The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Bauhaus Books and Coffee photo by: M.V. Jantzen/flickr

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

Victrola Coffee Roasters

When walking into the Victrola Cafe and Roastery Pike Street location you see high ceilings, brick walls, large bay windows that let you look on to the street but also into the roasting area. this cafe has a large open feel to it as has a great subtle feel to it. Thanks to Amy York of Prado for suggesting it.

This is a place where I could get my groove on to throw downs some prose.

As smooth as honey, as sweet as love

After witnessing all that is Starbucks at Pike Place Market and needed some mellow moments of creativity and good coffee. The barista behind the counter was cool, not suggesting any special drink or trying to up sell me on anything. I knew I wasn’t in Starbucks country anymore, this was a good thing. . . . The Americano was smooth to the taste and a delight to experience with not a hint of bitterness. It was one the best decafe’s I have ever had.

I began a conversation with Chris Sharp about Macintosh battery life on the MacBook Pro and then asked “Do you worked here.”

His response was “ya kinda, I own it”

Fair Play

We had a good conversation about fair trade certification of the coffee beans and why direct trade is better then fair trade. I quite enjoyed my conversation with Sharp, I learnt more about the foundation of the direct trade agreements roasters like Sharp have and why it is more important to foster these types of relationship. I certainly agree with Sharp seeing what importers like 49th Parallel has done with the relationships with their farmers which has brought a lot of social conciseness to the coffee scene in Vancouver.

The café is certainly top of my list for Seattle cafés and has some nice soothing music to it. I certainly recommend this cafe to any visitor to Seattle, it is worth a visit.

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Victrola Cafe & Roastery
Drink ordered: Decafe 12 oz Americano
Discount of own to-go cup: You get nothing
Barista knowledge: solid skill
Barista friendlyness: Nice, but not all that talkative
Website: www.victrolacoffee.com

Stumptown Pine Location

I checked out Stumptown’s Capitol Hill location very briefly, but what I saw I like, it was a different type of feel then Victrola. The two barista’s behind the counter were very lively and full of energy who had great aditudes when I walked in. I had a 12 oz. Latte that was poured perfectly with some funky free pour art. I barely had a chance to take in the surroundings. I did ask few locals and they all approved it’s awesomeness. I on my next trip to the emerald city I hope I get some more time in Stumptown.

Where this blog was written: Stumptown Pine Location
Drink ordered: 12 oz latte
Discount of own to-go cup: Did not ask sorry..
Barista Knowledge: Lacking in some latte art, but skilled none the less
Barista friendlyness: Two funny, cute and full of energy female baristas
Website: www.stumptowncoffee.com

Starbucks at Pike Place

It is kinda odd to walk all the independent shops of Pike Place Market seeing all the fresh fish, local produce and general buzz of a local market place only to run into one of the largest corporate chains in North America.

Pike Place

The location has three cashiers and two barista’s working a three head machine. No tables or chairs and barely room to move due to the number of people. The drink was a 8oz Dry Cappuccino (no other information was given). It was made  perfectly, sure the expresso was complete crap but the drink was made exactly as a dry cappuccino should be. They also didn’t ask me if dry was like foamy they knew what dry providing these barista were familiar with a wide range of lexicon. For the volume of people on a warm and sunny New Years Eve afternoon it was amazing how well they were working that machine. I had my drink in seven minutes from time of ordering which is decent due to the massive amount of volume served.

While just blocks away. . .

But why can’t this excellent of quality be applied across the board, why just a blocks away from the famed Pike Place Cafe is it the same cookie cutter cafe that makes that same poorly made cappuccino on automatic machines. The automatic machines where brought in to speed up the services and reduce wait times, but at Pike Place I didn’t have an unusually long wait time. The staff handled the rush easily and effectively with teamwork.

Are the employees any less at the other locations, or are they just supplied with more training?

I find an unusual paradox that Starbucks found a good thing at the Pike Place more then 35 years ago and wanted to share this experience with the rest of the world, this I whole hearty agree with. But yet the rest of the worlds Starbucks don’t even remotely resemble the unique nature that is the Pike Place Cafe. Yes their are some really bad independent cafes in Vancouver and yes some chains stores are better then others, but what I really see at every other Starbucks and many other chains is a complete lack of training, knowledge and  a overall lower quality of service and in the immortal words of Howard Schultz:

“we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.” ~ February 23, 2007 ~

Faces and Places

Where this blog was written: Pike Place Starbucks
Drink ordered: 8 oz Dry Cappuccino
Discount of own to-go cup: 10
Barista Knowledge:  Both cashier and barista were quite knowledgeable
Barista Friendliness: quite nice, with a soft up sell skill set.
Website: www.starbucks.com

Hi, I am back and coming out of my blogging-hibernation called college and I have exciting news to report. I am going to Seattle, Washington for New Years!

While I am there I will be checking out a few cafes. Granted I won’t have a car and based in West Seattle, but I am open to all suggestions.

As we all know the big green coffee giant is based in Seattle and I won’t do justice to my hatred of it if I didn’t check out where it all started. Granted I was a huge fan for a number of year I can’t let this injustice go unpunished and will return to the scene of the crime to witness where it all started and how they went so wrong.

Pike Place iconic neon