The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

My good friend and awesome freelance photographer Geoff Howe is coming to Vancouver for a visit and wants to check out a few cafes. He is a convert from the Starbucks nation, but when living in Saskatoon there isn’t an abundance of choice available to him. So come February we’re going to take Vancouver by storm and check out as many cafes as we can.

You can read about our miss-adventures here

One for the Road. . .

I am also going to try and blog throughout the day. This is a new experiment for me and I won’t have the help of some sites like Twitter (We finally broke down and are now on Twitter)

We’re also going to hit a few haunts that I have been hanging out at but haven’t written about due to pressure from my homework load.

We might have a few more friends coming along for the ride. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions or want to come along. . .

Bump in the Road

A while ago I blogged about Bump and Grind’s refusal to give out coffee sleeves with their coffee. Apparently they made the nightly news and they haven’t looked back since. In fact, according to Josh, they haven’t been busier, and oh yeah they are just as sassy as ever!!!

A Little Bling Goes a Long Way

And while Bump and Grind is going sleeveless, a company my sister started will allow you to stylize your latte a bit while you’re helping to reuse & recycle.

The Coffee Cuff was created in Vancouver B.C. by myself, Loreen Dall, a Mompreneur who saw an advertisement for the “super rich” with a fur coffee sleeve and thought why can’t we all have a chic Coffee Cuff that we will actually use and help save the environment at the same time? A couple years later, the Coffee Cuff was born.
~ Loreen Dall ~

They have a wide variety of colours and one size fits 12, 16 and 20 oz. cups.

And yes she is my sister so I might be a bit biased, but I did try out a beta version of the cup and it fit nicely in my hands and it’s completely machine washable!

Check out their Web site

In the last of the Seattle cafes review we head to Bauhaus Books & Coffee.

Walking into Bauhaus you can’t help but feel the culture that surrounds you. Bauhaus is located In Capitol Hill (but nearer to downtown than most) with views of the Space Needle and plenty of outdoor seating.

Class act

I spent a morning at the cafe waiting for my Greyhound back to Vancouver. The staff were awesome, the drink wasn’t bad but it was definite room for improvement.

This two level cafe had a real nice feel to it. I was sitting having my latte and reading my email and I briefly looked up and saw a graphic designer working with his stylist on my left and a man sketching architectural drawings a few tables down. I felt right at home and only wish I could spend a bit more time. Like most of the cafes I really wish I could have spent more at Bauhaus. But with Seattle only four hours away I know I will be back.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Bauhaus books & Coffee
Drink ordered: 12 oz lattle
Discount of own to-go cup: Drip coffee for a buck (any size of mug)
Barista Knowledge: Decent but not excellent
Barista Friendliness: Friendly and Knowledgeable
Website: www.bauhauscoffee.net

Address: 301 East Pine Seattle, Wash, USA

Hello loyal readers and fans of my blog,

We have updates!

Our blog as a home, a name, a place to be seen!

www.coffeevancouver.ca

Also if you look to the right the calendar will now show the recent blogs we have posted. But the links are now in orange, bright and bold for all to see.

I also am going to have to put my blog on hiatus for a while as I once again have school to finish, I should be back in a month or so. . .

When walking into the Victrola Cafe and Roastery Pike Street location you see high ceilings, brick walls, large bay windows that let you look on to the street but also into the roasting area. this cafe has a large open feel to it as has a great subtle feel to it. Thanks to Amy York of Prado for suggesting it.

This is a place where I could get my groove on to throw downs some prose.

As smooth as honey, as sweet as love

After witnessing all that is Starbucks at Pike Place Market and needed some mellow moments of creativity and good coffee. The barista behind the counter was cool, not suggesting any special drink or trying to up sell me on anything. I knew I wasn’t in Starbucks country anymore, this was a good thing. . . . The Americano was smooth to the taste and a delight to experience with not a hint of bitterness. It was one the best decafe’s I have ever had.

I began a conversation with Chris Sharp about Macintosh battery life on the MacBook Pro and then asked “Do you worked here.”

His response was “ya kinda, I own it”

Fair Play

We had a good conversation about fair trade certification of the coffee beans and why direct trade is better then fair trade. I quite enjoyed my conversation with Sharp, I learnt more about the foundation of the direct trade agreements roasters like Sharp have and why it is more important to foster these types of relationship. I certainly agree with Sharp seeing what importers like 49th Parallel has done with the relationships with their farmers which has brought a lot of social conciseness to the coffee scene in Vancouver.

The café is certainly top of my list for Seattle cafés and has some nice soothing music to it. I certainly recommend this cafe to any visitor to Seattle, it is worth a visit.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Victrola Cafe & Roastery
Drink ordered: Decafe 12 oz Americano
Discount of own to-go cup: You get nothing
Barista knowledge: solid skill
Barista friendlyness: Nice, but not all that talkative
Website: www.victrolacoffee.com

Address: 310 E Pike St. Seattle, USA

I checked out Stumptown’s Capitol Hill location very briefly, but what I saw I like, it was a different type of feel then Victrola. The two barista’s behind the counter were very lively and full of energy who had great aditudes when I walked in. I had a 12 oz. Latte that was poured perfectly with some funky free pour art. I barely had a chance to take in the surroundings. I did ask few locals and they all approved it’s awesomeness. I on my next trip to the emerald city I hope I get some more time in Stumptown.

Where this blog was written: Stumptown Pine Location
Drink ordered: 12 oz latte
Discount of own to-go cup: Did not ask sorry..
Barista Knowledge: Lacking in some latte art, but skilled none the less
Barista friendlyness: Two funny, cute and full of energy female baristas
Website: www.stumptowncoffee.com

Address: 616 East Pine, Seattle, Wa.