A coffee enthusiast has been banned for life after complaining three times to a Tim Hortons store owner about decaf coffee he says tasted burnt.

"One time, I got one so bad that I almost threw up in my kitchen sink," said paramedic Jimmy Craig, who frequented the Tim Hortons location in St. Andrews, N.B. "It was like burnt brown water, it was so bad."

Despite a few "burnt" coffees, he kept going back because the coffee wasn't always bad.

"The odd time I got a burnt coffee, they would go back and replace it and it would be fine," he said.

Craig said the coffee got better after his first complaint, but this year, he started getting burnt coffee again. He then took his complaint to the corporate office, and got a meeting with Edwin Dow, the St. Andrews store owner.

But apparently, three complaints and you're banned, said Craig. Instead of addressing the complaints, Craig said Dow served him with a letter banning him under the province's trespass act from ever entering the store in St. Andrews or nearby St. Stephen again.

"I feel like the victim of a bully," said Craig. "What kind of a businessman treats customers like that? It just baffles me."

Craig contacted a lawyer last week to see if the ban can be overturned.

Carl Dow, general manager of the store in nearby St. Stephen, refused to comment on the customer ban. He also said Edwin Dow, store owner, is unable to provide comment as he is out of town.

Edwin Dow was quoted in one media report saying staff went the extra mile to satisfy Craig, brewing fresh pots of decaf on request.

The social-networking website Twitter has been grinding out news of the ban, with "Tim Hortons" being one of the site's top trending topics.

"If he hates the coffee, why does he care about the ban?" writes one Twitter user.