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Coke has jumped into the coffee market with the Sept. 22 opening of its Far Coast "concept store" on Bloor St. W., in Toronto. (It's a way to get feedback for developing a restaurant coffee program.) And in 2003, McDonald's brought an improved coffee blend to Canada. We put them in a blind test against heavyweights Starbucks and Tim Hortons — with surprising results.
| McDonald's 10oz., $1.19* | Coke 12oz., $2.19* | Tim Hortons 10oz., $1.07* | Starbucks
12 oz., $1.60* |
|
| Jason Thede Executive Chef, York Club, and custom coffee roaster, Toronto | "Low acidity, mild flavour and a very light colour. It tasted nice. | Watery, plastic flavour. No coffee flavour | Weak roast. Mild flavour. Nothing to write home about | I felt a slight bitterness and no bo dy to the coffee. I thought it was quite acidic. |
| Rank:1 1/2 | Rank: 1/2 | Rank: 1 | Rank: 1 1/2 | |
| Raymond Emes Dark City Coffee, custom coffee roasters, Toronto | "Weak in body, medium acidity | Cloudy. Foreign-tasting. Not like coffee at all | The highlight of my description is the sour notes. | Felt like it was seriously under-brewed and very unremarkable. Stale |
| Rank: 1 | Rank: 0 | Rank: 0 | Rank: 1/2 | |
| Matthe Taylor Owner, Mercury Organic Espresso Bar, Toronto | "It was the best of the bunch. Medium acidity and body, kinda floral | It tasted like tea. It almost tasted like candy, but that's not what I want to taste.
| It looked all right.
Not much of an odour. Again, I got that gut rot.
| Thin, weak, sour aftertaste. Colour and were all right. Sour odour |
| Rank: 2 | Rank: 0 | Rank: 1 1/2 | Rank: 1 1/2 | |
| Derek Zavislake Co-founder of Toronto importer, Merchants of Green Coffee | "Good colour. Acidity medium. It was also floral, which was nice. | It's surprising how much we're agreeing on the same words. | Weak. There is a
bit of an equipment smell. Fermented flavour to the coffee
| An edge that almost tastes like ash. It was weak and you could taste the equipment. |
| Rank: 2 | Rank: 1/2 | Rank: 1 1/2 | Rank: 1 1/2 | |
| Total rank: | 6 1/2 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
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