Tim Hortons 130 King is the restaurant chain’s new innovation cafe, set to open to the public on July 25th. 

In addition to the more traditional food and beverage offerings you would find at your local “Timmy’s”, Tim Hortons 130 King has incorporated taste and design trends from both second and third wave cafes.

The Original and Dark and Espresso roasts have been joined by small batch single origin offerings. During my visit, a medium roast, Honduras Trifinio was on offer and could be brewed using HARIO V60, Aeropress or, my choice, Chemex. A very enjoyable and accessible taste profile, included notes of cocoa, citrus and honey. 

I was also fortunate to have been able to try some of the items on the Signature Drink menu, including the refreshing Nitro Peach Mango Iced Tea and the Tims Draft Latte. Which was a sweet, creamy combination of milk and the excellent Nitro Cold Brew.

I managed to corner Gabriel Navarro of Napoleon's Hat, who consulted on the coffee program for Tim Hortons 130 King, to get the background on the cold brew, and was surprised to learn that the mellow, slightly sweet, refreshing brew is made from Tims Original roast and is Toddy-brewed and kegged in store. I tried to get the recipe to use in my home Toddy, but Gabriel just smiled and said “it’s really good, isn’t it?”

Beverages aside, Tim Hortons 130 King has also added some gourmet options to the doughnut and sandwich menus. Unfortunately, though I didn’t get to try them all, I was able to poll my fellow guests and learned that the Maple Bacon, PBnJ and Blueberry Hibiscus doughnuts were especially tasty. I thoroughly enjoyed my Montreal Reuben and saw several guests eagerly devouring both the Caprese and Muffuletta sandwiches.

The sophistication added to the drink and food menu has also been added to the design of the cafe. Jeese Wooodrow, the lead on this new cafe project, let me know that the in house designers at Tim Hortons worked long and hard to create a clean, yet warm and welcoming environment that incorporated natural materials, such as wood and marble and modern conveniences like wireless, tabletop, mobile device charging. With a variety of seating options, ranging from communal tables to plush banquettes to leather loungers, I expect many informal meetings to be held here and independent workers to find a comfortable, temporary workspace.

If you are in Downtown Toronto, I would recommend stopping by Tim Hortons 130 King once it is open, to see what the future may hold for your local Timmy’s.