I think Tim still bakes on site (whereas DD trucks 'em from centralized kitchens these days), it's gonna be a war.

And the coffee? C'mon, nobody's gonna beat Dunkin Donuts coffee, right?

Wrong. I'll really go on a limb here and say Tim's is better (say what!). That's from a self-avowed coffee snob (I roast my own beans, okay?). I don't know if that's because they still serve it in china mugs (and, yes, I believe there's more psychological satisfaction from drinking your coffee in true diner style). But it's roasted well, tojours frais, and tojours chaud. Gets cold in Canada, eh? They like their hot beverages. They don't tolerate crappy coffee, either.

Of course, TH will have to learn to drown their coffee in milk, and dump in six tablespoons of sugar to please the New England palate. But they'll learn that quickly enough.

I'm looking forward to watching Tim's catch on around here. They won't have five-mile traffic backups on their first day, but they'll pull their share of devotees away from the 6,252,998 Dunkin Donuts shops it seems exist here. And DD knows it, too. They drove up the price in the bankruptcy court's auction, but TH came to play, and brought enough Toonies for a winning bid. 10:20:49 AM    comment []trackback []