Is the commonly referenced term for coffee made from auto drip filtered coffee and is usually stored in thermal coffee dispensers. This is the most common method to store and serve coffee and is all the range in second wave style coffee shops through out Vancouver.
Author’s note:
Brewed coffee is served black with the option of cream and sugar usually served in sizes ranging from 8oz to 24oz.
Thermal Coffee Dispenser at Turks
This is a milk-based drink where half-and-half or cream is used instead of milk but in all other respects is the same as a latte.
Author’s note:
A breve has subsequently more calories due to the fat content in the crema. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Last summer, almost a year ago I ask Gio Corsi to help me review a famous cafe and attraction on The Drive. Cafe Calabria.
Gio Corsi might be 98% Chimp, but 100% authentic Italian
You might know Gio Corsi from some of his other rolls on the Internet. He plays the Russian Ambassador on the famous Tiki Bar TV. He also writes wrote a food blog called Vancouver Eats (he now writes Singapore Eats) and has been know to take some damn popular flickr photos.
Gio had also just returned from a trip to Italy and who better to help me review a cafe then a Italian-Canadian who just got back from Italy?
Well that summer came and went and still not a post was updated, I felt horrible, but was so behind the 8-ball in way to many project I still let this one slide. Come the new year both Gio and myself found ourselves unemployed due to the recent economic downturn. I had decided to relaunched the coffee blog and I was determined to make good on a promise and concluded this review.
Well as luck may have it, I found work just down the street and Gio well he found work in Singapore. Yes our lovable ambassador of food and all things tiki has moved to Asia and while we couldn’t fit in a return visit to Calabria. I promised to return a finish what we started and save some face.
Caffe Calabrian, Circa Summer 2008
Cafe Calabria has been an establishment on The Drive for 32 years and they have the memorabilia to show for it. I first tried the gelato, it was the tiramisu a little pricey and fresher could be had on The Drive although in the heat of the summer this is nothing to complain about.
Gio arrived and we went up to the bar and ordered a cappuccino and double espresso.
“The crema was a bit weak but it tastes like Italy, appearances can be deceiving,” said Corsi.
We both though the Italian of the year was a bit cheesy but it plays to the theme of the place well.
“But baring that this is the great melting pot of european goodness… Italian coffee across the street from a Thai take out and a Greek resturant.” said Corsi.
It is places like this that really make The Drive.
“You can tell a good place from everything else because it always has all the old Italian guys sitting out front.” said Corsi.
Calabria is always busy I have never seen it empty or without people sitting outside although I am sure it happens occasionally.
Going back a year later I had both a Americano and a 8oz Dry Cappuccino and both were decent I also had a biscotti that hit the spot. I have had a variety of quality and service at Calabria as it almost depends on their mood. The roast is also quite dark but something you would expect from an Italian roaster, overall quality is decent and drinks are consistent to their style, oh and character, nothing in Vancouver comes close to this cafe in terms of character.
Cappaccino with cocoa
I did enjoy my last visit and hope to see Gio back in Vancouver with in a couple years where I sure will toast his return to The Drive.
Where this blog was written: Caffe Calabria
Drink that was ordered: 8 oz Americano and 8oz Dry Cappuccino
Discount on to-go cup: none
Barista Skill: Old Skool
Barista friendliness: A little rough around the edges (but not ball busting)
Website: none
The aroma of freshly ground coffee.
The physical feel in your mouth and the texture of the coffee. A coffee’s body is measured by its thickness due to the amount of solids and oils extracted from the coffee grinds, and it may range from thin and watery to thick and creamy.
Author’s note:
This is the most misused term in the coffee lexicon. There is nothing called full or bold body, it is a poorly used term by marketers.
The Barista Jam came to the Radio Station Cafe. It was a hot Sunday afternoon on the long weekend and I decided to bike down from the drive to the East Hastings haunt. I didn’t really know what a barista jam was but after reading Mark Princes (aka the Coffee Geek) Tweet I decided to take a Sunday afternoon off from work and check it out.
The Jam comprises of a dozen barista’s from a few cafes and who ever could pull the best shot of espresso grinder, judged by Robert Csar Supervisor of JJ Bean on Main Street and Mark Prince, from Coffee Geek.
Competitors chill during the judging at the Radio Station Cafe
This was the first “Jam” I had been to and there was so many things I enjoyed about spending a lazy Sunday afternoon watching barista’s compete for nothing but a belt buckle, a couple bucks and the admiration of thy fellow peers.
Other interesting notes I found from the day were:
This little Jam started last year at Radio Station Cafe making this only its second. I hope two things continue on to next year. One, that the jam just continues, heck I will even help sponsor next year if needed. Two, that it remains as fun and low key as it did this year. No one was wearing any colours or sporting any logos (other than the bags of coffee themselves, which is ok) and there wasn’t anything on the line other than a spent afternoon and some fun with fellow enthusiasts. While we need the Barista Championships in Canada (congrats Sammy) and the world, this is one that should remain just for the fun of it (and the belt buckle of course).
A solid, non-porous filter used in a porta-filter to back wash an espresso machine. Is also referred to as a blanks filter.
Author’s note:
Using a solid porta-filter forces the water back up in to the head, cleaning the espresso machine of any coffee grinds that were left from the previous shot(s).
Blind Filter basket in a portafilter
A blended mocha is similar to an iced mocha but blended with ice to make a slushy type of beverage. While there are numerous variations of a blended mocha that differ as much in name as they do in ingredients, the basis for all drinks is chocolate, espresso, milk and ice combined in a blender and often topped with whipped cream.
Author’s note:
Many chains use a powder base when they blend cold drinks. These are generally thickeners that improve the way the ingredients are combined. They are usually full of multi-syllabic words only a chemist would be able to decipher. Information regarding what is in the base couldn’t be found online by this writer. He wonders if glucose syrup and vegetable fat is not really all that fun to talk about.
If you want a blended mocha without a base you can ask for it and make sure they make it in front of you.
Epic Convention
My sister was bugging me about going to see her booth at the Epic Sustainability Convention at the new convention centre in Vancouver. While I wasn’t sure what I would find in terms of coffee. I am certainly glad I succumbed to my sisters harassment.
I checked out the Salt Spring Coffee booth and their new single orgin micro lot from Pangoa, Peru that is currently only available during the Epic Convention. It is a medium roasted coffee that is nicely balanced in both body and acidity. I spoke with a barista, (who’s name I have lost with my stolen iPhone) and she was really quite knowledgeably about the company’s mission and the coffee they were promoting. I really enjoyed my conversation with her, smart girl who is also taking a double major at university (editors note: Ya want those double major students behind your booth…)
She introduced me to Banks Thomas who is the new director of coffee for gulf island based company. We chatted about the new micro lot and how they ran a friendly little competition between the farmers of the La Co-operativa Agraria Cafetalera in Pangoa, Peru to choose the best lots to make a single origin coffee.
I was happy to see more transparency in the Salt Spring Island Coffee company and from what I hear from Thomas more is to come. Looks like were going to have yet another top roaster on the West Coast to choose from if this is any indication of what is to come.
Salt Spring Coffee
While chatting with Thomas you can see the passion he has for coffee, it is easy to tell he enjoys what he does. His past also speaks to where Salt Spring might be going. He hails from the very progressive Counter Culture Coffee a roaster that dot’s the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and has been know to produce some excellent batches of the brew.
So while I didn’t plan on blogging or even going to Epic I am certainly glad I did and want to check out of the Salt Spring Coffee cafes in Vancouver for a review.
Well our little yelp got a lot of traffic and while we don’t like to cause controversy we just found the entire experience a little odd. I feel we can describe this issue using the selling of coffee beans as an example.
Summer of 2007 I went to Victoria and checked out the Murchie’s Government Street cafe. I asked where the roast was from and they said:
“She (the owner) doesn’t like to tell people. There is too much competition, but it is a blend of beans from South America.”
And this flies in the face of what most artisan roasters are doing these days. Roasters like Victrola, 49th Parallel and Intelligentsia all mention the region, farm and altitude in which the coffee is picked and how it is roasted. It isn’t a secret they actually really want you to know because for them it is about the quality. To my understanding this is the basis for direct trade and the basis for complete transparency in the direct trade model.
Don't let your transparency slide photo credit: durak.org
If you see a bag of coffee in the grocery store that says direct trade and there is no other information on it, no website info, farm, co-op or location, well the bag of coffee could have come from anywhere and has about as much accountability as your two-year-old does while getting driven home from preschool (or none).
I believe all of these community review sites and user-generated content site is all about transparency. Another example would be Digg. I love Digg, especially its labs. But I would never consider uncredited links from Digg more accurate over places like the Globe and Mail or the New York Times. A lot of links on Digg just don’t have the ethical transparency that either news organization has.
This is why we have put our support behind the Urban Spoon model (my name is Coffee Rob on Urban Spoon btw) of ranking and reviewing cafes and coffee shops. With its spoon backs as they call it and adding reviews from inside along with outside sources will give readers, in my opinion, a more informed review from a variety of sources.
The UrbanSpoon Back
Yelp banned me for linking back to my blog, and I included those links to provide some credit where credit was due.
So in this era of everyone having an opinion or a review, lets try to have some transparency and accountability and if you’re really serious about reviewing and writing about a subject. I’d suggest you set up your own blog. You will own every piece of content on the site. . . .
A reason why I have a coffee cup over my face is I really like the anonymity of a review. Much like a food reviewer I don’t tell cafes when or where I show up. I pay for all of my drinks and only after I have spent two or three visits to a cafe before I actually write about it. It is really important for me to experience the cafe how the average consumer would enjoy it. This is also why I always try to bring along a guest with me the first time. And if you want to find a picture of me well it is as easy as a google keyword search.
Crystal H did respond back in the late afternoon and I thank her for her response, but yet the email address she left for people to write regarding any questions or concerns bounces back (as of Wed. May, 7 evening). Again I have found all of this odd. And it isn’t hard to provide feedback to Yelp, but leaving people an email address that bounces back doesn’t give me any sense of comfort in accountability of previous actions.
Can’t say I’m not happy about the publicity the blog has received, but truthfully I just want to get back to writing about coffee.
