I tried Tim Hortons South Korea's new Iced Capps and here's my honest review

I love a good Tim Hortons Iced Capp, so when I found out that the Canadian coffee chain’s locations in South Korea were introducing a Korean twist to the classic drinks, I was excited to try it for myself.

Luckily, the release of the new lineup of Iced Capps at Tim Hortons Korea coincided with my trip to the country’s capital city, Seoul. My friends and I made sure to include a visit to the coffeehouse on our itinerary.

The Korea-exclusive drinks, which launched on May 13, reinterpret the Canadian brand’s signature iced drink with the country’s flavours and culture.

The new lineup of beverages includes Bingsu Iced Capps in Tomato, Red Bean, Apple Mango, Black Sesame, and Matcha flavours. For those who don’t know, bingsu are Korean milk-based shaved ice desserts with sweet toppings that typically include fruit, condensed milk, rice cakes, and red bean.

In addition to the Iced Capps, Tim Hortons Korea introduced three new cruller flavours: mugwort (an herb commonly used in Korean cuisine) cream, black sesame cream, and injeolmi cream. Last, but certainly not least, the restaurant also introduced injeolmi and hotteok Timbit flavours.

 

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The new menu already gained lots of hype online ahead of our trip, with many Canadians commenting with envy, and some asking, “Why is Tim Hortons better everywhere except for Canada?”

But before I wrote off Tim Hortons Canada, I had to experience the Korean menu for myself.

Tim Hortons Korea taste test

Before I get to my review of the Iced Capps, my first impression of the location we visited right off the bat was that they’re having more fun with marketing the brand in Korea than in Canada.

The Korea Herald reported that the campaign for the new menu is inspired by saekdong norigae, a traditional multicoloured ornament, which you can see as a motif throughout its promotion.

The campaign also features two bears — a grizzly representing Canada and the original Iced Capp and an Asiatic black bear representing Korea.

We were greeted by the cute black bear, which was plastered on the window, as we entered a Tim Hortons located near the historical landmark, Gyeongbokgung Palace.

To add to the fun branding, the store sells cute Timmies merch, including Mr. Moochul key chains and dinnerware, and they’re adding mittens that we thought looked similar to the iconic 2010 Winter Olympics gloves.

The Canadian Tim Hortons also sells merch, but it seems to be mostly available online and not in stores.

The store also had a fun stamp station where we stamped our receipts with designs inspired by major Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria.

Now to the main event: the Iced Capps. The prices range from ₩5,900 to ₩6,500 (C$5.28 to C$5.81)

I tried the matcha flavour, and my friend got the black sesame flavour. My drink included layers of matcha and injeolmi-flavoured (a sweet Korean rice cake covered in nutty, roasted soybean powder) slush, topped with red bean, a mini yakgwa (Korean honey cookie), rice cakes, and rice puffs. The black sesame Iced Capp had the same toppings, except with black-sesame flavoured slush.

The toppings were fun to dig into and reminded me of halo-halo, a Filipino shaved ice dessert that literally translates to mix-mix. The rice puffs added some crunch to the soft textures of the red bean, rice cake, and matcha slush. I think the matcha flavour could’ve been stronger, which is why I actually preferred the black sesame version, which didn’t shy away from the nutty flavour.

Overall, I wouldn’t really describe these as Iced Capps because they don’t have the signature creamy and coffee flavours of the classic beverage, and are better eaten with a spoon than drunk through a straw.

It leans more on its bingsu inspiration, which isn’t a bad thing, just not comparable, in my opinion. The drinks do get the highest Asian praise for desserts as being “not too sweet.”

We weren’t able to try the other flavours, namely the tomato one, so if you happen to be in Korea and are adventurous enough to try, let me know what you think in the comments.

We did do a taste test of every cruller and Timbit flavour. Out of the crullers, the injeolmi was my favourite for its roasted nutty taste. And all of these crullers had cream fillings! Something we don’t have with the one honey-flavoured cruller in Canada.

Out of the Timbits, the injeolmi was also my fave. The hotteok Timbit, which is inspired by the Korean pancake filled with brown sugar syrup, tasted too similar to the cinnamon-y flavour of the apple fritter Timbit to me.

The crullers cost ₩3,500 (C$3.13), and the timbits cost ₩900 (C$0.80), which is actually more expensive than their Canadian counterparts, which cost $1.69 and $0.39 to $0.49, respectively.

Other international-exclusive menu items my friends tried were the Vancouver matcha cloud latte (they have drinks dedicated to Montreal and Toronto too) and the Ube mascarpone Iced Capp.

The final review

So, are Canadians really missing out? My take is that if you want these Korean Iced Capp flavours, you can easily find equally, or even more tasty ones at your local bingsu spot, which are becoming increasingly popular in Canada.

The novelty is fun, but I don’t think you need to go to a Timmies to satisfy your cravings when there are plenty of local Korean dessert restaurants that offer these flavours. Also, the original Iced Capp still beats these in price ($3.99), and personally, I do crave that slushy, creamy, caffeine flavour when I order the iconic drink.

Still, if you happen to be in South Korea, it’s worth trying these drinks for yourself. They’re available until August 2026.

Tim Hortons first launched in South Korea in 2023 amid the chain’s big international expansion to other countries like the Philippines and Singapore.

These Iced Capps are just some of the many international menu items making Canadians jealous.

What flavours do you want to see on Tim Hortons Canada’s menu? Let us know in the comments.

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