A small metal or plastic pan or drawer near the bar counter for disposal of spent coffee grounds. It’s called a knock box because the barista knocks the porta-filter to remove the grounds.
Instant coffee is just regularly brewed coffee with nearly all the moisture removed by freeze drying.
Author’s note:
Instant coffee is usually made with robusta beans that are low in quality, which has been packaged for years and heavily over priced for what you get, which is only convenience.
An iced mocha is similar to a mocha but served over ice. While there are numerous variations of the iced mocha the basic consists of chocolate sauce, espresso and milk poured over ice and stirred.
Cold milk is poured over the ice and then hot expresso is added to the mixture. Many add liquid sugar to sweeten the taste.
Author’s note:
An iced latte is made with ice cubes and is not blended. It does not comes out of any machine as a mixture because anything that comes under that is either a convenience-store cappuccino or blended style drink.
Continental Coffee during Sunny Day on The Drive
I felt it was time to visit another long-standing coffee shop of East Vancouver. Continental Coffee has been a cornerstone of The Drive for 30 years and far longer than the green behemoth that sits right across the street. It has seen its fair share of cafes come and go and still remains busy with a line up to the front door some mornings.
With a wealth of great coffee on The Drive and Vancouver it is sometimes hard to cover cafes that are so close to home. So, we decided to give Continental our undivided attention.
We first visited some weeks back and still enjoyed the family-run operation in strict contrast with the feeling you get with some of the corporate giants of the area. The Americano I ordered was under extracted and really short for a 12 oz. I went back and the nice barista apologized and just added another shot. I noticed these shots were really short in time and thought it could save the owner some dough and make a better cup if the shots were more properly timed. On the other side of the scale Erica found her drink quite bitter even with the addition of some cream and sugar.
I do remember what the old Continental Coffee resembled before the renovations of Spring 2009 and found the cafe a little less cozy and some what spare. Erica arrived before I had and said she felt the cafe could use a little more care in its aesthetic appeal as the coffee was great but the vibe and feel of the cafe lessened her experience.
The second venture of this cafe review I managed alone and found my Americano has a proper extraction, with mellow undertones of a slightly darker than medium roast profile. It was a joy to drink on a Saturday afternoon with the weekend G & M. But sadly my second drink some two hours later was an 8 oz. latte with over-heated milk, which burnt my tongue a bit.
Both Erica and myself purchased some beans and found the roast bean fared far better than what was served by the barista. And you know as well as I that all the harvesting, sampling, roasting, cupping and storage can all go for not if the actual brew isn’t timed just right.
The owner of the cafe, Anita Allen, is seen behind the counter most days and was behind the counter the Saturday I re-visited. I don’t doubt the endless hours she puts into the cafe as any small business owner does to run a successful business day in and day out. After chatting with her briefly at the end of the day, I see the passion she has for coffee and it must be one of the reasons why the cafe has been around for so many years.
There is free wi-fi and plug-ins for you laptop users, but the seating is limited so don’t be a cafe loafer.
All in all I give Continental props for being one of the longest standing cafes on Commercial Drive. That along with roasting its own beans for some 30 years is a real dedication to craft and art in the coffee industry. I’d still like to see a more attentive barista behind the bar, but isn’t there always room for a little improvement?
* We at Coffee Vancouver are also not immune to a constant need for improvement.
Where this blog was written: Continental Coffee
Drinks that was ordered: 12 oz. Americano, 8 oz. Latte
Discount on to-go cup: Didn’t ask
Barista Skill: Completely random
Barista friendliness: Very friendly and welcoming
Website: none
Address: 1806 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, Canada
When using your kettle wait until the water boils, then count 10 to 15 seconds. You want to use hot but not boiling water. Boiling water will actually burn the grinds. It is also a good idea to pre-heat your cups before you serve the coffee. Just add a bit of hot water to heat up the mug, which will keep your coffee warm longer and allow you to taste the coffee through out the temperature range.
Coffee harvesting is done either by hand or machine. Coffee picked by hand is usually done at higher elevations where it is harder to get machinery to operate in the terrain. Picking by hand tends to lead to higher quality due to the lack of impartiality of the machine not being able to pick the absolute ripest cherries.
Is usually espresso made with half regular roast and half decaffeinated.
Author’s note:
With many cafes in the Vancouver area offering decaf only in americano format, the majority of half caf drinks are also made via the espresso machine.
A cylindrical mount that hangs from the top of a traditional espresso machine. A porta-filter can then clamp in making an air-tight seal for proper espresso extraction.
That's a Wrap
As this was the first coffee trade show I have ever been too, I have to say I really had a great time. I got to meet a lot of people in the coffee industry who provide the tools to the cafe’s.
I also got to see the Barista Competition live for the first time and it is impressive. The pressure the bar tenders are under to get every drink down is pretty amazing.
I finally met the lovely and equally knowledgeable Andrea Piccolo at the Swiss Water Booth. Erica and I both took the Swiss Water Challenge which provided two cups of french pressed coffee one decaf on not. Both of us could barely tell the difference between the the decaf and the caffeinated brew. We really enjoyed our chat with the gang at swiss water and hope to find out more about their unique decaffeination process.
At 50 cents a piece for this IKEA Älmhult stonewear mug, it is a cheap reusable option.
From the Aardvark paper drinking straws to the Baskets-n-bags burlap coffee trays to a hand pump portable espresso maker. This show had a number of booths focused on recyclable, biodegradable and greener products. We fully support the use of a greener more sustainable product, but the other side of the trade show we saw a whole lot of waste.
What we also saw was a lot of sample cups being offered, sampled and then being thrown out. I found it to be a lot of waste with some exhibitors wanting to give us 10 to 12 oz cups of coffee with sleeves etc. While we were impressed with the marketing venture some of the new producers were trying to accomplish, we felt there was a lot of waste as well.
While I totally understand how hard it is to be a little more green The Salt Spring Coffee Co showed why they were leaders in sustainability. Their coffee samples were given in reusable IKEA Älmhult stonewear mug. After being used they were washed in the clean up area that was provided and brought back to the booth.
According to Banks Thomas, roaster for Salt Spring, he brought the idea to the Island Roaster, but he can’t take credit for it.
“When I was at counter culture they had reusable cups and I took the idea from them,” said Banks.
Salt Spring first introduced the reusable cups at the EPIC Sustainability convention last spring.
This is a win win, one the cost of the cup is only payed out once and then reused, and two the samplers will stick around to finish the coffee and you have a captive audience to make your pitch until they are completed. So I hope Salt Spring doesn’t mind me letting the cat out of the bag on this one and I hope the trend continues!
I ran into Sophie Lui from Global Television and with one look at my name tag she had me in front of her camera asking about Far Coast coffee, the just named official coffee supplier of the 2010 Olympic Games. I wasn’t surprised seeing that is the hot beverage arm of the Coke-a-Cola company. Sophie asked me to taste the coffee and give it my impression. The coffee was about an hour old and kept in stainless steel vacuum flask. I thought it was over extracted and and slightly higher in acidity then body.
I made the news on Thursday night (Yup you can watch it here go to the 11:00 minute mark), but as TV goes, my quote was slightly cut. I didn’t mind, I know the seconds count in a news cast and just so you think I am not a complete snob, I said
“Is this olympic worthy coffee, it certainly wouldn’t get a gold metal in my book, but I have drank far worse.”
Kyle Straw, second from right, and the finalist of the Canadian Barista Competion
It was the first time Erica and I had both seen the Canadian Barista Championships competition and in every sense of the word we were impressed with the competition. The timing needed to prepare everything to come out in a certain order, the judging involved with each and every moment is completely rehearsed and practiced over and over again.
Kyle Straw from Caffe Argitano Hornby location came out the top Canadian Barista and will be heading the London England in 2010 for the World Barista Championships in June.
But something that I saw in person that you never really see on the u-stream of the event is the support system that is there for the barista, from sample testing during the set up time to making sure the barista is completely set up. Once the competition starts the barista is on their own.
After the competition the barista goes over the their scores with the judges. While getting feedback is par for the course, I was really impressed with the amount of detailed feedback that was given back to the barista. This wasn’t just a 30 second, you did well. Both judge and barista when through the comp in fine detail.
I came to the obvious conclusion that this consultation is the true gift of the barista competition and that it is a shining example of why they are important. If baristas of national caliber spend weeks training for this event and then after the competition spend 5 to 10 minutes going over their scores with one of the judges, the trickle down effect to every cafe must be significant.
