The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

My good friend and awesome freelance photographer Geoff Howe is coming to Vancouver for a visit and wants to check out a few cafes. He is a convert from the Starbucks nation, but when living in Saskatoon there isn’t an abundance of choice available to him. So come February we’re going to take Vancouver by storm and check out as many cafes as we can.

You can read about our miss-adventures here

One for the Road. . .

I am also going to try and blog throughout the day. This is a new experiment for me and I won’t have the help of some sites like Twitter (We finally broke down and are now on Twitter)

We’re also going to hit a few haunts that I have been hanging out at but haven’t written about due to pressure from my homework load.

We might have a few more friends coming along for the ride. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions or want to come along. . .

Bump in the Road

A while ago I blogged about Bump and Grind’s refusal to give out coffee sleeves with their coffee. Apparently they made the nightly news and they haven’t looked back since. In fact, according to Josh, they haven’t been busier, and oh yeah they are just as sassy as ever!!!

A Little Bling Goes a Long Way

And while Bump and Grind is going sleeveless, a company my sister started will allow you to stylize your latte a bit while you’re helping to reuse & recycle.

The Coffee Cuff was created in Vancouver B.C. by myself, Loreen Dall, a Mompreneur who saw an advertisement for the “super rich” with a fur coffee sleeve and thought why can’t we all have a chic Coffee Cuff that we will actually use and help save the environment at the same time? A couple years later, the Coffee Cuff was born.
~ Loreen Dall ~

They have a wide variety of colours and one size fits 12, 16 and 20 oz. cups.

And yes she is my sister so I might be a bit biased, but I did try out a beta version of the cup and it fit nicely in my hands and it’s completely machine washable!

Check out their Web site

In the last of the Seattle cafes review we head to Bauhaus Books & Coffee.

Walking into Bauhaus you can’t help but feel the culture that surrounds you. Bauhaus is located In Capitol Hill (but nearer to downtown than most) with views of the Space Needle and plenty of outdoor seating.

Class act

I spent a morning at the cafe waiting for my Greyhound back to Vancouver. The staff were awesome, the drink wasn’t bad but it was definite room for improvement.

This two level cafe had a real nice feel to it. I was sitting having my latte and reading my email and I briefly looked up and saw a graphic designer working with his stylist on my left and a man sketching architectural drawings a few tables down. I felt right at home and only wish I could spend a bit more time. Like most of the cafes I really wish I could have spent more at Bauhaus. But with Seattle only four hours away I know I will be back.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Bauhaus books & Coffee
Drink ordered: 12 oz lattle
Discount of own to-go cup: Drip coffee for a buck (any size of mug)
Barista Knowledge: Decent but not excellent
Barista Friendliness: Friendly and Knowledgeable
Website: www.bauhauscoffee.net

Address: 301 East Pine Seattle, Wash, USA

While on a little trip back home to the Sunshine Coast I decided to check out a little cafe called Wheatberries Bakery. This cafe started as a bakery and is home to the best cookies in the entire world, it’s coffee doesn’t take a back seat either.

The Sechelt location has an open wood feel with sunflowers through out the cafe. There is large bay windows through out the cafe seating area and both indoor and outdoor area’s are bathed in natural light for most of the day.

The company started in the garage of the Mark & Jane Yellowley Robert’s Creek home in 1997 as just a bakery and had quite the following from the early beginnings. They opened their first location in Gibsons (circa 2002) to foster more growth beyond what their garage could handle. At this time they started the cafe portion.

The little bakery that could

The Sechelt Location has been operating for about three years and is centrally located right behind the cenotaph at the end of Cowrie Street.

The little family run company now has two locations in Gibsons, a year round small kiosk at the Langdale Ferry Terminal and the Sechelt Location. I don’t think their after world domination (aka like the big green machine) but it is so nice to get a good cup of coffee before catching the ferry.

The Coffee is supplied by Straight Coffee Traders of Wilson Creek another family run coastal enterprise and is organic fair trade and offers a wide variety of roasts to chose from. I had dry cappuccino which had beautiful velvet foam and was perfectly made. I couldn’t of ask for a better cup anywhere on the Lower Mainland.

The Sechelt location has wireless and was working the last time I was in town. ( March, 09 )

Langdale where the hell is Langdale?

Langdale’s claim to fame is the BC Ferries terminal to Vancouver and for the longest time if you ever missed a boat all you had to look forward to was three sparsely filled vending machines and a dullsville of waiting room for two hours.

Well more then a year ago now Wheatberries took over a former hot dog stand and turned it into a coffee Kiosk which they decided to keep open all year long.

Anything, ANYTHING is better then BC ferries coffee and when I missed the boat a couple of times last winter it was the saving grace of a long two hour wait.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Wheatberries Bakery ( Sechelt )
Drink ordered: dry cappuccino
Discount of own to-go cup: 10 cents
Barista Knowledge: Fast
Barista Friendliness: Friendly
Website: None

Address: 5500 Wharf Street, Sechelt BC & Langdale Ferry Terminal

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

I heard through the grapevine that Benny’s Bagels on Broadway was open after a fire had damaged the business last January and left it closed for a couple of months. I thought a review was in order if they were open.
It was after a Friday morning class that I decided to check this place out and after a long bus ride that took forever both tired and hungry and hot, all I wanted was bagels.

All I can say is wow, this place looks amazing, The entire shop from top to bottom was finished in wood and after the fire. The floor was replace along with the railings on the second floor of this high ceiling café. There were some great and groove tunes that were just loud enough to get into but yet subtle enough to carry a conversation over.

I first tried the focaccia bagel toasted with cream cheese and it is most likely the best bagel I have ever had in my entire life. I would give it a 15 out of 10. The only problem was I savored so quickly I had to get a second one.
I then tried the Cinnamon and Raisin Bagel and, although it wasn’t as good as the focaccia one, it was still a 9 of 10 in my book.

Coffee? oh right coffee. . .

Benny’s also serves coffee from the North Vancouver based Bean Around the World Roastry. I really wasn’t in a coffee mood when I arrived, but I still give this shop my seal of approval. Bring any size and style of to-go mug and they will fill it for a buck fity ($1.50).

They are also planning a welcome back Benny’s open mike night and free wireless available for you laptop users. The café is also licensed with Okanagan Spring on tap, not that I sampled a pint or two on the padio after writing this blog. . .

I would say whole (wheat maybe) heartily welcome back Benny’s!

Update: April/2009 I went to try the coffee, I stayed for the bagels. True to form Benny’s focaccia bagel is still the best bagel in the entire world, If I only could eat one begal for the rest of my life it would be a Benny’s focaccia bagel. The Americano was decent. I am not a fan of a extremely dark roast, but that is more of a personal preference, their was plenty of crema and cooled nicely.

Faces and Places

Where this Blog was written: Benny’s Bagel’s Broadway
Drink ordered: drink what drink it’s all about the bagels. . .
Discount of own cup: You are charged the “to stay” price
Barista Knowledge: decent
Barista Friendliness : Awesome, I was even ID when I ordered a pint of ale (I am 30!)
Café website : none

Address: 2505 W Broadway, Vancouver