For Never Have I Ever star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, nothing tastes like home quite like a Tim Hortons hot chocolate. It’s the 21-year-old Mississauga, Ontario native’s go-to drink, and her cravings for it while filming Mindy Kaling’s hit Netflix series in LA are actually what spawned her recent partnership with Tim Hortons to launch their Dream Cookies. “I just tweeted ‘I miss Tim Hortons’ and they tweeted ‘We’ve missed you too’ and I was like ‘wow, glad someone does!’” says the Tamil-Canadian actress with a laugh when we meet up at the Tim Hortons Test Kitchen in downtown Toronto. “Tweets have power, that’s what I’ve learned.” That tweet lead to Tim Hortons arranging for Maitreyi to visit their test kitchen last summer, and now a year later, her commercial for Tim Hortons alongside her brother Vishwaa is airing nationally.
Related: Our Honest Review of the New Tim Hortons Dream Cookies
A still from Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s Dream Cookies commercial with Tim Hortons
“There are very few brands that I could say I genuinely really want to work with because they’re genuinely part of me, growing up and in my life. And Tim’s is one of those brands,” Maitreyi explains. “It’s kind of surreal, I feel like I’m not even partnering because I am just talking about things that I like.”
Read on for our interview with Maitreyi, including her go-to Tim Hortons order, which Canadian she thinks Tim’s should partner with next, and the impressive Tamil dish she wants to learn how to make.
What’s your go-to Tim Hortons order?
Probably hot chocolate. I love Tim Hortons hot chocolate. That comes from years of being in Scouts. I was a Scouts Canada girlie since I was five. And every Scouts Canada Camp always had Tim Hortons hot chocolate. That with an everything toasted bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese. Amazing. You know what? Rest in peace their steak and cheese panini. Remember the paninis? I loved the paninis.
I feel like you’ve got the power to bring back the paninis.
[Jokingly] This is my subtle agenda. I should just leave sticky notes everywhere “bring back the panini” maybe I can do that. Wait, that’s a good idea. I loved those steak and cheese paninis. I miss them. I hope they’re doing well.
You’re joining the ranks of iconic Canadians like Justin Bieber and and Shawn Mendes doing a collaboration with Tim Hortons. What Canadian would you like to see Tim Hortons partner with next?
What about Keanu Reeves? What do you think Keanu Reeves would do? What’s his go to-drink, a black coffee? How about: Tim Hortons makes the blackest black coffee in partnership with Keanu Reeves. And then I’ll ask him to help bring back the steak and cheese panini. I’ll be like “Hey Keanu, I kind of helped you get on here, do me a solid and ask them to bring back the steak and cheese panini”. And then we’ll be best friends. I think Keanu and I could be friends.
Related: Justin Bieber’s Timbiebs Timbits Have Arrived – Here’s Our Honest Review
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan in the Tim Hortons Test Kitchen
What’s one Tamil dish you’d like to learn how to make?
We have this thing called appam, it’s like a flaky savoury or sweet dish, depending how you make it. There are different versions. That’s why I want to learn how to make it, because then I can make all of them. It’s just hard because you have to make it the right consistency and it can flop if you don’t get it right. You have to know the temperature and batter, it seems complicated when I see people make it. So I’d probably do that because I feel like that’d be a good one to know. If I learned this, it’d be impressive.
Editor’s note: Appam is a South Indian fermented rice flour pancake often enjoyed for breakfast with various fillings.
Have you heard of the Jennifer Aniston salad? It’s the salad she ate on the set of Friends every day. Did you have something similar that you ate every day on set of Never Have I Ever?
There’s a video that one of my cast members, Utkarsh, he plays Mr. Kulkarni, that he posted as BTS recently because the season dropped. And in the video I’m in the hair and makeup trailer, mid makeup, and I’m holding a whole takeout container of fried food. Fried mozzarella bites, fried chicken, fried pizza pockets. I’m like, ‘this is my snack bro’. So in short, no. but I did always get a hot chocolate in the morning.
Was it as good as Tim’s Hot Chocolate?
No, genuinely I love Tim Hortons hot chocolate. I always have the Tim’s hot chocolate powder at home. I love hot chocolate, I’m not a coffee person.
Read more: Our Honest Review of the New Tim Hortons Sparkling Quenchers
Have you ever eaten out in Toronto with the Never Have I Ever cast?
Those losers have never made it over here. Goddamn Americans. I’m just kidding! I love them, but they’ve never made it over here. If they did, then I’d take them around. I will say, every time I go back to LA, I do bring them maple cookies. Our bottom shelf maple cookies. They love them. They go feral for that. I’m like ‘wow, these are bottom shelf cookies’. My friend Kunal is addicted to maple fudge. I buy that stuff from Winners for him. You know Winners random food section? That’s where I get it.
What’s your favourite maple food?
Maple sugar candies, not the clear hard ones though. They’re soft and melt in your mouth. Oftentimes I’ve bought boxes of those for my LA friends and then oftentimes I forget to give them to them and just eat them myself. I’ve looked at them in my suitcase and I’m like ‘sometimes you gotta treat yourself and look out for number one.’ [laughs]
@foodnetworkca I know, I’m fangirling too 😭 the taste is unmatched 🤌 #thisorthat #neverhaveiever #maitreyiramakrishnan #canadianfoods ♬ Lo-fi hip hop
You’re a Studio Ghibli fan, what’s one food from the Studio Ghibli universe that you’d love to eat?
That’s a good question. I can’t cook but I can talk about animated food! My favourite Studio Ghibli film is Howl’s Moving Castle, and there’s a scene where Howl is cooking eggs and bacon with Calcifer as the fire. Those eggs just look so scrumptious! It’s simple, but how it’s animated makes it seems like it’s other-wordly. Also because that would mean I’m in the Howl’s Moving Castle universe, and that would be cool. It’s basically made with magic, calcifer as the fire… and I do like bacon [laughs].
This interview has been edited and condensed.