Starbucks is my always-there, lowest common denominator. There are a lot of little local places in various cities that are really good, but if I don't have a chance to explore, Starbucks will do.

In Buffalo, The Spot.
In Chicago, Intelligentsia or Metropolis.
In San Francisco or anywhere it's present, Peet's.
In Portland, OR, Coffee People.

I haven't found a similar place in NYC - ideas?

Tim Hortons coffee is just hot brown water - like Dunkin Donuts.

edit: Blue Bottle in San Francisco is a league by itself...it's a place for true coffee geeks, with the vacuum-brewed-over-a-halogen-light Japanese thing.

Wow!
Well I work with a Canadian Company and they do love Tim Hortons. I visit one now and then in the US. Good coffee. I sometimes get the soup/Sandwich combos. I always seem to stop at Tim Hortons on the QEW when traveling from Montreal to Toronto. It's all you can find to eat/drink at the rest stops. I think there was some sort of relationship with Wendy's in the States. You seem to have a lot of them in the Midwest where Wendy's is based. I may have to check them out tomorrow. I'm currently in the Midwest on business. YOU have given me some inspiration to try their coffee AGAIN!
and maybe a donut? hmmmm... better run an extra mile or two in the morning!

Thanks for the tips! I'll have to try your reco's in Chicago and Buffalo. I've done Peets and Coffee People.

Have to disagree with Dunkin. Many of us love their coffee. I usually seek them out, but to each their own. I've got friends who think Peets coffee is horrible. I love it.

I�ve heard good things about RBC.

In the midwest, there is Tim Horton and Wendy's existing in the same building together as well.. They refer to this as TimWends' internally, describing the subject commercial property.

Would have liked to see both properties butted up together, but we're working on just a single location..

Agreed. I also have not been in (when forced to do so) been in one which didn't smell of stale cooking oil or something similar. The smell alone is enough to turn me off.

Coffee is very subjective. I will stop at Starbucks in North America for Pike Place if nothing else is available, but in general I prefer trying independents or small chains. Some are pretty awful, but every now and then one finds a gem. Many small and middle size cities in the US have some great local options. There are excellent mini chains in the UK as well.

And every so often one finds an outpost of a microchain - the Canadian company Bean Around the World for instance has a location in St Hellier, Channel Islands, for instance which seems to serve even better coffee, soup, and baked goods than the 'home' location.

While I have no problems hitting a Starbucks if there's no other option, I'll typically try to check out something local if at all possible. This is partly due to the fact that my drink of choice (Double macchiato) is fairly difficult to screw up. It can be done (oh can it be done) but for the most part it's usually drinkable. While my list of favourites is short, there are a few that I usually head for:

Poland: Krakow: TriBeCa.
Ireland: Cork: Cafe Depeche.
Canada: Saskatoon: The Two-Twenty or Caff� Sola.

And I'm probably a bad Canadian for saying so (actually, I'm sure I'd be told I'm a bad Canadian for many things) but I can't stand Tim Horton's coffee. It's appalling. Or at least I was put off it forever by the Tims at my old university, which was in the middle of an enclosed tunnel, the smell of which almost made me ill on a daily basis. It was horrifying. Since then, I can't drink Tim's coffee.

No worries.
It's why I started this thread.
Coffee is VERY personal. One taste is not suitable for everyone.
There are many whom say "Peets, Peets, PEETS!" and yes, to me it's good coffee, but BETTER than everyone else? Not to me.

Personally, I love Dunkin, but many here will say it's "Tar-Water!"

That's why I love to explore new coffee shops and taste the nuances.

TimWend's can be quite a maze during lunch time with the two drive through lanes accessing the same buildings two drive through access lanes.

In GTA area the city's demand varies depending on where your location is on the going to work side or going home side. We have a Drive through only on Woodbine Ave which has two sets of drive through windows and each set is fed by two lanes of about 25 cars. With 100 vehicles on the property there is sometime a lineup onto the street in the morning.

Have you notice that the timbits are now in packs of small medium and large instead of numbers?

Lining up at a Timmy DriveThru is the new national pastime.

Thanks for not beating up on us - there are a lot of very rabid supporters of rather mediocre coffee out there!

Long before Starbucks attempted to dominate the world, there was Tchibo (remember, coffee culture was strong outside the US long before it made its way there) Tchibo serves adequate coffee, but I like being able to go to a coffee shop and top up my wifi stick, or purchase some nice new jewelry, or a scarf, or any of the myriad of other products on offer each week. One can even book a holiday there. Coffee has become somewhat secondary in the coffee shops, and I do wonder what percentage of sales at Tchibo are coffee vs 'other'. http://www.tchibo.de/

See my post directly above yours. I don't know if it was your university, or just the regular stench of Tim Horton's.

Lining up indeed whether in a drive thru or in the store.. is a national pastime..

Great organization to work with.. The leasing agents basically say Tim Hortons is the top of commercial tenant food chain..

I like Tim Hortons, not because of their coffee because I don't drink coffee.. but their smoothie, hot chocolate, baked goods, soup and sandwich selection.. plus I like tenants who pay rent, and create a draw..

^^
Every landowner with a commercial pad is going after Tim's. They are a better tenant than McD.

For me, it depends if I have a car or not. Also if I'm in a time crunch because I have to get on stage right away to speak...

First, I type "Coffee" in my GPS or Foursquare app, and then see what is around. If I'm say on foot in the Philippines, I'll just walk around the see what's up.

I always like trying cool little coffee shops and help out local owners, especially because I'm a HUGE entrepreneur supporter, but man, let me tell you...
Some mom and pop's coffee shop's coffee is Terrible!!!!

Yelp is also another app I use for good reviews.

Hey, when in doubt - just order Tea!

We don't have a McD's yet..

But we've got Starbucks, Subway, AMA, 7-Eleven, Shell and a bunch of other nationals.. Total 69 tenants.. We are working at another deal that will bring us up to 85 tenants.. both national and independents..

I suspect it was a bit of each. Tims is far from a "nice smelling coffee" but their location on campus just magnified it. Then add in the usual lineup of twenty or so smelly undergrads (not that undergrads are all smelly, just some of them) and rez kids and it's a recipe for revisiting breakfast.