Tim Hortons Fans Are Nostalgic For These 'Discontinued' Menu Items & A Few Aren't Totally Lost
Bread bowls, we miss you. 😭
A Pretzel Bagel from Tim Hortons. Right: Two Tim Hortons drinks.
Anyone who's lived in Canada long enough knows the pain of their favourite, or one of their favourite, Tim Hortons items disappearing from the menu.
It's tragic, it's horrific and it's apparently enough to inspire some nostalgic posts about it on the internet, because certain items still live rent-free in people's heads.
At least thats what some Tim Hortons fans have revealed on the subreddit called r/TimHortons, a community for fans, critics and employees of the quintessentially Canadian brand.
One Reddit user asked a simple question of the community: "What discontinued items [do] ya'll miss?"
This question prompted fans to come out in spades, with hundreds of comments reminiscing, arguing and waxing poetic on the Tim Hortons food that has long since been discontinued.
However, while some items have disappeared like tears in the rain, it appears that others, such as the pretzel bagel, actually live on in some parts of the world, although you may need to make a road trip or a flight to get a taste of that nostalgic snack.
Here are some of the items that came up most often in the thread about "discontinued" Tim Hortons menu items that need to be brought back.
Pretzel Bagel
The Pretzel Bagel is exactly what you think: a soft pretzel meets a bagel. It was on the menu almost a decade ago in Canada and has since disappeared, but it's not been forgotten.
In fact, it has so many fans that it was the most common response among the hundreds of comments on the Reddit thread. Pretzel bagel fans really are ride or die!
"Pretzel bagel BLT was so good 😭 rip," wrote one commenter, with another saying it was "the only reason to go to Tim Hortons."
If this is you, you are in luck because there are actually some locations that carrying them, although you'll have to venture down south of the border.
One commenter mentioned that they are available down in Michigan and it checks out, because you can see it listed as an option on the Tim Hortons U.S. website.
All hope is not lost!
Blueberry Donut
Many Tim Hortons fans will know the horrors of their favourite donuts being discontinued. And with so many fallen soldiers, it's hard to pick just one, although one of the top items mentioned on the comment thread was the Blueberry Donut.
"I see them on very rare occasions but I miss when they were widely available. I would do terrible things for blueberry donuts," wrote the person who brought them up as a missing fave.
However, based on the comments this item isn't full unavailable with people claiming that their own local stores sometimes sell the item.
"I’m in Newfoundland and they’re a regular menu item at the locations here," said one commenter.
It's not listed among the regular rotation on the Tim Hortons Canada app, but it is on the Tim Hortons U.S. menu!
Bread bowls
Anyone who stopped at Tim Hortons in the '90s or the 2000s knows that the bread bowl was iconic, and it clearly still has a place in people's hearts according to the Reddit thread.
"I MISS THE BREAD BOWL SO MUCH," yelled one commenter in the replies.
If you're of a certain age, you surely remember the commercials where the people proudly exclaim that they had some soup and then "ate the bowl!"
"The bread bowl was the best. I worked at a Tim Hortons when they had the bread bowl, I had it often," said another commenter.
How can you beat the novelty of that?
Unfortunately, it seems that the bread bowl isn't available anywhere these days, although nothing's stopping you from buying a big hunk of sourdough and carving up the inside of it.
Honey Mustard
Another thing people lamented the disappearance of was honey mustard on the restaurant's sandwiches.
"Why they ever changed this god only knows. But they completely f*cked the whole sandwich," said a commenter.
"Changed the beauty of the honey mustard for… mayonnaise 🤮 ," said another commenter.
"I literally only got that sandwich for the honey mustard but if you’re just gonna throw mayo on it instead I’m better off going to subway or getting a ready made sandwich from a grocery store."
And these commenters aren't the only people who want the dressing to return. In 2020, some fans of Tim Hortons' honey mustard started a petition to bring it back, with it getting over 550 signatures.
"That honey mustard really was an 11/10," wrote a commenter, quite succinctly.
Canadian Maple Donut
While we still can see the Maple Dip donut available across Canadian stores, we definitely don't see the unique joy of the Canadian Maple Donut.
"Canadian maple [donut]. So help me if they get rid of the honey crueller," said one of the commenters.
What exactly is this concoction? It's basically a donut with maple fondant on the top that is filled with vanilla custard, similar to a Boston Cream donut.
According to some of the commenters, it can be found in select stores, but it is by no means a regular item on the nation-wide menu.
However, if you want surefire access to them, you can hit up Tim Hortons over in the Mother Country, the United Kingdom, as these treats are listed among the available donuts over there. I wonder if its because they have such a iconically Canuck name.
Those are just a few of the menu items that Tim Hortons fans are pining for to make a return. Luckily, if you're also obsessing over lost coffee shop snacks, it's good to know that they haven't been entirely taken out of circulation, although you may need to travel and do your research to find them.
Travelling isn't even the wackiest thing that someone has done to get their favourite Tim Hortons snack. In fact, one Albertan long distance runner actually launched a campaign earlier this year to make his favourite donut, the Walnut Crunch, become a permanent item.
Not only did he start the online petition and donation campaign, but he's dedicated several of his long distance runs to the cause, which has added up to hundreds of kilometres.
So while you might not be willing to go that hard for your favourite donut, you've got to appreciate the passion!