My final day of sampling different coffees got delayed due to travel, but I finally got to Cafe Artigiano to sample their regular, straight up, drip roasted coffee last week. Cafe Artigiano is a growing Vancouver based chain with several outlets around the Lower Mainland and Calgary, and they are the undisputed champions of espresso drinks...they definitely make the best cafe latte in town. In fact, they have consistently placed in the top 10 in the Canadian and World Barista Championships (coming soon to TSN, right after snooker and darts).
I therefore had high expectations for their regular coffee. However, without going into all my other factors on price, convenience, cups, etc., I have to say it was the worst sludge I've ever tasted. 1 bean out of 5, and only for the caffeine I needed. I literally couldn't finish the cup, which means it was really, really bad. I have to say it was an utter disappointment.
I've decided to expand my search for the perfect cup of coffee...if I stop now, McDonalds will have the top spot!!!
Showing posts with label Coffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coffee. Show all posts
04 October 2009
22 August 2009
Coffee Wars (Thursday)
Today I sampled a local coffee house - JJ Bean. JJ Bean is a Vancouver based micro roaster that provides beans to restaurants around the city and also has several retail coffee outlets, including a small kiosk at Granville Island. I don't really know anything about the business - who owns it, when it started, etc. - but I do know they make great coffee. I usually buy a pound of JJ Espresso beans for home. JJ Bean is one of the last places around that will give you a free coffee when you buy a pound of beans.
Interestingly, JJ Bean is one of the most expensive drip coffees in town at $2.10 for a large. Interesting because most of their outlets are on the less affluent east side of Vancouver. If you stop for a cup of joe on the way to work with your tie on, you're sure to get attitude from the bohemian crowd and servers. In the summer, you can often smell marijuana wafting from the patio at the Commercial Drive location.
JJ Bean makes GREAT coffee. Strong and flavourful but not stinkface bitter like Starbucks. And they have sleeves for their cups. And you can usually find parking. The downside is that the price is high and there's only a few locations to choose from. Overall, I'll give it 4.5 beans out of 5. Delicious coffee, served hot, JJ Bean is a refreshing change from the major chains.
Interestingly, JJ Bean is one of the most expensive drip coffees in town at $2.10 for a large. Interesting because most of their outlets are on the less affluent east side of Vancouver. If you stop for a cup of joe on the way to work with your tie on, you're sure to get attitude from the bohemian crowd and servers. In the summer, you can often smell marijuana wafting from the patio at the Commercial Drive location.
JJ Bean makes GREAT coffee. Strong and flavourful but not stinkface bitter like Starbucks. And they have sleeves for their cups. And you can usually find parking. The downside is that the price is high and there's only a few locations to choose from. Overall, I'll give it 4.5 beans out of 5. Delicious coffee, served hot, JJ Bean is a refreshing change from the major chains.
20 August 2009
Coffee Wars (Wednesday)
Starbucks. Coffee Mecca or purveyor of overpriced sludge? I eased into Starbucks in 1993 with cafe lattes. But it wasn't long before I was addicted to the intense caffeine and wanted more. I moved to dark roasted drip coffee and cafe americanos.
The Starbucks phenomenon started in the Pacific Northwest where there are a lot of rainy days to spend inside reading the paper at your favourite coffee shop with a hot beverage. Starbucks invaded Vancouver in a major way, and they use our city to test market saturation. Finding a Starbucks isn't a problem.
Starbucks is responsible for coffee prices soaring from $1 a cup to $2 a cup. They're pretty good at packaging things up and marketing "quality" so they can justify their inflated prices. The independent coffee houses in town should be thankful to Starbucks for opening up the pricing, which has become pretty much standard at any upmarket place.
The most annoying thing about Starbucks is the proliferation of fancy, expensive foo foo drinks they serve, which also slow down the espresso machine. "I'll have a tall, non-fat, extra-hot, slightly wet, decaf cappuccino with one pump of vanilla, one pump of hazelnut, a dollop of foam and a dusting of cinnamon." WTF? Even worse is the pretentious dorks who order it at "precisely 103 degrees". Why don't you try a cafe americano...watch out, you might actually taste the coffee in your coffee!!!
A grande dark roast drip coffee at Starbucks will run you $1.98 including tax. It will be consistent from location to location, hot, served with a sleeve and strong enough to strip the paint off your car. So watch out for spills. The caffeine content has got to be at the upper end of the legal limits. One Starbucks and my hands start to shake and I'm good for the morning, if not on edge. People who do cocaine have never tried Starbucks...the same high legal and cheap. The coffee is usually so bitter it invokes a frown and a quick shake of the head, but after a few sips when you start to feel the infusion of caffeine your body is craving, you stop noticing the taste. Aaahhh.
Starbucks does a lot right and for caffeine content alone, I'll give it 3.5 beans out of 5. I would have scored it higher in my younger days, but lately it just leaves me a bit too jittery and the flavour is a bit much. The other thing about Starbucks is the super laxative effect...excuse me while I run to the washroom!
The Starbucks phenomenon started in the Pacific Northwest where there are a lot of rainy days to spend inside reading the paper at your favourite coffee shop with a hot beverage. Starbucks invaded Vancouver in a major way, and they use our city to test market saturation. Finding a Starbucks isn't a problem.
Starbucks is responsible for coffee prices soaring from $1 a cup to $2 a cup. They're pretty good at packaging things up and marketing "quality" so they can justify their inflated prices. The independent coffee houses in town should be thankful to Starbucks for opening up the pricing, which has become pretty much standard at any upmarket place.
The most annoying thing about Starbucks is the proliferation of fancy, expensive foo foo drinks they serve, which also slow down the espresso machine. "I'll have a tall, non-fat, extra-hot, slightly wet, decaf cappuccino with one pump of vanilla, one pump of hazelnut, a dollop of foam and a dusting of cinnamon." WTF? Even worse is the pretentious dorks who order it at "precisely 103 degrees". Why don't you try a cafe americano...watch out, you might actually taste the coffee in your coffee!!!
A grande dark roast drip coffee at Starbucks will run you $1.98 including tax. It will be consistent from location to location, hot, served with a sleeve and strong enough to strip the paint off your car. So watch out for spills. The caffeine content has got to be at the upper end of the legal limits. One Starbucks and my hands start to shake and I'm good for the morning, if not on edge. People who do cocaine have never tried Starbucks...the same high legal and cheap. The coffee is usually so bitter it invokes a frown and a quick shake of the head, but after a few sips when you start to feel the infusion of caffeine your body is craving, you stop noticing the taste. Aaahhh.
Starbucks does a lot right and for caffeine content alone, I'll give it 3.5 beans out of 5. I would have scored it higher in my younger days, but lately it just leaves me a bit too jittery and the flavour is a bit much. The other thing about Starbucks is the super laxative effect...excuse me while I run to the washroom!
19 August 2009
Coffee Wars (Tuesday)
Tuesday morning saw a reunion with Tim's. I have fond memories of Tim's...a steaming hot coffee to warm up from those frigid Halifax winters, a delicious maple dip doughnut (donut for Americans), a bowl of soup...and in eastern Canada you can't walk two blocks without running into one. The last time I was home to Nova Scotia, I noted that my little hometown of 10,000 people had at least seven Tim Horton's stores. They obviously love their doughnuts.
I am embarrassed to tell you that when I first moved to Vancouver, there were NO Tim's anywhere, and once in awhile on a Sunday morning I'd get up early and drive all the way across the water to North Vancouver just to get a coffee and a doughnut at the lone Tim Horton's I knew of in the Lower Mainland. It was a bit of a treat and a reminder of home. Fast forward 15 years and Tim's presence is finally being felt in Vancouver proper. There's even one on Commercial Drive, right there competing with the real Italian coffee houses. Wow! Ten years ago the Subway store on the Drive was forced to close after being constantly barraged with anti-corporate graffiti. My adopted city is changing.
I've tried to push the nostalgia aside and just focus on the cup of coffee in front of me. Hmmm. It's still not easy to get to Tim's because they don't seem to have any locations in my part of town that have any parking. That's inconvenient, but at $1.68 for an extra large coffee, I can afford the quarter for the parking meter. One thing I've noticed at Tim's is that now that they have breakfast bagels and all this other crap besides doughnuts, the service is painstakingly S-L-O-W. It doesn't help when all the customers and all the cashiers are ESL from different parts of the world trying to understand one another in broken English...but that's a rant for another day. When I finally got my coffee, I burned my fingers on the paper thin cup. Good for the environment I suppose, but not so good when you have to carry your coffee two blocks back to your parking spot. They have sleeves but it seems like management has told the employees not to be forthcoming with them unless a customer makes a fuss.
When I finally tasted my coffee, it was a major disappointment. In fact, I would say that Tim's coffee sort of tastes like dirty water. I think there's a little bit of coffee in there somewhere but it is fairly weak. It provided a mild level of stimulation, but the caffeine content seems minimal. I think I'll need another one before the morning is out. On the positive side, it seems to have a low laxative factor.
I know this will seem like blasphemy to Tim's fans and eastern Canada in general, but Tim's coffee is really nothing special, and requires a fair amount of effort and planning to get to in Vancouver. If you add a maple dip doughnut to your order...well, now you're talking. Maybe the difficult access is a good thing given how much I LOVE those calorie ridden doughnuts. Its just NOT good coffee, people. And it left a nasty film in my mouth. Yech! I'll give it 2.5 beans out of 5, based on value.
I am embarrassed to tell you that when I first moved to Vancouver, there were NO Tim's anywhere, and once in awhile on a Sunday morning I'd get up early and drive all the way across the water to North Vancouver just to get a coffee and a doughnut at the lone Tim Horton's I knew of in the Lower Mainland. It was a bit of a treat and a reminder of home. Fast forward 15 years and Tim's presence is finally being felt in Vancouver proper. There's even one on Commercial Drive, right there competing with the real Italian coffee houses. Wow! Ten years ago the Subway store on the Drive was forced to close after being constantly barraged with anti-corporate graffiti. My adopted city is changing.
I've tried to push the nostalgia aside and just focus on the cup of coffee in front of me. Hmmm. It's still not easy to get to Tim's because they don't seem to have any locations in my part of town that have any parking. That's inconvenient, but at $1.68 for an extra large coffee, I can afford the quarter for the parking meter. One thing I've noticed at Tim's is that now that they have breakfast bagels and all this other crap besides doughnuts, the service is painstakingly S-L-O-W. It doesn't help when all the customers and all the cashiers are ESL from different parts of the world trying to understand one another in broken English...but that's a rant for another day. When I finally got my coffee, I burned my fingers on the paper thin cup. Good for the environment I suppose, but not so good when you have to carry your coffee two blocks back to your parking spot. They have sleeves but it seems like management has told the employees not to be forthcoming with them unless a customer makes a fuss.
When I finally tasted my coffee, it was a major disappointment. In fact, I would say that Tim's coffee sort of tastes like dirty water. I think there's a little bit of coffee in there somewhere but it is fairly weak. It provided a mild level of stimulation, but the caffeine content seems minimal. I think I'll need another one before the morning is out. On the positive side, it seems to have a low laxative factor.
I know this will seem like blasphemy to Tim's fans and eastern Canada in general, but Tim's coffee is really nothing special, and requires a fair amount of effort and planning to get to in Vancouver. If you add a maple dip doughnut to your order...well, now you're talking. Maybe the difficult access is a good thing given how much I LOVE those calorie ridden doughnuts. Its just NOT good coffee, people. And it left a nasty film in my mouth. Yech! I'll give it 2.5 beans out of 5, based on value.
18 August 2009
Coffee Wars (Monday)
After years of being a diehard Tim's fan in Halifax at university, my move to the west coast precipitated a shift to Starbucks. Then came Bean Around the World, JJ Bean and Cafe Artigiano, to name a few. But recently the introduction of McDonalds new premium roast coffee has thrown me for a loop and left me asking "What is the best cup of coffee in Vancouver?"
I've decided to try a different coffee every day this week and evaluate each one. To be fair and consistent, I'll only order a straight forward drip/filter coffee...no foo foo drinks loaded with caramel or chocolate. We're talking manly man's coffee here, the stufff that'll put hair on your chest.
Today I kicked off my morning with a large McDonalds coffee. First off, it is extremely convenient, being just around the corner from my home with plenty of free parking (that's a big deal in Vancouver)...no drive-through though. At $1.77 including tax ($1.67 in East Van) it scores high on value. The cups are freakin' amazing...the insulation keeps my beverage hot long after my commute is over (running the Olympic construction gauntlet has added 20 minutes to my drive). The new McDonalds coffee tastes like how I imagine coffee should taste - strong but not in a tongue-curling bitter way. On the caffeine front, it definitely perks me up but not so much that I'm jittery. And it has a moderate laxative factor (more on that one when I get to Starbucks!!!).
The downside is that living in a city of coffee snobs, it isn't cool to drink McDonalds. If one more person says "eeewww, you're drinking that crap" I'm going to go postal. Just try it, people. Also, the smell of french fry grease at 7 AM is a little off-putting. Wish they had a drive through.
If you couldn't already guess, McDonalds new coffee scores high in my books. I'll give it 4 beans out of 5, mainly for value, taste and those great cups.
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