The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

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.