Simply Great Coffee
Coffee is life. From a single cup in the morning to 2 pots a day, wherever you fit in on the spectrum, you understand it’s necessity. The coffee selection in Calgary is actually pretty decent these days, with a wide varieties of basic slow drip coffees to the ridiculous whip cream white mocha things available on every street corner downtown. With big selection also comes big difference in quality and cost. Some of the joints charge like $5 for a basic coffee! Madness. You might not be aware, but Mac’s recently revamped their coffee offerings and you should try them. Simply great coffee, cheap, available 24/7 (other than when they’re cleaning them of course). Mac’s, Circle K, same thing.
In the last couple of years it’s been pretty interesting watching the coffee landscape evolve. Back in the day simply great coffee wasn’t a thing, it was black coffee from a Mr. Coffee machine with no variety or quality, usually served up in a Styrofoam cup. Now we have the usual chains like Tim’s and McDonald’s, but also places like Rosso, Phil & Seb, Analog, etc. They do make some great coffee! But it’s also a bit pricey. You don’t actually have to spend much at all to get good coffee, you just need to know where to look.
Full disclosure: Mac’s sponsored this post.
Mac’s Rebands to Circle K
With the re-branding of Mac’s stores to Circle K, they’ve replaced and upgraded pretty much everything inside the store. The Froster machines, the real hotdog station (you MUST try them!!), and the coffee stations. You can get lattes and stuff, but the real meat and potatoes is their regular coffee, in my opinion. I suggest trying to the dark roast, but I’m a little biased as I prefer darker drinks (coffee and beer).
Along side the simply great coffee is a simply great coffee station. Various sugars, flavour shots, toppings, etc. As you can see there is also tea! I didn’t mean for that to rhyme. Time. Mime. Slime. Dime.
Plus this machine exists if you’re into French vanilla, salted caramel, or hot chocolate creamers. I sometimes don’t mind a bit of hazelnut in my coffee from time to time, but typically I’m a straight up normal regular 2x cream and 2x sugar person. You do you though.
Love a nice hot chocolate in the winter time. With marshmallows of course.
Circle K Coffee Prices
Cheap! Less than a toonie for a large, and you can bring your own containers to fill for even cheaper. Their coffee pairs good with those bearclaw danishes they sell. Those are essential when going camping btw.
- Small $1.29
- Medium $1.59
- Large $1.89
- Extra Large $2.10
- Refills up to 1 litre $0.99
- Refills over 1 litre $1.29
Over 1 litre of coffee for the cost of taking the bus. In fact, the bus is over 2x more expensive! $3.30. Crazy. And Mac’s/Circle K has stores all over the place in the burbs and everywhere.
Circle K Specialty Coffee
Of course if you’re after more than simply great coffee they have that too. These aren’t my cup of tea, or coffee, but you probably like them.
Best part? You can make it however you like. If you want 10 sugars, you get 10 sugars. That would be pretty gross but you HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT.
Mac’s – The First 50 Years – book giveaway!
Mac’s has been around for a very long time, starting out as “Mac’s Milk” way back in the 1960s. Did you know they’re a Canadian company? Yeah man! Started out in Ontario, and now they have more than 5000 stores all over the world serving up simply great coffee and other snacks and goodies. That’s pretty significant, and with that crazy growth comes all kinds of history. They took that history and put it into a book, and it’s actually an interesting read (yes we have one).
Contest time!
Mac’s was nice enough to donate 3x of them to give away. Yay free stuff! They’ll be shipped to the winners directly. Goodluck!
It’s actually a really beautiful book. Lots of colour and detail, and it’s well put together. Good coffee table book.
Enter below!
Conclusion
Now you know where to go for simply great coffee. Go to Circle K.
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I think its about time to update this post, to provide a more accurate pricing.
Circle K doesn’t have these prices online, so its up to you Crackmacs
My favourite Froster is Orange Crush
Done all!