The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Meet Erica Hill, (Erica has moved to Vancouver and now co-authors the blog) I have known Erica for a number of years as we both lived in Portage la Prairie at the same time. Now Portage doesn’t have much of a coffee scene actually there was only one indy cafe called The Grindstone and Erica worked there. I had sinced moved back to Vancouver and she moved to Lethbridge and then Regina, but she always gave me a hard time about my Starbucks rant, amongst other things, I said well there is so much more to coffee than just Starbucks. And while in Vancouver there is more to coffee, but Regina? Not so much.

Erica decided to come to Vancouver to celebrate new years and get a break from the snow of Regina, and we couldn’t deliver the usual balmy west coast weather she wanted, I was able to show her around some of the cafes in Vancouver, and so here are one girls thoughts about coffee in Vancouver. For better or for worse. . .

Drink & Cafe	Drink	Roast (if known)	Comments
49 Parallel Cafe	8 oz Latte (1 shots)	Epic Espresso	The coffee wasn’t bitter, I could drink this coffee with out a lot of milk. 8oz with one shot and I didn’t need a lot of sugar.
Prado Cafe	12 oz latte	49th Organic Espresso	I like how (the cafe) wasn’t as crazy busy or intense, I like the big cups, I can taste the flavour of the coffee more. I don’t like the bitterness of most coffee, but I do like the taste of coffee.
Tony's Cream Puffs	Tony’s Deli and Catering		Cream Puff intermission, hmmm. . . .
Bump and Grind	Clover 12oz	Costa Rica Montes de Oro Honey	It is the only coffee I could drink black, It actually tastes better black than with cream and sugar. . .
Other visits from her trip
Wicked Cafe	12 oz Latte	Black Cat	Creamer, smoother in taste. Love the intelligentsia logo….
Starbucks	12 oz Latte	Starbucks Roast	It was a good amount of coffee flavour and it wasn’t overwhelming… and the sweetness was kinda spicy…like cinnamon or something… It was creamy and the foam was actually kick ass.
Bread Garden	16 oz Latte		My latte never showed up, I had to go up and ask for it. So they finally brought it out like 20 minutes after it was ordered and it tastes awful…it was more like an Americano with foam… and it was super bitter. I added so much milk and sugar and it still tasted disgusting, very watery… Like normal shitty coffee that had been steamed. I just left the whole thing sitting there, never drank any of it.

Conclusion:

I felt like the barista’s were more involved with the customers at the locally owned coffee shops. They make you feel like a friend, at Starbucks they have kind of like a production line set up and you are purposefully separated from the barista.
I like talking to someone and making friends with them…at the ‘minimalist’ coffee shop, the woman there (Amy York) was really nice…they were all actually really nice.
At the locally owned coffee shops I feel like I can get what I want, but at Starbucks I feel as though I have to order only what’s on the menu, pre-made drinks.

And now at home:

Well just pure disappointment at what lattes I could get in Vancouver but will never be able to get here… I LOVED the latte art, it’s so easy to learn and people could take a short course to do it.. and the baristas are just so boring here now…
I wish there was a nice friendly coffee shop here and actually I wish there were more options for coffee shops in Regina…if you don’t want a chain store then you have very few options.

(Editors note: Much like Geoff,  Erica now mail orders her 49th Parallel as she missed that “Good Vancouver Coffee” way to much)