Just kidding, I obviously can’t afford that
Terima Coffee Bar (Terima) opened in the Jackman Law building on September 27. For most caffeine-starved law students, the new café was anticipated as an exciting addition to the school. Current 2Ls and 3Ls knew nothing could top last fall semester’s supply of free coffee but still looked forward to the prospect of not having to walk multiple blocks to get a midday pick-me-up from Starbucks, McDonald’s, or Tim Hortons. Unfortunately, we may have gotten our hopes up too much. While Terima’s incredibly friendly staff are an upside, they may be the café’s only one. Prices are incredibly high. A frozen frappé will run you around $8 (and you’ll have to drink it without a straw because there are none), while more substantive meals can cost upwards of $15. The food and drink quality does not mitigate sticker-shock, as many offerings are bland and basic. I have not personally tasted every menu item—mostly because this would necessitate me taking out another student line of credit—but I have sampled the opinions of other students to supplement my own.
A Short History of U of T Law’s Ill-Fated Cafés
In my (short) time at U of T Law, I have seen several iterations of the Goodmans LLP café. During my 1L fall semester last year, there wasn’t really a café at all, just the aforementioned and still-missed free coffee. Then, for the winter semester, we got a relatively bare-bones Goodmans that offered primarily coffee, tea, and baked goods. Now, we have Terima.
Goodmans LLP Café first opened in late November 2016. Students initially liked the café’s offerings, and it received the high law student praise of “the coffee doesn’t suck.” It seems the newness soon wore off, however, as UV articles with a more critical tone began around late 2017. Writers questioned the integrity of the law school hosting a presumably for-profit café (with a Bay Street namesake) when the majority of the “customer base is literally living off credit cards for three years,” and critiqued the café’s “overpriced and mediocre” offerings. After its post-pandemic, long-awaited reopening last winter, students noted high prices of $6.99+ for a sandwich and $8.99+ for a salad.. Hindsight is 20/20—although these prices were definitely “particularly high,” they are basically half of what Terima is now charging.
Put simply, the Jackman Law Building cafés seem to exist in a cycle of anticipation and disappointment. At least in my personal experience, an air of impermanency also surrounds them. With all of the changes to the Goodmans LLP café corner I have witnessed and read about, it feels almost inevitable that each iteration of the café will eventually die off and be replaced by another.
Is the Faculty to Blame?
The constant change begs the question of whether U of T Law is adequately supporting the cafés it has welcomed into its space. It must be remembered that the café turnover not only affects students, but also the workers these businesses employ. The Faculty could support the success of its café in a variety of non-monetary and monetary ways, but it is unclear whether they have done so. For example, have they advised Terima of class times so they can structure their operating hours accordingly? Terima is open 8:00am-5:00pm Monday to Friday, despite the majority of law students (presumably their main customer base) not having class on Fridays. Many students with late classes have also expressed disappointment over the relatively early closing time, which leaves them without any options for a late-night caffeine boost that they can quickly grab during a class break. The Faculty also could have issued surveys to gauge law students’ interest in different aspects of the café and what they actually want out of it. This collection of data would’ve enabled Terima to tailor its offerings to student preferences, which may have increased its success as a business.
In terms of monetary support, it seems entirely possible that the school is simply charging these cafés too much rent for them to be sustainable. They already have a limited customer base, relatively low visibility, and remain closed for significant periods of time (summer break, weekends, and holidays). Terima’s high prices may not be an indicator of greed—they could just be a symptom of high rent and relatively low demand. Presuming they truly do need to maintain high prices to succeed financially, why is the law school allowing this to be the situation in the first place? I am just a concerned student, not an economist, but surely there could be some way for the Faculty to subsidize the café prices so students actually have affordable, quality options in-house?
Overall, the Faculty’s lack of action does not demonstrate a genuine concern or care for the success of its café, which seems to be a real missed opportunity to improve law students’ experiences. The concerns Aladdin Diakun’s 2017 article raised regarding the ethics of the Faculty hosting a for-profit café to serve its financially-strapped students remain extremely valid in 2023. The cost of living in Canada is continually rising, and while many law students are undoubtedly in privileged financial positions, many of us are also feeling the pinch. As I have previously alluded to, my intent is not to criticize Terima for its high prices without any context. I know inflation has similarly impacted almost all sectors of the economy (including U of T Law’s tuition), but it would still be nice to grab a quick drink or bite between classes without feeling seriously guilty about the cost of doing so. The Faculty could’ve made this dream a reality by adequately supporting Terima, but thus far, it seems they have not done so.
The Actual Taste Testing Part
My limited personal experience with Terima began with one (very pricy) coffee frappé. They didn’t offer paper straws, resulting in me awkwardly trying to slurp this frozen drink up in a quiet library. The few sips I managed to get did not make the experience particularly worthwhile, and I soon decided to throw in the towel (i.e., throw the remainder of the frappé in the garbage) and drink my free water instead. It hurt to throw away such an expensive drink, but it just wasn’t good. A few weeks later, when the horror of this initial experience had mostly worn off, I tried again out of desperation and got a yogurt parfait and coffee before a 4-6pm class. The yogurt parfait was incredibly small for its $6.50 price tag and less-than-fresh granola, but still much better than the stale coffee I received. In what is apparently a running theme for my Terima experiences, I threw away the coffee because of how undrinkable it was. A law student being willing to sacrifice caffeine has to be a red flag about the quality of the coffee Terima serves (arguably the most important part of a café).
Olivia Schenk, a fellow UV staff writer and 2L, also provided a review of the items she tried from Terima:
Service at the cafe is really good, the people there are super nice. Line moves quickly. Big smiles. Friendly and warm. The layout is a little weird, not really anywhere to stand to wait for your order. I ordered an egg cheese sandwich and a smoothie. The egg and cheese sandwich (forgot cost) was REALLY GOOD?? Maybe I’m just starving but the muffin was soft, the egg was fluffy, and the cheese tasted like cheddar proper not a kraft single. Egg Cheese Muffin 8.5/10. The smoothie was mid. It cost 6 dollars and was strawberry banana flavour. It was pretty icy. Not super creamy or sweet. There are no straws, paper or otherwise. Taste is a bit like a hand cream smell. 4/10. But I am a bit of a smoothie connoisseur. It is totally edible but sparks no joy. Final rating of experience 6.5/10.
While Schenk says Terima sandwiches aren’t bad, they still require forking over enough to cover a McDonald’s combo or Pi Co. pizza. The quick snacks Terima offers would be a welcome supplement to the Faculty vending machines containing only candy, chips, and chocolate, but again, the prices are just absurd. For example, Good to Go protein bars, which I have personally purchased from Dollarama in the past, are almost $4 each.
If the free water fountains around the school aren’t cutting it for you, there is now also the option to purchase a fancy water subscription from Terima. Putting aside how dystopian the phrase “water subscription” feels, the service is, like almost everything else at the café, overpriced and underwhelming. For $80 ($100 if you want a Terima water bottle), you can purchase a Bevi subscription that lasts until December 31, 2023, and receive unlimited use of the café’s water dispenser. To be clear, water is the only actual beverage offered by this machine, but you can add a variety of fruit flavours and other enhancements like vitamins, electrolytes, and caffeine. Even looking at this service generously and accepting that there may be a real demand for enhanced water at the law school, $80 seems like a lot. Realistically, there aren’t even that many days between now and December 31. Excluding weekends and public holidays, there are only 66 days where one could use their subscription. This number also includes Fridays, when most students stay home.
Conclusion
I was excited for Terima when it was announced. I wish I didn’t have to write this article and criticize it, as the staff are genuinely kind and pleasant. Still, we, as U of T law students, arguably deserve to have a positive café experience. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask for. Most people at the law school seem to accept the turbulent character of our cafés without much second thought, but I think there is room for a larger discussion to be had concerning the Faculty’s role in this predicament and whether they ought to do more.
On a more lighthearted note—if anyone feels compelled to purchase a Bevi subscription, would you be willing to let me have some peach mango water with electrolytes and caffeine? I just want the experience of trying it. In exchange, I promise not to judge you for spending that much on special water. Thanks in advance!
