The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Bike to Work with Coffee Photo: David Niddrie

I have done a few coffee tours with friends, the over-indulgent coffee tour Geoff Howe and I took, and the educational tour I took Erica Hill on at New Years Day. The first one was done by car the second was done by transit, the third will be done by bike.

This summer I have been working with Bikes on the Drive developing a blog and some social marketing around their new bike The Tree. The experience has been one of the most compelling and encompassing projects I have ever worked on. I worked with ilan Handelsman and he quite enjoyed an excellent cup of coffee and really enjoys this blog.

Over a few Americanos we hatched this plan of a biking coffee tour to some of the best coffee shops in East Vancouver. After blogging about The Tree bicycle for most of the summer I found that the bike and coffee blog share the same goals: More sustainable products through education. Both ilan and I thought this would be a great way to showcase some excellent roasters, groovy cafes and the quintessential commuter bike all in one shot (sorry no pun intended).

We had the idea and now just needed to extract the details:

The East Van Biking Coffee Tour
Sponsored by: Bikes on the Drive & Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Meet: 10:30 am at Bikes on the Drive 1350 Commercial Drive ~ Rain or Shine.
Day: Saturday  July 11, 2009
Cost: Your choice of coffee beverage at cafes we will go to.
Distance Travelled: 9.5 kilometers
Finishing around: 2:00 pm give or take time taken at cafes.

Being that this is the first public coffee tour I have ever organized I had a few goals in mind:

1. Variety of roasters
2. Short distances travelled
3. Quality of cafe

which is kind of why we have chosen the cafes we have and the route we did. If it is a success we certainly have another one and will choose a different route with different cafes. So please come out it will be a lot of fun and hopefully good weather.

Tour has concluded thanks for all who came out

JJ Bean Mainstreet Store front

The Main Street JJ Bean is one of seven in the string of cafes that are part of  JJ Bean Coffee Roasters. They have a large wholesale and distributing arm which services a huge number of independent operated cafes across the lower mainland.

But the house that I am talking about is exclusively the JJ Bean Cafes located across Vancouver and are owned and operated by the parent company. These cafes are where a lot of barista’s in Vancouver have gotten their start and some cafe owners like Amy York were taught the business before going off to start new cafes.

This is also an exclusive review of the Main Street Cafe as chains go one cafe can not speak for the entire brand.

A short walk up from Broadway you’ll find yourself at East 14th and a bucks on one corner and a JJ Bean on the other. The JJ’s has a large wood finish on the exterior and a huge portal for people watching along main street. Walking into the cafe the wood theme continues with high wood ceilings, a central fire place, with a green titled and  wood bar.  As far a cafes go this is quite the large one with a pair of La Marczocco Linea three group machines and a large fireplace in the center. Their is a roaster in the corner and it is used on a weekly basis for small batch roasting.

The Main Street Patio

Song bird style

The cafe has large garage style windows which open up to the patio during the summer. I must admit I whore for this style of windows and with the type of climate Vancouver has it suites the cafe perfectly. Small little song birds who are quite cheeky in their pursuit of muffin crumbs perpetrate through the large garage bay windows. Personally I think it adds to the cafe. If a seagull came nibbling around my feet I might have a different opinion, but the sounds of the song birds are certainly sweeter then roar of traffic IMHO.

The JJ Bean Coffee Roasters has been going through a re-genesis of sorts the have shorten their line up and refined their purchasing, the Espresso Nero Organic has been really kicking it in high gear lately. I think were coming into a great time for coffee drinkers in Vancouver as the roasters are really challenging each other in terms of quality.

The Americano ordered on the first visit was rich in crema. As it cool I found it kinda mellowed out a bit with a clean finish. I had to down it as I didn’t realize the time, but even doing that I didn’t ruined the finish, although I wouldn’t recommend it.

A Roman Indulgence

The Macchiato was so good I almost forgot to take a photo

8oz Dry Cappuccino

I returned a week later to have an espresso macchiato. The milk was steam perfectly with a decent amount a micro foam and both the espresso and milk melded perfectly together. It was one of the best drinks I have ever had from a JJ Bean. I find it hard to sometimes describe the perfect drink as their are so many variables that can’t be judges or quantified. But everything came together, quality drink, the environment, service, music, mood.

In my second drink I decided to go all out and ask for an 8oz Dry Cappuccino and they delivered in my estimation a perfectly crafted dry cappuccino of which I fully enjoyed from the spoonfuls of foam on top to the perfectly heated milk below.

They don’t have wi-fi, but they do serve food and this place can get dam busy even at the slowest of days. I have been really enjoying JJ’s coffee as of late and these latest cafe visits has certainly excelled in quality from previous visits.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: JJ Bean Main Street
Drink that was ordered: 12 oz Americano & 6 oz. Macchiato and 8 oz Dry Cappuccino
Discount on to-go cup: 15 cents
Barista Skill: Top notch
Barista friendliness: personable and sociable
Website: www.jjbeancoffee.com