Some coffee drinkers might see their cup as half full while others see it as half empty but if you're a regular drinker of Tim Hortons' extra large, you might have had reason to view your cup as a rip-off.
In a video being shared online, one Ottawa resident is suggesting Tim Horton's largest cup size doesn't offer much more when compared to the chain's large. On Monday, Bryan Isaac Vaillancourt posted a video to Facebook showing himself filling an empty large beverage cup to the rim with water and pouring it into the extra large.
In the video, Vaillancourt says patrons only get "an extra two sips which is really not worth the extra money." The Huffington Post Canada recreated Vaillancourt's experiment and found similar results in the video above.
When asked about the video, a spokesperson for Tim Hortons told the Huffington Post Canada that it isn't entirely accurate in how it depicts coffee orders.
"The experiment shown in the clip is not representative of our restaurant experience in that our Team Members would never fill a cup to the rim as is depicted. Each of our cups, regardless of size, is designed to be reasonably filled to within a half inch from the rim of the cup. This not only allows for easy drinking, but also ensures that the lid fits securely," the spokesperson wrote in an email.
"Guests have recognized that our Extra Large cup in fact offers our best value."
On Thursday, Tim Hortons released their own video on YouTube debunking Vaillancourt's claims. In it, two Tim Horton employees pour an extra large filled to the safety line into an empty large cup resulting in an overflow. The two then do the reverse, showing that a large doesn't come close to filling an extra large.
So while the case behind the the large versus extra large comes to a close, the question remains: does Tim Horton's extra large offer "the best value"?
Well, yes and no.
In the Greater Toronto Area, the price for a extra large black coffee at the chain goes for $1.90 before taxes while a large comes in at $1.71. A medium rings in at $1.57.
According to Tim Horton's nutritional calculator, an extra large coffee holds 678 mL while a large coffee holds 563 mL of liquid, meaning that when you upgrade from a large to an extra-large you are paying 19 cents for an extra 115 mL.
But if you look at the price difference between sizes, it's actually when you upgrade from a medium to a large that you get the best additional value. Going from a 425-mL medium cup to a large will cost you 14 cents for an extra 138 mL.
Still, at the end of the day, every mL of coffee in an extra large comes down to about 0.28 cents, the lowest price for any cup size.
So while the largest amount of coffee for the cheapest price goes to the extra large, the real question now remains, what are you doing drinking nearly three cups of coffee in one go?
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