We left our holiday shopping until the very last moment this year—busy with work, renovations, and freelance projects—we didn’t even notice that we were running out of time until December 23rd, and we found ourselves in a sea of similarly disorganized shoppers. We started out the morning all gung-ho, but by the time we’d spent almost an hour getting to the mall that’s usually ten minutes away—we were more than ready for a coffee.
Normally we try and avoid large chains of coffee shops—but when we passed by Second Cup, we couldn’t resist. They’re sort of the Canadian Starbucks, and have been around for years. Way back in our mall-crawling high school days, Tazim and I used to stop for a cup of joe at the very same joint often. We were glad to see how much things had changed! We’d stopped going as cafés offering organic and fair-trade coffee opened, so we were especially keen to note the huge variety of organic and shade grown beans now on offer at Second Cup. And we were even keener to try an espresso based drink when we noticed that they had a huge non-automatic Rancilio espresso machine (the big brother of the machine we use at home).
It wasn’t long before we had an americano and a double espresso in hand. We were pleased that the barista didn’t bat an eyelash at providing a ceramic mug for both drinks, and better yet, that they didn’t add a disproportionate amount of water to the americano. Tazim was a little sad to note that she was so generous with the dash of soy milk—there was a little too much. But then again, how explicit can you be when you order your coffee? Sometimes I want to bring along a measuring cup and specify ounces—but I suspect that that would be a little ridiculous!
I was disappointed though that they didn’t have Equal Sweetener, which I particularly appreciate on hectic days when I want to avoid a sugar rush. They didn’t have a comment card for me to fill out, so instead I spoke to the manager of this location. She said that she’d look into it, as they’ve had lots of requests! The manager suggested we leave a message on twitter to make further comments on the types of sweeteners available —which I encourage you all to do.
Want to check out what Equal Sweetener can do for your coffee or tea? Check out @EqualCanada on Twitter and Equal Canada on Facebook.
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are 100% my own.
I love that you know your coffee so well!!!
Second cup is great! I wish there were more around in Canada. Their drinks always seems to taste better than the competition (aka Starbucks).
I’m know a little bit about coffee, but not enough to know why they taste better 🙂