The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

We had a crew of about 10 people arrive outside Bikes on the Drive for the East Van Coffee Tour. Waiting for the crew to show up I got a text from my editor Stef that she was in bed with the flu, so no live blogging, or twitter updates. Unfortunately for Stef she couldn’t try out a Tree and take over the coverage of the tour. With a group of about 10 people we took off down the hill to Bump and Grind for the first coffee of the day. Fellow coffee aficionado Evan McGraw was able to take up the task of the tour photographer so I could keep focused on the tour.

Bump and Grind
We arrived at Bump and Grind and I enjoyed some espresso and ice cream. I got this off of the menu item from Bump and Grind and it hit the spot on a warm summer morning. It’s available through out the summer months. For the next tour it would be awesome to have someone to look over the bikes that way it won’t take us forever to lock up the bikes each and every time	Espresso and Ice Cream at Bump and Grind
Prado Cafe
Arriving at Prado Cafe it was a busy as ever, with Amy and Sara behind the bar we were able to get our drinks with out much trouble. Since I was well aware of what being over-caffeinated can do, I decided to go for a decaf macchiato. I was amazed by the absolute quality of the decaf it was by far one of the best drinks of the day. I gave a little talk about the cafe and the modifications of the La Marzocco FB-70 that Amy York made.	Espresso at Prado
JJ Bean Mainstreet
With barely a seat to be found at Prado we finished our drinks and took off for Main Street and JJ Bean. The 10th avenue bike route provided us with some shade from the blaring sun. Arriving at JJ Bean we found barista Robert Csar behind the counter working up a sweat. Putting him through his paces, Evan had a great photo of her soy macchiato from JJ Bean. We lost a couple tour people after JJ Bean, I think I might keep the next tour to three cafes. But the tour must continue!	Dry Cappuccino at JJ Bean
Re-Entry Espresso
Arriving at Re-Entry we had some definite need for some more bike parking. Even with a bike rack right outside the cafe we couldn’t find enough parking for our crew. Makes me wish the cafes of Vancouver had something like what Stumptown has in Portland. We met Matt Bishop and I found that he actually uses darkroom timers for timing his shots. What an awesome reuse of technology! You set your dosage to any amount you want with dials and hit the timer button that starts the grinder! The group had dwindled down to five by this time but we had a real nice chat with Matt Bishop and learnt a bit about red espresso for those who aren’t so addicted to caffeine.	Darkroom Timers at Re-entry
Elysian Room
ilan showed us how close Main Street was to the Ontario Bike Route and so we popped over and cruised down the hill to Elysian Room and the conclusion of this tour. A number of us were coffeed out by this point. But we all had a some of that awesome sparkling water they serve from the fountain and we all shared a clover press of the guatemala just to give it a try.	Espresso at Eylsian

Things I learned from this tour

• It is really hard to park 10 bikes on a normal street and we ended up locking them to each other
• Five cafes is much too much and the route was too long to keep everyone together
• If we do another it will certainly be a different route with different cafes
• I am not sure we could get much better weather. . .

Tree Coffee Cuff

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

Re-Entry Espresso on Main Street

Re-Entry’s launch pad blast off from 4363 Main Street street near 28th street. It has a very 1967 tomorrow-land feel to it. Walking into it you see its blue and grey textured walls, it has a futuristic feel. It also feels like this place could have been an old diner back in the day and it was renovated and made into an espresso bar. It just has that feel too it, the three group Syneso Cyncra fit right into the surroundings.

The cafe also has a one group Syneso Cyncra that they use for testing new coffee and training purposes. I also bet that it’s used as a backup in case the three group machine calls in sick for the day.

I walked in a quiet Thursday afternoon and glanced at the futurist style menu. While my 12 oz. latte was being made I asked if the Ovaltine on the menu was a big hit with the kids. The barista joked that it was more a big hit with the parents who try to get their kids to try it, albeit with limited success, she said.

Ovaltine for you old school folks

She poured the latte in front of me, which I always liked, most cafes do this anyways, but I still think it is worth a mention. I could certainly tell beans from the venerable Seattle based roaster Vivace were used. I could really notice a difference between the Vivace and the 49th parallel I usually drink while on The Drive.

Change is as good a rest.

The latte was rich in taste, with a clean finish with a note of caramel. It was really enjoyable to have something new. I certainly savored it.

Even with being on Main Street the noise of the street didn’t travel into the cafe that much and the hi-fi stereo system was delivering some mellow lazy afternoon tunes. Sigur Rós was playing while I was enjoying my latte reading the latest copy of the Straight, the paper version, the website is not a favourite of mine.

Re-Entry Cafe Interior

Room for Improvement

I was over caffeinated by the time I finished the latte on Thursday so I thought I would try a decaf Americano on for size. I don’t think it is ordered all that often, because the bag of beans was grabbed from underneath the counter. The shot wasn’t exactly perfect and after it had cooled I felt it was slightly over extracted.

I returned the next day for a dry cappuccino which came with latte art? The foam should be so thick that you can’t pour art with it. That in my opinion is not a dry cappuccino, please don’t get me wrong I got a very nice foamy latte, but a cappuccino it wasn’t. The foam for a cappuccino should be stiff and almost moldable, maybe that is just the way I like them? Am I wrong? But a number of girls at Prado do a very nice dry cap extremely well.

In the five espresso drinks I ordered over three days at Re-Entry I received grounds in bottom of every cup and from different baristas. While the enjoyment of each drink was quite nice the last sips always had some grounds.

All in all I rank Re-entry quite high in my cafe experiences in Vancouver. The different in espresso is a nice change and I really liked the style of the cafe. The sign in the washroom was hilarious, but I will leave you to find that out for yourself. As a bonus to this review any cafe with a Mac on the counter gets an extra point in my completely biased Apple-loving opinion. . . .

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Re-Entry Espresso
Drink that was ordered: 12 oz. latte & 12 oz. decaf Americano
Discount on to-go cup: You get nothing!
Barista Skill: Top notch
Barista friendliness: nice but not chatty
Website: www.re-entry.ca