The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Hey thanks for sticking around, I have finished my second semester of New Media and design BCIT and it was one toughest hardest school semesters I have ever completed. It was an incredible amount of work and I survived.

Recovering from the semester I decided to head down to my local video store Black Dog video and rented the documentary Black Gold. It follows the daily life of Tadesse Meskela who is the manager for the Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Co-operative Union in Ethiopia. It also shows the effect that the world coffee market is having on the lives of the coffee growers in the developing nations

I heard this documentary was good, and I had read a review in the Georgia Straight went it was released into the theatres but never got a chance to see it. I knew purchasing fair trade coffee gave me some good karma points and helped the farmers live a more sustainable life, but I had no idea how much it really the daily lives. Remember when you got a extra job or did some overtime to pay for that vacation or new ipod? Well these people just want to being able to feed and cloth their children. . . . This film just really put it into context for me.

I have read other reviews that say Black Gold doesn’t provide any real solutions to the problem. Well I beg to differ and I am going to do something about it too. I have started a new page of this blog, which will give a list fair trade coffee which shops serve them and who the roaster is.

Update: I have decided to take down my Fair Trade Coffee page as it never was fully realized what I wanted to be and I their is so much confusion on what fair trade actually is. I want this site to be a creditable source of information and have yet to fully investigate the fair trade practices. Thanks ~ Robert Dall.

Well, after a couple days of R&R in Victoria I can see why people like this place so much. It is awesome.

While walking around downtown I checked out a cafe called Serious Coffee, any cafe with this name is just begging for a review.

Walking I was met with a nice looking cafe, pastel colours, wood floors and track lighting. I was pretty hesitant to think I was going to match the cafe I am use to on the drive, but do I love being wrong.

The americano I had could have been a bit stronger, but it did have a nice mellow body, it just wasn’t the smack across the face of flavour I was craving or was use to with the Organic Ethiopian I usually drink at home. But as I finished the cup, the body became more present to my palette leaving me fulfilled.

Serious routine

The reason I went to Victoria was to visit my friend Lucy Nicholson who was covering the U-20 and she was covering the teams practices in the mornings, so I have my mornings free to lounge around and just enjoy life. I decided to head to back Serious Coffee and make a second review of the cafe.

I got into a great routine of having breakfast at the hostel and then walking up to the cafe and purchasing the fair trade mexican which was a well balanced medium roast.

One thing I really liked about this cafe is that they offered the local newspaper The Times Colonist a 12 oz. coffee for two dollars even. It was really nice to sit down to a daily roast with a nice rag like the TC. I grew quite accustomed to this routine and hated to give it up once I left and had to return back to school.

The girls behind the counter were quite knowledgeable and never missed a beat with any question posed to them. They were light and bubbly and generally enjoyed the work they did.

I didn’t have my laptop but all locations have free wireless and a internet cafe setup.

But why a chain?

As many people know I am not much of a chain type of guy I am much more a independent cafe and local owned an operated business. I like the shop local additude, but after many years of living the land of nothing but Walmart (eg. Portage la Prairie, Manitoba) I know that sometimes searching for quality is important regardless of where it comes from.

But as my visits to Serious Coffee grew, so did my knowledge of the chain. I learnt a bit more about the company and their history, they started in 1994 in Duncan BC. They have grown through out the lower island to over 20 stores and as most of them are franchised. Again, I am not a big fan of franchised as it can really harm the brand if they are not controlled properly.

The Roastery has moved but is now back in Duncan BC and the chain is looking at expanding another 12 to 14 store’s over the next year.

I would compare this micro chain to JJ Beans in Vancouver, although they are in different markets, they are going after the same demographic and both do a nice job of it.

Is this your final answer

As I only went to one cafe, I can’t comment any more on the chain, but I’d be happy to have this cafe blocks away from my house, the staff do make the difference at this location they really did rock. So if your looking for a local cafe with a decent brew and some awesome customer service I would check them out. I would also note that unlike Murchies, the Serious Coffee location was more for locals, then tourist, it seems that they were more concerned with the providing really good product on a daily basis to locals then a single experience to a visiting tourist.

Faces and Places

Where this Blog was written: Serious Coffee (Yates & Broad location)
Drink ordered: Mexican Malinal Fair Trade 12 oz.
Discount of own to-go cup: 10 cents
Barista Knowledge: Intelligent
Barista Friendliness: Personable, good sense of humour
Café website : http://www.seriouscoffee.com/

Address: 632 Yates Street, Victoria, BC

The one thing that always surprises me about Vancouver and it’s coffee culture is the amount of mini-chains there are in Vancouver. The cafes that have two or three different location. This weeks review is one of those chains. The Wired Monk on West 4th and Trafalgar in Kits.

I am not a big fan of franchises, I think it dilutes the quality of each cafe when you franchise. And you don’t have full control over the cafes and have owners who may or may not follow what the headquarters wants. Not all McDonald’s are run equally as most are franchised.  While in contrast most Starbucks cafes in Metro Vancouver are corporate owned, a happy balance needs to be struck. I believe the Wired Monk is on a slippery slope in terms of franchises, you don’t want to have another Blenz on your hands. . . .

Their roastery is Fratello Coffee out of Calgary, Alberta

( March 18, 2009 ) According to the barista behind the bar this franchise switched to Ethical Bean in October of 2008.

Also this week we have a guest reviewer who came along for the morning fix.

Hillary Pearse an import from Auckland, New Zealand suggested the Wired Monk after she heard that Benny’s on Broadway was still closed due to a fire in January. (note: Benny’s is now open read the review) She quite enjoyed her double shot, Americano.

The barista behind the counter was carefully conscious, “I think she just started as she didn’t have the easy of a harden barista but was pleasant and eager to please,” said Pearse. This is still quite true over a year later as the first barista didn’t know that a shot shouldn’t take over 2 minutes, but she was egger to please and pleasant to deal with in every regard.

Pearse also had a Cranberry Apple Lemon Unsweetened ice tea, and she liked the fact she could choose the between sweeten and unsweetened. Along with this she chose a pecan square while I had a prefectly toasted whole wheat bagel.

Queer eye for the Monk guy?

“I am not sure about the glass tables, it feels like Milestones in a way and I should be having a bellini,” said Pearse.

We both felt that the Wired Monk was trying to be something else with it’s decor.

In retrospect and after a second review, I think the wired monk with it’s licensed premises and live music doesn’t match it’s decor.  Also this being Kits and not the East Van the place matches the consumer.

But for it’s faults in decor and franchise feel I might want to return on a Friday or Saturday night. The cafe is licensed and shows to have live entertainment on their web site.

Updated notes from March 2009:

This was the first time I returned to the Wired Monk since reviewing in May of 2007. The place still feels the same way it did back then. It still has the glass tables and seats at the bar. It still has a comfy seats and power bars for laptops and some quite background music.

The Americano was sadly a different story. The first one was quite bitter and extraction time was over a  minute. The barista had mentioned that this was happening all day, but didn’t know why. This is because your NOT timing your shots or adjusting your grind.

If you don’t get it right the first time try and try again.

Both were quick to take the drink back and they started adjusting the grinder for the roast. I did have to wait about 15 minutes to get my second drink. The fact they were willing to throw away 6 shots to get it right did impress me. The fact that I had to ask them to do this after the fact didn’t. Will need to conduct some covert coffee tasting to see if this was an off day or the norm.

The second Americano I received had much shorter extraction time, The crema was lighter in colour and it didn’t have the bitter finish the first one did. As the drink cooled off it was still a decently made drink.

Faces and Places:

Where was this blog written: The Wired Monk – Kitsilano
Drink usually ordered: 12oz. Americano
Discount for own mug: 15 cents
Barista Knowledge: Poor
Barista Friendlyness : Excellent
Café website : kitsmonk.com

Address: 2610 West 4th, Vancouver