The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

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.

Yelp is Evil - Credit: East Bay Express

I joined Yelp weeks ago just to see what it was all about. I hadn’t really done anything with it until I was contacted by Crystal H. last week, who looks like a normal user but is actually staff for Yelp and has the title of new community manager for Yelp Vancouver.

She asked where all the great coffee places in Vancouver was and was dieing to know. So I told her about the coffee blog and how it wasn’t a money-making venture, but it was a site I was working on.

She checked out the blog, loved it and then told me she got a lot more traffic from Yelp then she ever did from Twitter.

I thought great, I will share my content with Yelp and get some reciprocal links to improve my authority on Yelp as a strong and competent reviewer and everyone will be happy.

I had heard some news about Yelp’s odd review removal policy back in February, but after reading the FAQ’s I though it might had seen the light.

In the two days I was actually posting by Yelp I added four new locations and out of the 16 places I had reviewed I also already had three Useful and one Cool rating on my reviews. Instant feedback that I was doing something right. I had added about 300 words to each review, photos, and star rating and then at the bottom a link to this blog.

I was told by Crystal H. that Yelp doesn’t really like posted links ( yet still allows users to submit them). I was also told I should really yelp about more then just coffee, (which is complete reversal to what she originally asked for) I was also told I should really put some Yelp Bling on my site to show where I have been on and what I have reviewed on Yelp.

Within 48 hours of being asked to submit my two years of cafe review knowledge I was banned from the site in an email from Sydney at Yelp HQ.

Hello,

I’m writing to let you know about our decision to close your account. Your user account was flagged by the Yelp community, and our support team has determined that your account has violated Yelp’s Terms of Service (http://www.yelp.ca/static?p=tos), specifically for using your account for commercial or promotional purposes.

While we don’t provide additional details about account closures, please know that we review every situation with great attention and take this matter very seriously.

Regards,
Sydney
Yelp User Support

I wasn’t given a warning, probation told to take down what they considered offending content, I was just not wanted around anymore and deleted from the system.

While I haven’t lost any sleep over this blogger Vancouver Eats agree that is just absolute BS. I will wear it with a badge of honour. It is the first social network I have ever been banned from, and yes, my parents are very proud…

But I am left with food for thought:
• Crystal H never gives a bad review about anything, thinks everything is great.
• Yelp wants you to put all its badges on my site and yet absolutely nothing in return.
• I saw very little transparency in the authority of reviews on Yelp, there could be hundreds of shills.

Will I ever return to Yelp if asked back? Nope… it was about as fair and balanced as Fox News during the Bush Administration.

But in my next post I will talk about how to do this properly and how to do it right, and why we’re adding Urban Spoon to our sites social network.

Yes nothing has changed

To you coffee aficionados, this is one post you might want to skip. To those of you who see a savvy marketing campaign, and curiosity that can’t be killed along with free stuff, well, read on but don’t say I didn’t warn you. . .

When I heard that McDonalds had come up with a new roast for its coffee and was giving it away for free during the breakfast hours, well, I didn’t rush to the golden arches to get mine. But, one morning I did fine myself near one of the restaurants and tried this so-called new roast.

When it arrived the coffee was in more of an incredibly small plastic cup and extremely hot. It did have a funky lid that was probably invented to help prevent third-degree burns from super-hot coffee.

Once cool enough to sip, it was a murky taste that had no distinguishable flavour and weak in strength. It was not full in body (full in body really doesn’t mean anything). It was actually thin and watery in body and once a little cooler there were hardly any redeeming qualities.

Oh, 100 per cent Arabica Beans actually doesn’t mean as much as it used to. There are so many varieties of Arabica that just because it is of the Arabica doesn’t mean it is any good.

Case in point. . .

Most of you are probably thinking why the hell is this indy coffee blogger writing about McDonalds’ coffee and shouldn’t he know it is crap already?

Well yes, I kind of knew what I should have expected and it was the same crap in a different package. But much like “New Coke” I had to try it just to say it sucks.

Why do I torture myself? Well I do it for you my readers. I find the good, the bad and the ugly.

Just incase you were wondering I have tried the Tim Hortons *new* latte and Starbucks’ new Pike Place Roast.

Not surprisingly the Starbucks new Pike Place Roast was best out of the three and if given the choice I would choose bucks over the other two. But only because the barista might have a bit more of a clue than the other two combined.

Authors Note: Tim Hortons is not advertising its version of a “latte” anymore and you also can’t find any information when you search for latte on the website. It was never a real latte and never used a combination of espresso and freshly steamed milk. It is what I like to call convenience store cappuccino. More on that later. . .

Caffee Artigiano Granville Location

Walking along Granville there is a lot of sushi joints, clothing stores and stationary shops, but what has excited me most about my frequent Granville strolls is the opening of a new Caffe Artigiano.
I have found the Hornby location all too busy some times and found the surroundings of this new cafe a well kept secret. It was fast, friendly and I dare say the latte was better than the one from the Hornby crowd.
On my second trip to Artigiano, I met Sammy Piccolo who told me that they were looking for a few good barista’s for there new Burnaby store. So if you want to learn from one of the best in the world, here is you opportunity.
He also promised a tour of the 49th Parallel Roastery and I am looking forward to that!

Take two

Almost across the street from Trees Organic Coffee is Take 5 Cafe and they were advertising the $2 latte of any flavour. I have never been a fan of these promotions because I believed it also lowered the quality of the product. But feeling adventuresome, I walked in.
I must admit that is wasn’t the very best latte I have ever had, and I have had far far worse. The point I am trying to make is that if you put effort into a quality product regardless of the quality of your roast, you will notice a vast improvement.
This isn’t a full review of Take Five, but with a good barista and the right knowledge price does not always equal quality.

Starbucks short lived campaign

Best Starbucks in the Neighbourhood?

Starbucks have another piece of spam advertising on the doors of their establishment, proclaiming the best expresso in the neighbourhood. Well on who’s authority? Again this is a smooth marketing campaign for Starbucks, because it is all a matter of opinion. But I think it just looks funny. They are trying really hard to get the perception of quality once had when an automated machine hasn’t improved what a properly trained barista can do. . .

5, 4, 3 . . . and we’re live.

I have started another blog:

blog.robertdall.com

This is more a personal blog that is about my web design and photography skills and anything that isn’t coffee.

In addition to the new blog I have also re-launched a brand new website for web design and photography. This site has been rolling around in the back of my head for years, but it was only until now that I had the technical knowledge to do it. Please check it out.

We now return to your regularly scheduled program.