The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Happy Holidays to all of you in the world of coffee. I apologize for the lack of new posts, it’s been a wacky winter to say the least.

Two recent events, one in coffee, the other not, have lead me to put a short pause to any more cafe reviews. It has become harder to keep a large number of cafes updated. If I stop by and if things have changed, for better or worse I’d like to update the blog post, but yet right now that is hard to do.

But you should follow me on twitter @coffeevancouver So where making a change and you should see a CoffeeVancouver V.3 Sometime in the new year!

Minimalist Latte Art by Tessa

Hemingway writing in journal Credit: Creative Commons: Wikipedia

“It was a Pleasant Cafe, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water proof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a cafe au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

I found this quote at a recent cafe I was at. I think it is why we often head to cafes with books, journals and now laptops.

This is part two into the look at the wireless culture in Vancouver. You can read part one here.

When I need to work downtown I hit the Vancouver Public Library, which has one of the largest collections of free wireless internet in Vancouver. When its internet was down I used to head to Take 5 Cafe on Granville. I wasn’t exactly looking for quality coffee more than I was looking for a quality internet connection. With some extra instruction to the barista I received a decent $2 latte, certainly worth the money I paid for it.  No more, no less. They always have space and don’t mind if you spent most of the afternoon there.

They had extra power plugs installed and had a seating capacity of at least 100. When you compare that to a smaller cafe of 20 – 30 seats and you’ll need substantial more turn over, it all depends on your business model.

The Wilder Snail had an interesting solution to wireless internet. They only turn on the wireless after 2:00 pm. Owner Boyd Thomson says it was part of his plan to offer wireless to his customers, but he also has to cater to his lunch crowd which was quite busy last winter.

A different model

“We want people to spend all day in our cafes. We design our cafes with power plugs in mind and even the smaller kiosk stores have plug ins in the floor,” said Layla Osberg, Director or Training at Blenz Head Office.

Despite the quality of coffee the Blenz at Horseshoe Bay is a decent place to wait for a late ferry. But that is 90 per cent of their business.

Of course Blenz is a franchise-based organization and costs of wireless is up to each cafe owner. But when buying into the franchise you are also buying into the business model. Friends of mine have often commented that they have go to a wireless cafe to give roommates some room or to burn the midnight oil during the end of the term papers.

Personally I have enjoyed the Blenz at Horseshoe Bay more then a few times while waiting for the ferry. Their is such a high turn over of staff at the location the quality of any espresso drink will be completely random. I usually stick with the drip coffee at Blenz. It is far better then the vending machine in the ferry waiting room and the wireless allowed me to get some much needed work done. The first part of this look at wifi was written their while waiting for the ferry that was more then a hour behind schedule.

Wavey Wi-fi

Waves is another chain in Vancouver that has it’s entire business model centered around wireless laptop culture and 24-hour access. Without going into detail I did camp out at one 24-hour cafe for a group assignment that went horribly wrong. The only reason I headed to a cafe was if I went home I would have fallen asleep on the couch. I left at 4 am when I started to see less than desirable patrons sleeping next to me. I have never expected to get a decent cup of coffee from a place that markets itself as a wireless first and a cafe second and haven’t been disappointed.

Waves bases it's entire business model on the wifi customer

Return on Investment

Starbucks and Bell offer one free hour of wireless to anyone with a Starbucks Card. This approach helps to keep the Cafe Loafers at bay and if they want to spend all day they will have to purchase wireless from Bell to do it. I tried it out and it worked quite well for me when I needed a wireless cafe on a holiday monday in a small town. But there is a catch. You must have a balance on your card. I login in and then ordered my drink spending the balance of my card. I accidentally closed my laptop. I went to sign in again and had already been kicked out of the system for not having a balance on my starbucks card. All of this had transpired in just over half an hour. The bucks certainly has the return on investment dialed in, but the infrastructure need would be far more then any independent shop owner could do.

So what is a wondering wireless roamer to do? It all depends on what your looking for:

1. If you going to a smaller capacity cafe. Don’t expect to stay all day with out getting a few looks from the staff if you have over stayed your welcome.
2. If you headed to a 24-hour cafe with free all you can eat wifi. Don’t expect the World Barista Champion to be working the 3am shift.
3. If you can’t connect to the internet. Don’t blame the staff they can’t be held accountable for providing a “extra service”.
4. If your going the top award winning cafe in town expecting to find a wireless connection. Don’t be disgruntled when you find they don’t offer any.
5. Always be thankful to find a cafe that does offer wireless when your waiting for a ferry. Anything is better then the vending machine in the BC Ferries waiting room.

Answers.com defines a loafer as:

One who is habitually idle

A cafe loafer is some one who spends all day in a cafe and makes it is home/office and barely purchases anything. Loafers are usually found in the most comfortable seat surfing the net on the free wifi with his laptop plug into the nearest power outlet.

Authors note: Loafers can be working on their best selling novel, screen play or the next twitter, but usually they are just looking for the next piece of Internet Lore.

Your second home. That cafe down the street

I was reading an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about New York City cafes that have started to ban the use of laptops. I thought it was a really unique issue that I personally have stretched on more than one occasion.

Back when wireless was still a buzz word and digital SLR cameras were only a professional’s tool. I would drive around the city of Winnipeg capturing my assignment and then file my photos from the nearest wireless cafe. Being a freelancer it was actually easier to purchase a coffee at a cafe and file my photos than it would be to drive back to offices on the edge of the city. I was known as the guy who transmited his photos first and ordered a coffee second. Telling the baristas that I was a news photographer and on deadline for the Free Press explained what I was doing and why.

When I arrived back in Vancouver I started looking for a list of wireless cafes. Caffeinated and Unstrung ~ A Guide to Vancouver’s Free Wireless Coffee Shops, became my bible of reputable wireless cafes in Vancouver. It is actually how I found Prado Cafe some four years ago. But since then I have seen some changes in our wireless culture.

Internet is a privilege not a right.

Covered Power Plugs

New owners of Bump and Grind Audrey Grant and Joe Peterson found that people were really abusing the privileges provided to them at the cafe spending hours in the cafe, taking up two three seats and even bringing their own food and drink.

“They would order the cheapest thing on the menus sitting here for 3 – 6 hours. We lost a few customers (when they covered up the plugs),” said Joe Peterson. “We knew it was going to happen. We lost a few people and gained a ton more.”

Joe says he kept the internet going for the customers that have respect for a small 20-seat cafe.

“It is a great workspace and people can work here. Wade (a customer) just finished his book here,” Joe said.

And for the people that have a dead battery or no battery and there is a plug on the wall in the hallway, you won’t be able to sit or lounge around surfing your Facebook profile.

“I don’t have a problem telling people to move during a busy weekend, but when we’re really not busy bums in seats are always a good thing,” he added.

Bump and Grind has accepted that we are becoming a more wireless culture and doesn’t foresee a ban on laptops, but that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy a little humour around the subject.

“One of our passwords was talk to each other. We were poking fun at the fact that people weren’t talking to each other,” said Joe. “I got into coffee because I love coffee, not because I love laptops. If I see people having a great conversation over a French press I love that!”

There can be only one.

Laptops in Prado Cafe Photo By Margaret Kwan

Prado Cafe has been lovingly referred to as that place without anything on the walls and more recently that place full of mac laptops.
“What happens when you bring a windows laptop into that place?” was asked at a house party I was at once. Well nothing will happen, but according to owner Amy York it is more about the demographics of the neighbourhood than anything about computer segregation.

“I think it is more the type of clientel in the area. There are a lot of people in the arts and they tend to use macs,” said Amy York as she pulled a shot of espresso.

Prado has a different take on laptop usage: They only have one plug for the entire cafe. You’ll either need to sit near the plug or share the plug with someone who is. They freely give out the daily changing password and internet service is somewhat sporadic. In my opinion this cafe has made the best of both worlds. You have the laptop users mostly to one side of the cafe and you have the bookworms and newspaper readers on the other. It seem to work for them as this system has been in use since spring of 2007.

In part two I will look at some further wireless options.

I have been commuting by bike as much as possible this summer, and with this weather I have totally enjoyed it too. Living in East Van and needing to get downtown I would often take the Adanac Bike Route downtown. It is a super quick route and at one point you come across a green space that you need to navigate in order to continue along Union Avenue into the Downtown core.

If you’re a bike commuter and live in East Van you’ll know exactly where I am talking about and if you don’t bike please refer to exhibit A to my left.

Exhibit A - The Adanac Bike Route

What does this have to do with coffee? Well it is at this curve in the road that I was told by Kathy Sinclair of the VACC that I should make a right turn instead and check out the Wilder Snail Neighbourhood Grocery and Cafe. From the outside it looks like your stereotypical corner store you would find in any community across Canada. But don’t judge this book buy its cover, because it is part coffee house, part corner store and somewhere in the back there is a bit of a bike shop hanging out.

Is this cafe trying to be all things to all people? Well no, I don’t think so. I think it is serving the changing community of Strathcona and all of its needs.

I had checked out this place three times, and I love finding these out of the way places, so I thought to myself “time for a review”. Also this review coincides with the introduction of Erica Hill to the coffee blog and we have just been too silent for our own good.

The Wilder Snail

Walking into the Wilder Snail you are greeted by a large wooden bar, some great red cupboards and large red globe lights that Erica wanted to make special mention of. The name is a humorous poke at unusual British pub names.

The owner Boyd Thomson, is an avid cyclist and has a small collection of tubes and bells and other bike knick-knacks that may help you out should you ever have a flat near the shop. I have found Boyd behind the counter every time I have been in the shop, and he runs the shop from behind the bar. The name is a play on words.

It has that coffee shop feel but it has got some other stuff to it also – A gem in the middle of the funky neighborhood, with a park right next door. I could just sit here and read my book on a Saturday afternoon. said Erica

Boyd uses JJ Bean for coffee and a 3 group LaMarzocco Linea for the extraction. Erica had a 8oz cappuccino and found her cappuccino a little on the hot side. My 8oz capp had some great stiff micro foam, just the way I love an old skool capp. Although I have had great macchiatos there before, I also found my second drink which was a macchiato a little on the hot side as well.

Espresso Macchiato at Wilder Snail

The Corner store offers wireless starting a 2:00pm everyday, the cafe is on Hawks just south of Hastings and just two blocks north of the Adanac Bike Route on the other – a well placed cafe for locals and non-locals alike. I would have passed by this cafe for months just because I didn’t know it was there. But I certainly won’t next time I am looking for a quiet place away from the Drive but close enough to home. Both Erica and I applaud Boyd and his Wilder Snail for being one of the coolest corner stores around and hope his niche market of bikes, groceries and coffee is around for a long time to come.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Wilder Snail
Drinks that was ordered: 6 oz. Macchiato and 8 oz Dry Cappuccino
Discount on to-go cup: 15 cents
Barista Skill: Decent
Barista friendliness: Very friendly
Website: www.thewildersnail.com
Address: 799 Keefer St, Vancouver

We had a crew of about 10 people arrive outside Bikes on the Drive for the East Van Coffee Tour. Waiting for the crew to show up I got a text from my editor Stef that she was in bed with the flu, so no live blogging, or twitter updates. Unfortunately for Stef she couldn’t try out a Tree and take over the coverage of the tour. With a group of about 10 people we took off down the hill to Bump and Grind for the first coffee of the day. Fellow coffee aficionado Evan McGraw was able to take up the task of the tour photographer so I could keep focused on the tour.

Bump and Grind
We arrived at Bump and Grind and I enjoyed some espresso and ice cream. I got this off of the menu item from Bump and Grind and it hit the spot on a warm summer morning. It’s available through out the summer months. For the next tour it would be awesome to have someone to look over the bikes that way it won’t take us forever to lock up the bikes each and every time	Espresso and Ice Cream at Bump and Grind
Prado Cafe
Arriving at Prado Cafe it was a busy as ever, with Amy and Sara behind the bar we were able to get our drinks with out much trouble. Since I was well aware of what being over-caffeinated can do, I decided to go for a decaf macchiato. I was amazed by the absolute quality of the decaf it was by far one of the best drinks of the day. I gave a little talk about the cafe and the modifications of the La Marzocco FB-70 that Amy York made.	Espresso at Prado
JJ Bean Mainstreet
With barely a seat to be found at Prado we finished our drinks and took off for Main Street and JJ Bean. The 10th avenue bike route provided us with some shade from the blaring sun. Arriving at JJ Bean we found barista Robert Csar behind the counter working up a sweat. Putting him through his paces, Evan had a great photo of her soy macchiato from JJ Bean. We lost a couple tour people after JJ Bean, I think I might keep the next tour to three cafes. But the tour must continue!	Dry Cappuccino at JJ Bean
Re-Entry Espresso
Arriving at Re-Entry we had some definite need for some more bike parking. Even with a bike rack right outside the cafe we couldn’t find enough parking for our crew. Makes me wish the cafes of Vancouver had something like what Stumptown has in Portland. We met Matt Bishop and I found that he actually uses darkroom timers for timing his shots. What an awesome reuse of technology! You set your dosage to any amount you want with dials and hit the timer button that starts the grinder! The group had dwindled down to five by this time but we had a real nice chat with Matt Bishop and learnt a bit about red espresso for those who aren’t so addicted to caffeine.	Darkroom Timers at Re-entry
Elysian Room
ilan showed us how close Main Street was to the Ontario Bike Route and so we popped over and cruised down the hill to Elysian Room and the conclusion of this tour. A number of us were coffeed out by this point. But we all had a some of that awesome sparkling water they serve from the fountain and we all shared a clover press of the guatemala just to give it a try.	Espresso at Eylsian

Things I learned from this tour

• It is really hard to park 10 bikes on a normal street and we ended up locking them to each other
• Five cafes is much too much and the route was too long to keep everyone together
• If we do another it will certainly be a different route with different cafes
• I am not sure we could get much better weather. . .

Tree Coffee Cuff

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

Arctic Aurora one of many image from Native Landscapes

In my former life I was a news photographer and I did a fair amount of travel around Western Canada covering the events of the day. So when Joe and Audrey asked me to show my work at the Bump and Grind I was more than happy (it is the closest cafe to my house).

This show was commissioned five years ago for the Bienal Fotosemana, which had photography exhibitions across Bogota, Colombia. I was chosen too as the international guest and showed at Universidad Nacional de Colombia Meseo De Arte, The National University Art Museum.

With the help of Vince over at 49th and Bump and Grind we will be serving the Colombia Timana during the event.

So here is the skinny:

Show: Native Landscapes
Where: Bump and Grind 916 Commercial Drive (map below)
When: Saturday, June 13 5:00 – 7:00 pm

Krups has listed their 2009 finalist for the Kup of Excellence and their are a few usual suspects on the list and a number of cafes I have yet to go to. (Have a full time job is such a pain some times)

You can have your say too vote online

And you can help to, by voting for you favorite online and then tell why you like them so much:

• 49th Parallel
• AGRO Cafe
• Brazza
• Bump and Grind
• Gene
• Médina
• Prado
• Elysian Room
• Thomas Haas
• Wicked Cafe

Can wait to see who wins this, the competition will be steep.