The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Starbucks at Pike Place

It is kinda odd to walk all the independent shops of Pike Place Market seeing all the fresh fish, local produce and general buzz of a local market place only to run into one of the largest corporate chains in North America.

Pike Place

The location has three cashiers and two barista’s working a three head machine. No tables or chairs and barely room to move due to the number of people. The drink was a 8oz Dry Cappuccino (no other information was given). It was made  perfectly, sure the expresso was complete crap but the drink was made exactly as a dry cappuccino should be. They also didn’t ask me if dry was like foamy they knew what dry providing these barista were familiar with a wide range of lexicon. For the volume of people on a warm and sunny New Years Eve afternoon it was amazing how well they were working that machine. I had my drink in seven minutes from time of ordering which is decent due to the massive amount of volume served.

While just blocks away. . .

But why can’t this excellent of quality be applied across the board, why just a blocks away from the famed Pike Place Cafe is it the same cookie cutter cafe that makes that same poorly made cappuccino on automatic machines. The automatic machines where brought in to speed up the services and reduce wait times, but at Pike Place I didn’t have an unusually long wait time. The staff handled the rush easily and effectively with teamwork.

Are the employees any less at the other locations, or are they just supplied with more training?

I find an unusual paradox that Starbucks found a good thing at the Pike Place more then 35 years ago and wanted to share this experience with the rest of the world, this I whole hearty agree with. But yet the rest of the worlds Starbucks don’t even remotely resemble the unique nature that is the Pike Place Cafe. Yes their are some really bad independent cafes in Vancouver and yes some chains stores are better then others, but what I really see at every other Starbucks and many other chains is a complete lack of training, knowledge and  a overall lower quality of service and in the immortal words of Howard Schultz:

“we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.” ~ February 23, 2007 ~

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Pike Place Starbucks
Drink ordered: 8 oz Dry Cappuccino
Discount of own to-go cup: 10
Barista Knowledge:  Both cashier and barista were quite knowledgeable
Barista Friendliness: quite nice, with a soft up sell skill set.
Website: www.starbucks.com

Strait Coffee Traders in Wilson Creek

Before I go to Seattle I took a trip home for Christmas.

This time I decided to check out the Strait Coffee in the little neighbourhood of Wilson Creek just 15 minutes outside Sechelt.
The little cafe has been operating since 1995 in the small little mini mall located just off highway 101.

Owners of the little cafe have ebbed and flowed through much like the tide of this coast community but it wasn’t until current owner Grace Bland (Yes her last name is really bland) that this little cafe really took quality wise.

Brassy Bean dispensers

Anything but bland. . .

The cafe now roasts their own beans and supplies all  four Wheatberries locations. They also service most of the grocery stores on the coast with whole beans and a few other cafes I have yet to find. The wholesale business is locally based and uses  fair trade certification with customers from Whitehorse to Saskatchewan.

While I am home on the coast I go to either Strait or Wheatberries for the best dry cappuccinos’ on the planet. I am sure it is just the relaxed atmosphere or the fact I am usually on vacation when I am hear but I love to sit and savour the absolute best micro foam. ( I usually like it with a slight hint of vanilla sugar on top)

Latte Artist

This cafe is also home to quite the latte artist. Now for as seasoned “Drive” veteran like myself latte art is nothing new, the leafs, hearts, are the old school versions of this art foam. But (yes a different Grace) has done something completely different with her skills. Watch the video below.

Bazinett, 25, has been a barista for about five years working in Vancouver, Alberta and now Sechelt, one day was pouring a latte and saw that the foam resembled a face. She then took the spoon and began drawing in the foam, an artist outside the cafe she always enjoyed drawing so this just came naturally.

Grace Bazinett Latte Art

Grace and Grace can usually found behind the counter in the mornings four to five days a week.

Update March 2009 ~ I recent had an Americano at Strait Coffee Traders and it was the best coffee of my recent trip home. If you are in the area and it is sunny and warm I would certainly suggest grabbing 12 oz. Americano, one of their white chocolate brownies and head up to Cliff Gilker Park in Robert Creek, you will certainly enjoy it, I did.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Strait Coffee
Drink ordered: Medium Dry Cappuccino (16 oz with foam)
Discount of own to-go cup: medium for a price of a small
Barista Knowledge: Decent
Barista friendliness: good
Website: www.straitcoffee.ca

49th Parallel Cafe

Surprise surprise, I am not sure if the Piccolo brothers can get away from the Cafe business or was this the goal all along.

But I was finally able to check out the 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters new cafe in downtown Kitsilano and a few things surprised me while other remain the same.

This is very much not another Caffe Artigiano by a different name. The skinny cafe with high ceilings a wooden bench that flow the length of the cafe, but yet broken up by banks of lights build into the wall.

Word on the street is this will be the one and only 49th Parallel Cafe. In answering my own question above, why open up a cafe after just selling off the successful chain you started. Well the answer is simple, the hard work was already done.

Not just another Artigiano

The Artigiano experiment was to compete head to head with the green machine, serving hug volumes, but exceeding expectation in terms of quality. They mainly succeeded and have 49th Parallel to show for it. A brand that many coffee drinkers know and a brand that independent cafes look for. But I also heard that after starting the roaster, the chain was a real drain on the brothers and when the right buyer came along they made the right decision to sell.

49th Parallel Cafe inside

I felt great coming into this cafe, as busy as it was, I ordered my drink from a wonderful Kiwi girl offered a pleasant amount of conversation while I ordered.

I ordered a medium Americano which weighted in at 9 oz in size. I walked over to the sparkling new expresso machine and with in about 30 seconds had my americano in hand.

True to form the Epic Expresso was rich with flavor full of body and had a nice aftertaste that was actually leaving me wanting more. So. . . I had more. . . but I decided to have something from The Clover this time.

No drip to be found here

After a cleansing of the palette The Costa Rican was a really smooth coffee with a hint of caramel sweetness. Americano’s and The Clover is usual fair, brewed coffee is only available on the weekends.

If you are looking to get your coffee to go and in a rush you might have to wait more then a couple seconds because every cup is made independently on the clover and perfection take time.

la old la Mistral (circa 2008)

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: 49th Parallel Coffee Rosters Cafes
Drink ordered: 9 oz Americano
Discount of own to-go cup: you get nothing!
Quality and service: Extremely Knowledgeable
Barista friendliness: Always in good humour
Website: www.49thparallelroasters.com

Hi, I am back and coming out of my blogging-hibernation called college and I have exciting news to report. I am going to Seattle, Washington for New Years!

While I am there I will be checking out a few cafes. Granted I won’t have a car and based in West Seattle, but I am open to all suggestions.

As we all know the big green coffee giant is based in Seattle and I won’t do justice to my hatred of it if I didn’t check out where it all started. Granted I was a huge fan for a number of year I can’t let this injustice go unpunished and will return to the scene of the crime to witness where it all started and how they went so wrong.

Pike Place iconic neon