The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Strait Coffee Traders in Wilson Creek

Before I go to Seattle I took a trip home for Christmas.

This time I decided to check out the Strait Coffee in the little neighbourhood of Wilson Creek just 15 minutes outside Sechelt.
The little cafe has been operating since 1995 in the small little mini mall located just off highway 101.

Owners of the little cafe have ebbed and flowed through much like the tide of this coast community but it wasn’t until current owner Grace Bland (Yes her last name is really bland) that this little cafe really took quality wise.

Brassy Bean dispensers

Anything but bland. . .

The cafe now roasts their own beans and supplies all  four Wheatberries locations. They also service most of the grocery stores on the coast with whole beans and a few other cafes I have yet to find. The wholesale business is locally based and uses  fair trade certification with customers from Whitehorse to Saskatchewan.

While I am home on the coast I go to either Strait or Wheatberries for the best dry cappuccinos’ on the planet. I am sure it is just the relaxed atmosphere or the fact I am usually on vacation when I am hear but I love to sit and savour the absolute best micro foam. ( I usually like it with a slight hint of vanilla sugar on top)

Latte Artist

This cafe is also home to quite the latte artist. Now for as seasoned “Drive” veteran like myself latte art is nothing new, the leafs, hearts, are the old school versions of this art foam. But (yes a different Grace) has done something completely different with her skills. Watch the video below.

Bazinett, 25, has been a barista for about five years working in Vancouver, Alberta and now Sechelt, one day was pouring a latte and saw that the foam resembled a face. She then took the spoon and began drawing in the foam, an artist outside the cafe she always enjoyed drawing so this just came naturally.

Grace Bazinett Latte Art

Grace and Grace can usually found behind the counter in the mornings four to five days a week.

Update March 2009 ~ I recent had an Americano at Strait Coffee Traders and it was the best coffee of my recent trip home. If you are in the area and it is sunny and warm I would certainly suggest grabbing 12 oz. Americano, one of their white chocolate brownies and head up to Cliff Gilker Park in Robert Creek, you will certainly enjoy it, I did.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Strait Coffee
Drink ordered: Medium Dry Cappuccino (16 oz with foam)
Discount of own to-go cup: medium for a price of a small
Barista Knowledge: Decent
Barista friendliness: good
Website: www.straitcoffee.ca

For this review I decided to say a little closer to home, in fact this is the closest café to my house on The Drive.

Bump and Grind is a saucy joint that has been open for a couple of years on the northern most edge of the Drive. The café is run by Audrey and Joe ( Christine sold the cafe in May, 2008 ) who are business partners and can usually see most days behind the counter.

Front of Bump and Grind

The surroundings of Bump and Grind give away that this is a little more counter culture then your usual fair. The café boasts a couch full of vocabulary one large table and a few smaller ones with art that changes on a monthly basis. The café has one of the most interesting art installations a while back where the entire café was covered in “2000 pages of handwritten study notes from a Doctoral Candidate” in political science. It was one of the best art displays in a coffee shop, I had ever seen.

DJ can now be seen in the cafe spinning vinyl on the turn tables in the back on the weekends and during the week Joe and Audrey seem to always have something funky playing in the shop.

There is wifi at the shop, but they had taken away all but one power plugins away due to abuse by some loitering customers.

If you just want to sit in a cafe for six hours and nurse one cup of tea go find a Waves.

Sleeves are for wimps

A while back I dropped in to ask if I could have a sleeve for my coffee, (I didn’t bring my own mug ) and it was a bit of a struggle to get one. Apparently Josh and Christine have something against sleeves of the world, Actually they are just trying to reduce the impact on our environment and they are pretty militant about it. But instead of just bitching about something they decided to do something about it.

At Bump and Grind if you want a sleeve you’ll have to pay a buck for one, and they’ll want you to keep it too. It is a cool concept and I wish them the best of luck with it.

Since selling the Cafe Audrey and Joe sell the Coffee Cuff

A little sauce with your coffee

What I really enjoy about the drive is the fact that you can a huge variety of people and viewpoints. I think it is what makes people come to the drive. Bump and Grind is no different. Just don’t ask for a sleeve. Josh and Christine sold the cafe to Audrey and Joe in May, 08. The coffee is still the same quality but is lacking the saucy and somewhat abusive attitude. Dam I will miss that.

Since purchasing the cafe last year Joe and Audrey have really captured the attention of coffee drinkers in Vancouver and it has become one of the top cafes in Vancouver, When some of the top Barista in the country go to Bump and Grind to enjoy an espresso you know they must be doing something right.

Faces and Places

Where this Blog was written: Bump and Grind
Drink ordered: 12oz Costa Rican Roast
Discount of own to-go cup: 10 cents
Barista Knowledge: Top notch
Barista Friendliness: Awesome
Café website : none

Well I figure it was about that time, yes time to do the impossible, time to review Caffé Artigiano. But what can I say that hasn’t already been said, and if your reading this blog then maybe your already a fan. . .

Cafe Artigiano Howe Location

A few notes in point form:

• They always have a line up
• They are always busy
• Their barista’s are always really friendly (This means you Jacqueline & Arielle. sad note: both have now left Artigiano)
• Yes you will have to wait more then 30 seconds for your latte.
• Yes it really is worth the wait. . . .

Why has this micro chain of five cafes done so well and so popular, well that is a bit of a longer story, one I really don’t know all that well, but I give you what I know.

As the story goes the Piccolo brothers, (Vince, Sammy and Mike) wanted to create a different type of cafe in Vancouver, one that completely centered around quality, comfort and lively atmosphere regardless of how busy they where. It wasn’t meant to combat the huge trend of cookie cutter cafes in the Vancouver region, we don’t need another Waves or Blenz or Starbucks do we? But more to show what quality a café really can achieve.

They don’t have wireless at any of their cafes, but then what are you coming for the coffee or the Internet?

“If you want the Internet go to Blenz” One of the Barista said to me jokingly.

Barista Arielle and a Artigiano Latte

Back in the summer of 2006 when I was an actual barista and working for Seattle’s Best Coffee (in the Bental 5) I heard about the five dollar cup of coffee, how they weren’t even making a profit at that price and how it was the best coffee around.

Jen, a fellow SBC co-worker, and I had decided to check out this roast. It was the best coffee I have ever had in my life, it was a light roast, but rich in flavour amazing in texture and had this amazing lingering aftertaste that made you feel like it you were still drinking it, without a hint of burnt or bitter flavour, this is what coffee was suppose to taste like.

The cup was also made with a special brewer called a Clover, which uses a system like a French press, but instead of a plunger they use a vacuum to separate the water and the coffee. It really is an ingenious way to enjoy coffee and it’s more precise then a normal brewer. It is also $10,000 plus dollars, which is why most cafe’s can’t afford the machine.

I have heard some stories about bad service or long waits for service, but I have never had a bad experience in these cafes, especially the one off Georgia and Howe. When it is busy this cafe is quite noisy, so it is not for the studying kind.

They were using intelligentsia coffee at the Initial start up and it was the Piccolo brothers goal to always roast their own beans. They started to do that with the incorporation of 49th Parallel Coffee and in 2005 and have never looked back.

The café was sold in December 2006 to Willie Mounzer, former VP of operations for Earls. But the front end will always serve 49th Parallel Coffee, it is just a different owner behind the till.

Arielle Latte Art

Where this Blog was written: Caffé Artigiano on Hornby
Drink ordered: 12 oz latte to stay (pictured)
Discount of own to-go cup: You get nothing
Barista Knowledge: Extremely knowledgeable
Barista Friendliness: Awesome
Café website : www.caffeartigiano.com