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

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

Well our little yelp got a lot of traffic and while we don’t like to cause controversy we just found the entire experience a little odd. I feel we can describe this issue using the selling of coffee beans as an example.

Summer of 2007 I went to Victoria and checked out the Murchie’s Government Street cafe. I asked where the roast was from and they said:

“She (the owner) doesn’t like to tell people. There is too much competition, but it is a blend of beans from South America.”

And this flies in the face of what most artisan roasters are doing these days. Roasters like Victrola, 49th Parallel and Intelligentsia all mention the region, farm and altitude in which the coffee is picked and how it is roasted. It isn’t a secret they actually really want you to know because for them it is about the quality. To my understanding this is the basis for direct trade and the basis for complete transparency in the direct trade model.

Don't let your transparency slide photo credit: durak.org

If you see a bag of coffee in the grocery store that says direct trade and there is no other information on it, no website info, farm, co-op or location, well the bag of coffee could have come from anywhere and has about as much accountability as your two-year-old does while getting driven home from preschool (or none).

I believe all of these community review sites and user-generated content site is all about transparency. Another example would be Digg. I love Digg, especially its labs. But I would never consider uncredited links from Digg more accurate over places like the Globe and Mail or the New York Times. A lot of links on Digg just don’t have the ethical transparency that either news organization has.

We love to spoon

This is why we have put our support behind the Urban Spoon model (my name is Coffee Rob on Urban Spoon btw) of ranking and reviewing cafes and coffee shops. With its spoon backs as they call it and adding reviews from inside along with outside sources will give readers, in my opinion, a more informed review from a variety of sources.

The UrbanSpoon Back

Yelp banned me for linking back to my blog, and I included those links to provide some credit where credit was due.

So in this era of everyone having an opinion or a review, lets try to have some transparency and accountability and if you’re really serious about reviewing and writing about a subject. I’d suggest you set up your own blog. You will own every piece of content on the site. . . .

Anonymity is important

A reason why I have a coffee cup over my face is I really like the anonymity of a review. Much like a food reviewer I don’t tell cafes when or where I show up. I pay for all of my drinks and only after I have spent two or three visits to a cafe before I actually write about it. It is really important for me to experience the cafe how the average consumer would enjoy it. This is also why I always try to bring along a guest with me the first time. And if you want to find a picture of me well it is as easy as a google keyword search.

Corrispondence

Crystal H did respond back in the late afternoon and I thank her for her response, but yet  the email address she left for people to write regarding any questions or concerns bounces back (as of Wed. May, 7 evening). Again I have found all of this odd. And it isn’t hard to provide feedback to Yelp, but leaving people an email address that bounces back doesn’t give me any sense of comfort in accountability of previous actions.

Can’t say I’m not happy about the publicity the blog has received, but truthfully I just want to get back to writing about coffee.

Wicked Cafe on Hornby

For a guy who lives his coffee life simplistically nothing is really more complex than really trying to upgrade a computer that just doesn’t want to leave the safe confines of the Tiger operating system for Leopard. (For you non-mac geeks that is going from 10.4 to 10.5).

But, while my laptop was getting re-imaged I decided to check out the latest incarnation of Wicked Cafe located on Hornby St. This cafe certainly came to play with the other kids in the sandbox. (As that bully Starbucks is throwing sand a few store fronts away and Artigiano tracing a few rosetta’s sand mandala at the other end of the box).

This Wicked Cafe is a long, slender beast with a comfy bench along the length of the right side and small, two-person tables that parallel the benches down to the coffee area. This  cafe has not one but two Clover coffee machines and a pair of 2 group La Marzocco GB/5 espresso machines that are used depending on how busy it gets.

It opened early in 2009 and I have been to it a few times since it opened, I also took Erica Hill to the cafe in our  Girl in the City coffee tour we had in the new year.

Klie stirs the Clover

This time I had a Clover 12 oz. Rwanda Zirikana from Intelligentsia which had a really nice flavour of a dried berry but not over bearing in acidity and yet balanced equally as well in body. It had a really clean finish that was complex and yet refreshing second cup of the day. This was one of the best Clover coffee’s I have had since my first in 2005, as I am usually an americano type of guy.

Being that Wicked is the Canadian distributor for Intelligentsia it is not surprising to see a huge Intelligentsia logo on the back wall of the cafe and Intelligentsia info on the tables and machines. I have always been impressed with Intelligentsia’s transparency and accountability to produce a better product and a better way of life as a number of roasters have a paragraph to describe their roast and origin of the bean. Intelligentsia has an entire product data sheet where you can totally geek out on coffee info.

Its coffee is damn good and the location is really decent and a quick jaunt from the Robson and Hornby mecca of activity. The cafe doesn’t have wireless, or more than one power outlet on the outer edge, but not a big concern as there is plenty of “Internet Cafes” Downtown to chose from. The cafe serves food, along with the unique selection of muffins and sweets in a menu that is unique to other Downtown cafes. On this visit along it wa playing the music a bit too loud to carry out a business meeting if I were to have one.  But I am sure it has full control over the volume and can adjust accordingly.

Is it coffee I’d sell my soul for?

Well since the bank, VISA and Apple currently have equal shares of my soul at the moment I am not in a position to negotiate but it certainly is worth a trip.

Update – Aug/09 Black Cat Espresso running quite nicely and macchiato.

Where this blog was written: Wicked Cafe
Drink that was ordered: 12 oz. Rwanda Zirikana from the  Clover
Discount on to-go cup: 30 cents
Barista Skill: Solid skill
Barista friendliness: Cool and very Intelligentsia
Website: wickedcafe.ca

Geoff Howe arrived from the Island primed and ready to go for our little tour of Vancouver cafes, but with him having to be back in Saskatoon on Monday we had a lot to sample and not much time. What to do ? Well instead of making each cafe its own post I decided to make a table. A coffee table (sorry I have a horrible sense of humour).

But kids, don’t try this at home. After four hours, five cafes, six drinks and 12 shots of espresso, both Geoff and I were more than done. This isn’t something I would suggest or even do again, but as photographers who love coffee it was fun while it lasted. But much like any bender, it has some drawbacks. . . .

Cafe	Geoff	Robert	Notes
	12 oz Latte (2 shots)	12 oz Americano	Robert: Brandi, my favourite barista of all time is back!!! In addition to Brandi being back Prado set the tone for the rest of the day. Geoff: Overall pretty good, the extraction was a little bitter, but it hits the spot. Barista had a pleasant demeanor within the comfortable surroundings.
	12 oz latte (1 shot)	Espresso Macchiato	Robert: Turks, where is the love? Ever since Gisele left months ago, I have rarely been back and now I know why. My Macchiato didn’t have any foam on top. It was more like an 8oz latte, which any Starbucks monkey could have made without the proper training. Geoff: It is not of a calibre I was expecting. If I can make it at home better, then it is sadly lacking. If people are doing this for a living then they should be better at it than I. I come for the experience. The ambience is nice but the coffee lacks some quality
	12oz latte (2 shots)	12oz Cappuccino	Robert: Micro-foam of awesomeness, I have been back to Soma a number of times and enjoyed the cafe each time. Don Wilson usually tends bar on Sunday mornings and is quite the knowledgeable baritsa. Geoff: Perfect temperature, solid latte art.Aftertaste a little strong but overall great experience. Friendly barista, knowledgeable about industry and trends, willing to learn. Soup was fantastic.
	Clover 12oz	Clover 12oz	Robert: We tired the Colombian – Antioquia and barista Mathew Kolehmainen gave us some Kenya – Mwiria to try and true to form the Kenyian was better then the Colombian but also almost twice the price. Thanks for the sampling Matt! Geoff: My first time tasting coffee from a Clover. Pretty neat. A lot of body in taste, almost overwhelming, but it kept me wanting more. It tastes better following a slight cool down. Kenya is my favourite, although we didn’t try Ethiopia. The barista Matt knew of my favourite Saskatoon cafe – Cafe Museo, and it’s barista Jimmy. Small world!
	12 oz Latte	12 oz Latte	Robert: 49th as good as ever, and interesting to chat with barista Colter Jones about the green machine in Seattle, smart guy, I’d enjoy a longer chat one day. Geoff: Really impressed by the feel of the place. The modern simplistic, West Coast style feel. You can really tell they put everything into their craft just from the feel of the place. Meeting the Canadian Barista Champion Colter Jones who happens to be from Saskatoon, my home town. In terms of the coffee I honestly could not appreciate it. I was too buzzed by the morning I was gone. Let this be a warning, Don’t try this at home. . . I definitely want to go back!

• Afterwards we both felt a little like Kramer from Seinfield

Here are some more photo from the rest of the day

Geoff Howe Outside Prado

Geoff shooting the poorly made drinks at Turks. Where is the love Turks?

Blogging away at Turks (in better times)

Brunch and some sweet drinks at Soma Cafe

Some Clover action at The Elysium Room

Geoff getting a little Hyper outside the Elysium Room (There is no turning back after this)

49th Parallel Latte Art

Two boys from Toon town Colter Jones, left and Geoff Howe.

Wicked Cafe on Hemlock

Well, my loyal readers, Geoff Howe decided to stay on the Island for a couple more days and so I delayed the Expresso-thon. This is kind of a good thing since I have been out with a cold for the past week.
But I decided to go out and meet a fellow blogger, Peter Van de Reep. He writes Pulling Shots, (The blog has been in Stasis since January) a barista view of the world and works weekends at Wicked Cafe on West 7th and Hemlock. Wicked Cafe was started by Brad Ford back in circa 2004. I had been to Wicked a number of times before, so coming in today was a complete surprise, but not really in the best way.

• Please see the update at the bottom of this review •

Peter's Latte Art

Brad Ford is the Canadian distributor for Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, who starting roasting in 1995 and is completely a direct trade shop even before it was chic to do so.
I first had a Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos tea supplied by Steeps Tea, which helped relieve my ailing cold. Then with Peter at the helm, I had a 12 oz foamy latte with some awesome foam art going on. The quality of their coffee is really on par with the top cafes of Vancouver, and their baristas have the knowledge to back up any questions you might have.

Quality does not equal comfort

When I first entered the cafe, the door was left open, and brought in a lot of noise from the street. When some one went to close it because they were cold they were quite boldly stopped by one of the staff.
I found a seat at the large communal table in the centre of the cafe and had a large chill run down my back from the open door. Peter later told me that behind the counter it is really, really hot from all the machinery and well I sympathized. It didn’t increase the enjoyment of my stay.

Sunlight streams into Wicked Cafe

I also remember a couple of years ago that most of the seating were comfy chairs. I saw only two chairs (there is actually four), a huge table that could sit many people. I think the comfy chairs suit Wicked a lot more then the large table.

But the thing that bothered me the most about my visit to Wicked was how loud everything was. From the noise of the traffic on the street, to the yanking of the grinder, to the sound of the cash register. There was also a large tube coming from the kitchen into the front area. It looked as if the kitchen was under-construction.

The end of this story is that although there is a lot of room for improvement on Wicked’s ambience the real proof, is in the quality of the roast, the knowledge of the barista, and the quality of the pour. All of which were top of the line.

It is just not a place I would go to study for an exam or read a book.

Update March, 09: I was in Wicked Cafe on Hemlock recently and found the place quieter, the service was quick and coffee was excellent. I found the barista working behind the bar weren’t as noisy either. Noise of a espresso machine and grinders can’t be helped, but what can be helped it how hard you are on your equipment. If you watch the girls at Prado or the boys at 49th Cafe you can still have a conversation over a working cafe. Music was pretty mellow too. 

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Wicked Cafe
Drink ordered: 12 oz latte & 12 oz Rooibos
Discount of own to-go cup: didn’t ask sorry!
Barista Knowledge: Best in Vancouver
Barista’s friendliness: friendly and knowledgeable
Website: www.wickedcafe.ca

Victrola Coffee Roasters

When walking into the Victrola Cafe and Roastery Pike Street location you see high ceilings, brick walls, large bay windows that let you look on to the street but also into the roasting area. this cafe has a large open feel to it as has a great subtle feel to it. Thanks to Amy York of Prado for suggesting it.

This is a place where I could get my groove on to throw downs some prose.

As smooth as honey, as sweet as love

After witnessing all that is Starbucks at Pike Place Market and needed some mellow moments of creativity and good coffee. The barista behind the counter was cool, not suggesting any special drink or trying to up sell me on anything. I knew I wasn’t in Starbucks country anymore, this was a good thing. . . . The Americano was smooth to the taste and a delight to experience with not a hint of bitterness. It was one the best decafe’s I have ever had.

I began a conversation with Chris Sharp about Macintosh battery life on the MacBook Pro and then asked “Do you worked here.”

His response was “ya kinda, I own it”

Fair Play

We had a good conversation about fair trade certification of the coffee beans and why direct trade is better then fair trade. I quite enjoyed my conversation with Sharp, I learnt more about the foundation of the direct trade agreements roasters like Sharp have and why it is more important to foster these types of relationship. I certainly agree with Sharp seeing what importers like 49th Parallel has done with the relationships with their farmers which has brought a lot of social conciseness to the coffee scene in Vancouver.

The café is certainly top of my list for Seattle cafés and has some nice soothing music to it. I certainly recommend this cafe to any visitor to Seattle, it is worth a visit.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Victrola Cafe & Roastery
Drink ordered: Decafe 12 oz Americano
Discount of own to-go cup: You get nothing
Barista knowledge: solid skill
Barista friendlyness: Nice, but not all that talkative
Website: www.victrolacoffee.com

Stumptown Pine Location

I checked out Stumptown’s Capitol Hill location very briefly, but what I saw I like, it was a different type of feel then Victrola. The two barista’s behind the counter were very lively and full of energy who had great aditudes when I walked in. I had a 12 oz. Latte that was poured perfectly with some funky free pour art. I barely had a chance to take in the surroundings. I did ask few locals and they all approved it’s awesomeness. I on my next trip to the emerald city I hope I get some more time in Stumptown.

Where this blog was written: Stumptown Pine Location
Drink ordered: 12 oz latte
Discount of own to-go cup: Did not ask sorry..
Barista Knowledge: Lacking in some latte art, but skilled none the less
Barista friendlyness: Two funny, cute and full of energy female baristas
Website: www.stumptowncoffee.com

49th Parallel Cafe

Surprise surprise, I am not sure if the Piccolo brothers can get away from the Cafe business or was this the goal all along.

But I was finally able to check out the 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters new cafe in downtown Kitsilano and a few things surprised me while other remain the same.

This is very much not another Caffe Artigiano by a different name. The skinny cafe with high ceilings a wooden bench that flow the length of the cafe, but yet broken up by banks of lights build into the wall.

Word on the street is this will be the one and only 49th Parallel Cafe. In answering my own question above, why open up a cafe after just selling off the successful chain you started. Well the answer is simple, the hard work was already done.

Not just another Artigiano

The Artigiano experiment was to compete head to head with the green machine, serving hug volumes, but exceeding expectation in terms of quality. They mainly succeeded and have 49th Parallel to show for it. A brand that many coffee drinkers know and a brand that independent cafes look for. But I also heard that after starting the roaster, the chain was a real drain on the brothers and when the right buyer came along they made the right decision to sell.

49th Parallel Cafe inside

I felt great coming into this cafe, as busy as it was, I ordered my drink from a wonderful Kiwi girl offered a pleasant amount of conversation while I ordered.

I ordered a medium Americano which weighted in at 9 oz in size. I walked over to the sparkling new expresso machine and with in about 30 seconds had my americano in hand.

True to form the Epic Expresso was rich with flavor full of body and had a nice aftertaste that was actually leaving me wanting more. So. . . I had more. . . but I decided to have something from The Clover this time.

No drip to be found here

After a cleansing of the palette The Costa Rican was a really smooth coffee with a hint of caramel sweetness. Americano’s and The Clover is usual fair, brewed coffee is only available on the weekends.

If you are looking to get your coffee to go and in a rush you might have to wait more then a couple seconds because every cup is made independently on the clover and perfection take time.

la old la Mistral (circa 2008)

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: 49th Parallel Coffee Rosters Cafes
Drink ordered: 9 oz Americano
Discount of own to-go cup: you get nothing!
Quality and service: Extremely Knowledgeable
Barista friendliness: Always in good humour
Website: www.49thparallelroasters.com