The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Tim Hortons comes to the DrivePlease do you part and Boycott!

Yet another chain on the drive. Tim Hortons has decided to take over three stores in the mall and create a behemoth of coffee shops almost the size of Wazubee’s. This also comes at a time when Magpie magazine and Eastside Art Supply and Stationary are both closing its doors due to lack of sales.

The best cappuccino ever

Meanwhile, Magpie’s closing has more to do with the laptop culture of cafes. It signals a change to the drive. I have been know to frequent Tim Hortons on numerous occasions, but is ‘the drive’ really a place for Tim Hortons?

Bump and Grind Sold:

Bump and Grind was sold to Audrey and Joe. Christine needed a break from running the cafe and to focus more on her dance instruction.

Audrey and Joe are new to running the cafe. They are certainly no strangers to coffee, glad to see the old haunts are still in good shape. I will miss Christine’s cappuccino’s she had made some spectacular ones.

Direct Purchase Colombian:

My parents were recently on a cruise and had some shore leave in Cartagena, Colombia. They brought me back a pound of roasted coffee. It is a light roast with mellow body.

Audrey and Joe Smelling freshly ground coffee

Cuppings:

I have been using it with my cone filter at home, but I was talking with Audrey and Joe at Bump and Grind and they wanted to put it up against 49th Parallel Colombian.

We put it to the French press test and had some fun in a cupping challenge. Without going into excessive detail we found that although the Colombian did have a nice body after it had been poured, it lacked the overall quality of the 49th parallel roast. Was it really a fair comparison? No not really. . . was it a fun thing to do on a boring cold and rainy afternoon in June. Oh yeah. . .