The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Well I figure it was about that time, yes time to do the impossible, time to review Caffé Artigiano. But what can I say that hasn’t already been said, and if your reading this blog then maybe your already a fan. . .

Cafe Artigiano Howe Location

A few notes in point form:

• They always have a line up
• They are always busy
• Their barista’s are always really friendly (This means you Jacqueline & Arielle. sad note: both have now left Artigiano)
• Yes you will have to wait more then 30 seconds for your latte.
• Yes it really is worth the wait. . . .

Why has this micro chain of five cafes done so well and so popular, well that is a bit of a longer story, one I really don’t know all that well, but I give you what I know.

As the story goes the Piccolo brothers, (Vince, Sammy and Mike) wanted to create a different type of cafe in Vancouver, one that completely centered around quality, comfort and lively atmosphere regardless of how busy they where. It wasn’t meant to combat the huge trend of cookie cutter cafes in the Vancouver region, we don’t need another Waves or Blenz or Starbucks do we? But more to show what quality a café really can achieve.

They don’t have wireless at any of their cafes, but then what are you coming for the coffee or the Internet?

“If you want the Internet go to Blenz” One of the Barista said to me jokingly.

Barista Arielle and a Artigiano Latte

Back in the summer of 2006 when I was an actual barista and working for Seattle’s Best Coffee (in the Bental 5) I heard about the five dollar cup of coffee, how they weren’t even making a profit at that price and how it was the best coffee around.

Jen, a fellow SBC co-worker, and I had decided to check out this roast. It was the best coffee I have ever had in my life, it was a light roast, but rich in flavour amazing in texture and had this amazing lingering aftertaste that made you feel like it you were still drinking it, without a hint of burnt or bitter flavour, this is what coffee was suppose to taste like.

The cup was also made with a special brewer called a Clover, which uses a system like a French press, but instead of a plunger they use a vacuum to separate the water and the coffee. It really is an ingenious way to enjoy coffee and it’s more precise then a normal brewer. It is also $10,000 plus dollars, which is why most cafe’s can’t afford the machine.

I have heard some stories about bad service or long waits for service, but I have never had a bad experience in these cafes, especially the one off Georgia and Howe. When it is busy this cafe is quite noisy, so it is not for the studying kind.

They were using intelligentsia coffee at the Initial start up and it was the Piccolo brothers goal to always roast their own beans. They started to do that with the incorporation of 49th Parallel Coffee and in 2005 and have never looked back.

The café was sold in December 2006 to Willie Mounzer, former VP of operations for Earls. But the front end will always serve 49th Parallel Coffee, it is just a different owner behind the till.

Arielle Latte Art

Where this Blog was written: Caffé Artigiano on Hornby
Drink ordered: 12 oz latte to stay (pictured)
Discount of own to-go cup: You get nothing
Barista Knowledge: Extremely knowledgeable
Barista Friendliness: Awesome
Café website : www.caffeartigiano.com

Serious Coffee on Yates

Well, after a couple days of R&R in Victoria I can see why people like this place so much. It is awesome.

While walking around downtown I checked out a cafe called Serious Coffee, any cafe with this name is just begging for a review.

Walking I was met with a nice looking cafe, pastel colours, wood floors and track lighting. I was pretty hesitant to think I was going to match the cafe I am use to on the drive, but do I love being wrong.

The americano I had could have been a bit stronger, but it did have a nice mellow body, it just wasn’t the smack across the face of flavour I was craving or was use to with the Organic Ethiopian I usually drink at home. But as I finished the cup, the body became more present to my palette leaving me fulfilled.

Serious routine

The reason I went to Victoria was to visit my friend Lucy Nicholson who was covering the U-20 and she was covering the teams practices in the mornings, so I have my mornings free to lounge around and just enjoy life. I decided to head to back Serious Coffee and make a second review of the cafe.

I got into a great routine of having breakfast at the hostel and then walking up to the cafe and purchasing the fair trade mexican which was a well balanced medium roast.

One thing I really liked about this cafe is that they offered the local newspaper The Times Colonist a 12 oz. coffee for two dollars even. It was really nice to sit down to a daily roast with a nice rag like the TC. I grew quite accustomed to this routine and hated to give it up once I left and had to return back to school.

The girls behind the counter were quite knowledgeable and never missed a beat with any question posed to them. They were light and bubbly and generally enjoyed the work they did.

I didn’t have my laptop but all locations have free wireless and a internet cafe setup.

Serious Coffee Yates Interior view

But why a chain?

As many people know I am not much of a chain type of guy I am much more a independent cafe and local owned an operated business. I like the shop local additude, but after many years of living the land of nothing but Walmart (eg. Portage la Prairie, Manitoba) I know that sometimes searching for quality is important regardless of where it comes from.

But as my visits to Serious Coffee grew, so did my knowledge of the chain. I learnt a bit more about the company and their history, they started in 1994 in Duncan BC. They have grown through out the lower island to over 20 stores and as most of them are franchised. Again, I am not a big fan of franchised as it can really harm the brand if they are not controlled properly.

The Roastery has moved but is now back in Duncan BC and the chain is looking at expanding another 12 to 14 store’s over the next year.

I would compare this micro chain to JJ Beans in Vancouver, although they are in different markets, they are going after the same demographic and both do a nice job of it.

Is this your final answer

As I only went to one cafe, I can’t comment any more on the chain, but I’d be happy to have this cafe blocks away from my house, the staff do make the difference at this location they really did rock. So if your looking for a local cafe with a decent brew and some awesome customer service I would check them out. I would also note that unlike Murchies, the Serious Coffee location was more for locals, then tourist, it seems that they were more concerned with the providing really good product on a daily basis to locals then a single experience to a visiting tourist.

Faces and Places

Where this Blog was written: Serious Coffee (Yates & Broad location)
Drink ordered: Mexican Malinal Fair Trade 12 oz.
Discount of own to-go cup: 10 cents
Barista Knowledge: Intelligent
Barista Friendliness: Personable, good sense of humour
Café website : http://www.seriouscoffee.com/

Murchies Victoria

While I was in Victoria I went to check out the massive Murchies on Government Street. It looked very high class with it’s white shirts, black pants and everything served on a fancy tray. For any tourist coming to Victoria, this would certainly be a spot to check out, especially when high tea at the Empress is about $70 dollars a person. High tea here would cost you about $10-12 dollars. Not really being a local, but not really being a tourist I came for the coffee.

Everybody is doing it

This place was busy, full of tourist, so I walked in ordered a medium roast, it was called Danish. I asked the girl behind the bar if it was really grown in Denmark and her reply was ” Everybody is doing it”. I asked if I could try some and she have to brew up a new batch, she waited for the brew to start and then started to pour the cup. Argh! I asked her if she could wait until it brewed, she did apologies and then realized how horrible coffee tastes if you do this.

What’s the big secret?

While my coffee was brewing I went over to the bulk bean sales area where they had a list of coffees they roast. Some had names like:

• Murchie’s Best
• Mexican Fancy
• Canadian Blend
• CBC Morning Roast
• Danish Roast
  

I asked where the Danish roast was from the slightly older women responded it isn’t from Demark, that would taste horrible, I asked where it’s origins are from.

“She (the owner) doesn’t like to tell people there is to much competition, but it is a blend of beans from South America,”

A view of Murchies Bar area

More and more companies are talking about the Co-ops they have purchased from, including the name of the farm(s), the manager of the farm, and the town and country of origin. It is a matter of pride for the cafe and the farm to have these relationships as it is just more then one Juan Valdez and a donkey picking your beans.

Three strikes and your out

I didn’t really know what to expect from Murchies, but just asking a few simple questions I was certainly disappointed with the lack of knowledge at this location. So once I had my freshly brewed coffee I can say that it was only alright, nothing special, and certainly not even close to 49th Parallel standards, but the surroundings and vanilla slice I had certainly were nice. I never tried the tea and Murchies is a bit more famous for being a tea company. If your in Victoria and looking for a cafe, I’d pass on this one (their busy enough with the tourists) and head down to Serious Coffee for your daily addiction. . . I will be reviewing Serious Coffee soon, I just needed to get caught up on my blogs.

Faces and Places

Where this Blog was written: Murchie’s Victoria Location
Drink ordered: Danish Blend 12oz
Discount of own to-go cup: Didn’t ask
Barista Knowledge: Dumb as a post in terms of coffee knowledge
Barista Friendliness: friendly
Café website : (Sorry you didn’t make the cut)

Salt Spring Coffee Kiosk at the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal

While waiting for the Ferry to Victoria I had the opportunity to check out the Tsawwassen Market which has a host of shops and cafes and food kiosks. On one end I found Starbucks, and found it odd that most shops were not part of chains except for Starbucks. . . the only other coffee other then local is Starbucks on BC Ferries, but even Starbucks is an improvement on what they use to serve in the late 80’s . . . So I went on a search for the alternative. . .

And Alternative I found!

Salt Spring Coffee has a shop at the other end of the marketplace. The two girls behind the counter could have used some more training behind the bar, and it looked like they were just frantically trying to get through their Saturday afternoon shift, can’t blame them for that it was beautiful outside.

They don’t have wireless or even much of a sit down area, but most shops are a kiosk format so they followed the trend.

Portable French Press

I wasn’t in a coffee mood, so I had vanilla steamed milk and checkout out some of the wears.

Brewer all in one

I found this to go mug that also had a French press built into it, I was amazed, it even gave you step by step directions on how to make the drink and if that wasn’t even and you wanted a second cup, well a secret compartment at the bottom would be able to hold enough beans for a second cup. This truly was a multi-tasking cup. I also found these at Uprising Breads Bakery at 1697 Venables just off The Drive.

An Example Accountability

Salt Spring Island Carbon Cool Graphic

I also saw a sign that read that SaltSpring Coffee was the first Carbon Neutral Roaster and after a little bit of research well they are right and they have the data to back it up. They started a site called www.carboncool.ca

I was impressed with the amount of data they had on their website and how they even brake it down to where their energy usage is going to.

But for it’s faults and lack of knowledge or prowess this shop still gets nod in my book just look what the alternative is.

Faces and Places

Where this Blog was written: Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal
Drink ordered: 12 oz Vanilla Steamed milk
Discount of own to-go cup: 15 cents
Barista Knowledge: Somewhat confused
Barista Friendliness: Very courteous
Café website : www.saltspringcoffee.com

Well Michael Breuer decided to challenge me on my hatred of Starbucks and although it took a while to get the dates confirmed, (his people needed to talk to my people) We set out last Friday to the home of Coffee in Vancouver Commercial Dr and we picked our corners.

Shift Manager Claire

First we attended the Starbucks on the Drive, where we found shift manager Claire to quite nice and knowledgeable about ways of the Starbucks. She was also totally game on our little adventure. Her shots came through at a prefect 14 seconds for their machine, now I have learnt over the years that 14 seconds is way to short for the real extraction of the flavour of the beans to happen, but Claire claims that it is running perfectly so I won’t disagree.

Breuer and myself sat down and entered the first round. We both found it a bit weak but yet with the familiar dark roast flavour Starbucks is famous for. To my surprise Breuer agreed with me. Could this be happening? Could we have a convert in our midst?

Round Two

On to Prado where we ordered what we though would be the same exact Americano to make this as scientific as possible. We also cleaned our palette with water and waited a bit to really compare the two roasts.

Owner Amy York was behind the bar and pulling the shots the timers on the shots at Prado was about 22 seconds which is prefect operating speed for her machine. We gathered the drinks and had a seat on the patio.

We both took a sip and whoa this was almost freebasing espresso here. It was bold, woke us up and was as strong as Starbucks was weak.

What we were left with were so many variables that it was hardly what I would call accurate comparison for either side.

What was so different Well here is a list. . .

	Starbucks	Prado
Drink size	A large 8 oz cup	A small 6 oz cup
Timed shot	14 sec.	22 sec.
Orgin of Beans	South American Blend	Brazil, Ethiopia and the South Pacific
Mug	Paper	Porcelain
Crema	Crema Starbucks Americano	Crema Prado Americano

Also when we look at the crema for each round you can see that Prado (pictured on the right) has triple the amount of crema as apposed to Starbucks (on the left) and that is truly important part of this exercise, because for an Americano that is where most of your flavour comes from, the less the crema the lesser quality cup.