If you can, after rising so early in the morning, focus through the fog your brain is in, you will see amazing feats of dexterity and coordination. You will be dumbfounded seeing that man in the back corner of the bus you mounted turn the page of his paperback novel with the three fingers of his only available hand. If you look toward the front you will view another traveler hold a briefcase and magically pull out a pocketed bus-pass to show the chauffeur; all with the same one limb.

But, if we put these David Copperfield-like maneuvers aside for one second, we will ask ourselves, “Why do so many of our fellow urbanites lose a limb in the a.m. only to miraculously regain the appendage in the p.m.?” Because they do regain it, you see them traveling in the opposite direction from their morning excursions with both arms in full working order. The man in the back corner, between quick nods of the head and frequent closing of the eyes, turns the pages of his novel using both his hands. Our border at the front is now holding the briefcase in one hand and his bus-pass in the other. They have become fully functioning human beings again.

So, why are these hardworking men and women struck with this affliction? They don’t seem to mind. They easily take it in stride on their daily movement from home to work. In fact, on further investigation, it seems they are even complicit in this morning happenstance. They even pay for the privilege of participating in this cockcrow ritual; the cost: $1.50 more or less. For 6 quarters, for a loonie and 5 dimes, for three rolls of pennies, over half of the commuters of our bustling metropolis render one of their arms practically useless every daybreak; except for one specific action. And that action is the answer to this quagmire of monumental proportions.

So what is this gesture that sooths these half-awake movers and shakers? What is this action that eases the pain of their self-inflicted loss of mobility? It must be a movement of great weight. It must be an effort of such magnitude that it would compare favourably with a Bruce Lee martial arts flurry. But it is not. The bringing of a hand up to the lips to drink a dark caffeine enriched liquid is not a feat that would bring fear to the eyes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Hakim in Game of Death. But the effect does seem to energize the ones with 6 bits less in their change purse.

Coffee, the drink of choice for a majority of these daybreak pilgrims, is the reason why so many are now rendered handicapped. For the length of time it takes to consume a double-double, they work their magic shuffling through the paper, pulling out a wallet, or changing the CD in a walkman, all with one arm.

After spying on them awhile, you notice another element that most have in common. Their coffee of choice comes in a dark brown receptacle with two bright red words pasted on the front. Tim Horton’s has become ‘the’ choice for morning commuters in Canada’s capital. With the explosion of coffee houses around the city, including the likes of The Second Cup and Starbucks, why would a Tim Horton’s coffee be so popular?

It must be patriotism, right? Canada loves its home grown donut and coffee shop opening its first location in Hamilton in 1964. But Timmy’s is no longer strictly Canadian. Wendy’s, the American fast food hamburger chain bought Timmy’s in 1995. It must be something else.

After drinking the coffee from all the chains, the reason becomes perfectly clear. Tim Horton’s coffee tastes the best. But how can a coffee from Timmy’s taste so much better? Coffee beans are still coffee beans. If Tim Horton’s is outshining the competition then why doesn’t The Second Cup or Starbucks just change where they are getting their beans from? It is because it is not the beans. It is something else. But what would that be?

There are many theories out there. All are of the urban legend sort. The first is that Timmy’s adds nicotine to their coffee. According to Sean Paajanen over at coffeetea.about.com CBC did an investigation and a chemical analysis (looking specifically for nicotine) of Tim Horton’s coffee and found no trace of the substance that makes cigarettes so addictive.

On the matter Tim Horton’s released a statement that denied any use of additives of any kind. They stated that Tim Horton’s coffee, “…is made only from a blend of the highest quality premium Arabica beans from several different coffee growing countries.” Maybe the secret is in the blend?

A second theory is the addition of MSG. But why Timmy’s would add a food enhancer of the salty variety to a beverage makes no sense to me.

“Monosodium glutamate is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. It acts as a flavour enhancer and adds a fifth taste, called “umami”, which is best described as a savoury, broth-like or meaty taste.” - www.eufic.org

This does not seem to be something that would enhance the taste of a hot beverage such as coffee to me. MSG has also gained such a bad reputation over the last few years from supposed allergic reactions from patrons of Chinese food restaurants (you see the “No MSG” signs outside most of these eateries now) that the backlash from Tim Horton’s coffee drinkers would be such a public relations headache for the company that it seems not worth the effort.

Being a fan of urban legends myself, snakes coming up through your toilet bowl or giant crocodiles living in the sewers are my personal favourites, I would like to add my theory. It’s the lining of the paper cups. There is something coated to the inside of the paper cups. Even when I am not drinking Timmy’s coffee, I like to use the cups. They seem to improve the flavour of any brand of home brewed coffee. Whether it’s Maxwell House or the local generic blend from the grocery store, they all taste better in a Tim Horton’s paper cup. Maybe some chemist at a lab in Montreal will use some personal time in the laboratory to see if I am right. When the CBC investigated, they tested the coffee, but they didn’t test the lining of the receptacle the coffee came in.

Whether it’s the specific blending of the different beans or the lining of the paper cups, Timmy’s coffee has made Ottawa commuters lose the use of one arm for a long time now and no one is complaining. The loss of an arm seems like a small inconvenience when compared to the resulting alertness a coffee brings to a person starting out his working day.