“Had an opportunity to share a coffee with Jonathon Narvey and, while I did recall I had swung by once a long while ago, I had never had a chance to spend any time there. Since I’m a big supporter of local business, I thought I’d write a review. Particularly since I was SO positively impressed with it. And to be fair and balanced in my review, I should also point you to mixed reviews on DineHere.

The Edge Cafe looks very much like a chic, sophisticated restaurant. But the funny thing is, while it’s rather posh and nice looking, customers seem to come from all sorts of avenues of the world. And the prices are NOWHERE near the ultra expensive ones. They have created a “menu for the economic crisis” with soup and a sandwich for $ 6.50. That’s lunch, and that’s probably as inexpensive or in the neighbourhood of Wendy’s or Tim Horton’s.

They also seem to have wireless, although I’ll admit the laptop I am currently using didn’t want to connect to any of the networks. So, I’ll believe it when I see it :) Finally, I should also point out that while I see very comfy couches and chairs, I don’t know whether they have enough power outlets to sustain as many people wth laptops as, say, Waves.

The Edge Cafe is spacious and well illuminated. The restaurant/cafe has a lot of windows and amazing natural light. The coffee was actually really good, I have absolutely no complaints about that. Despite the fact that I wouldn’t work here for an extended period of time, I would be more than happy to try The Edge Cafe for brunch sometime. Anyone want to join?”

Thanks to Raul for the review! And don’t forget to hop on by his blog. If you have a guest review of a cafe anywhere in Vancouver (please don’t review a cafe you own or work at!), I’d love to post it! You can reach me by email.

The Edge Cafe
2450 Yukon St, Vancouver
Tel: 604-876-7228

I’ve had about a dozen or so Americanos from the cafe, as well as two batches of coffee beans for our home. This past week, it’s been a daily staple for us as our home renovations have forced us out to for food & coffee each day. Everything we’ve had has been great (scones are tasty too). Americanos have all been perfect – smooth, flavorful, creamy & lovely.

Now that we’re further away from many of our “standard” cafes, we’ve been buying a lot of beans from JJ Bean. Which got a little repetitive after being used to trying new beans all the time. Moja Coffee offers us that variety back.

The handmade level-operated espresso machine is the jewel of the cafe. That’s the only picture I have to share for now – despite all the times we’ve been to Moja, we’ve been in a rush without our camera! Hopefully we can fix that some visit soon.

Moja is the roaster behind the coffee at Raincity Coffee, as well as many other coffee houses, restaurants & hotels.

Also check out the Moja Coffee review from cleanhotdry.

Location:

218 Mackay Road

North Vancouver

North East corner behind the Canadian Tire complex.

The coffee shop was wonderfully air conditioned and beautifully decorated. There were not quite as many people there as I would expect on such a nice day, particularly considering the free wireless that is heavily advertised for all Waves locations.

Waves serves Organic Fair Trade coffee that is roasted here in Vancouver. As with all my first reviews, I had an Americano. It was made well – a very subtle taste, but nicely roasted. Definitely above Starbucks par. There wasn’t very much crema to the shot, and it was a little watery, but the taste was ok. It’s a place I’d go to hang out, for sure, and to enjoy the nice patio.

Tags: waves, waves coffee, vancouver coffee, vancouver

I can’t seem to locate any online reference to Raincity – no website, news or anything – which is a little odd, but it does appear to be local to North Van.

I thought the cafe was in a great spot with lots of light and a very open atmosphere. It was fairly casual, but not upscale. Reminded me more of cafes in Italy than the standard Vancouver-style cafe.

I had my normal Americano and found it to be a little better than Starbucks, but not top of the line. I was hoping to find more about their coffee from their website, but that didn’t seem to happen! They sell beans in their store, but they are branded with Raincity – I do recall seeing that they were roasted in small batches, so perhaps they use JJ Bean coffee.

I think the cafe would be a nice one to sit in and do some work. It’s very bright and that’s a great change from many cafes.

Tags: raincity, raincity coffee, coffee, north vancouver coffee, vancouver coffee, vancouver cafe, lonsdale

You’ll be impressed with what you see at the cafe. It’s has a very upscale yet comfortable feel. The space feels very open and the decor is amazing – lots of wood, great photography. The design was done with very particular aims for the right atmosphere in the cafe, and I think they did a great job at that.

Cafe Crema serves JJ Bean coffee, and Ianiv and I both have only good things to say about it. A good cup of coffee combines good coffee beans with a good barista. We’ll definitely consider it our ‘coffee place’ in the Ambelside area.

Cafe Crema Address:
1495 Bellevue Avenue
West Vancouver

Tags: cafe crema, west vancouver cafe, west vancouver coffee, west van, vancouver, vancouver coffee, vancouver cafe

The Boulevard Coffee Roasting Co.
5970 University Boulevard
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1Z3

Ianiv and I both ordered an Americano. The beans used were from Brazil, although the barista didn’t know much about them. Boulevard Coffee uses only organic beans, roasted on-site. The owners are students, making this the first student-owned company on campus. Both owners have science backgrounds.

Our review of the cafe itself is quite positive. We enjoyed the atmosphere and design, the use of modern materials, and the display of community art. The service was okay, although the lack of barista education was obvious.

The coffee itself was not the best feature of the cafe. To me, it tasted acrid and over-roasted. Very little flavour of the actual coffee came through, and it was quite watery as well as bitter. I would be interested to know the taste of the drip coffee in comparison to the espresso, but UBC is a little out of the way so I probably won’t be back any time soon to try.

Tags: boulevard coffee, vancouver coffee, vancouver cafe, cafe review, ubc coffee, coffee, vancouver

I was just in Boston for a business trip, and while there was indoctrinated into the Boston coffee world of Dunkin’ Donuts. Yep, coffee at a donut shop. Very a la Tim Hortons.

Now, aside from the fact that the donut was far superior to our own Tim Hortons, the coffee was still just normal everyday coffee – albeit a fairly good one.

Now, from what I gather, they do their own roasting or something of the sort. But, what’s unique is the way it is served as standard.

In Boston, at Dunkin’ Donuts, they’ll give you your coffee with milk and sugar – unless you tell them not to. And they are very very generous on both fronts (whole milk, it tasted like). Anyway, it made for a rich and sweet coffee, and with such a light roast, it’s hard for me to say what the coffee itself was like. Perhaps a good thing ;)

Anyway, I would indeed take this coffee any day over Tim Hortons. Better, but not a great cup of coffee.

The last batch of coffee, which we unfortunately didn’t write about, wasn’t as good. It started well right after roasting but didn’t last well as we continued to finish our half pound. Since we don’t get fresh coffee every day, it’s good to have one that can last a week.

The flavour of the coffee is not very strong. Perhaps it’s a little on the more flat side as opposed to many others we have tried that have distinct flavours.

About Flores:

The island of Flores was never really part of the Dutch East Indies. It was discovered by the Portuguese in the mid 15th century and was settled by them soon after. The Portuguese influence lasted for over 100 years before the Dutch drove them out. However Portuguese missionaries remained and today most of the population is Christian, unlike the rest of the country which is predominately Muslim. The island itself is a fantastic place- from the Komodo dragons in the east, to the volcanic lakes of Kelimutu and the friendly port city of Larantuka…vast jungles cover the island and many of the roads are narrow and allow limited access to the hinterland. The arabica produced on the island displays mellowness reminiscent of that found in Java.. Several large plantations produce beans for export, however again the small hold producers grow beans with unusual and very favorable qualities. – Source

It’s a very fruity coffee. More funky in taste than a lot we’ve been drinking. A spiciness that was unexpected, even while being a smooth coffee. Many people think it’s akin to an Ethiopian coffee, but better (or so I can find in other reviews). I enjoy the finish of this coffee quite a bit – even more than the first taste.

I found it a little overpowering at first. It could be due to the fact that it was roasted only yesterday, which can affect the flavour profile.

Tags: Yemen Mocca Sanani, coffee

So, I am comfortably seated in front of the fireplace at Wired Monk drinking my Americano. I was pleasantly surprised by the coffee, I do need to admit. Quite surprised. I’m even drinking it without milk or sugar. Quite surprised indeed. It has perhaps a bit too much water, but it had good crema, a strong but not bitter taste, and a nice smooth feel to it. The aftertaste is slightly more tart, but still nice.

Ok, so I had my preconceptions of this "franchise", as we all do around the idea of a franchise. It gets the standardized McDonald’s label, which usually means "consistent, good, but nothing extraordinary". So, let’s drop the stereotypes and say there are those franchises that can surprise.

The coffee roasted is from Fratello Coffee, a roaster I’m not overly familiar with. Timothy (the owner) tells me Fratello is run by three brothers who used to roast from Commercial Drive but now roast out of roast out of Calgary. Today’s espresso blend is the GodFather Espresso, "slight" acidity with "full" body. 

Timothy and Leah are the proud operators of this Wired Monk. Both pleasant and energetic, and I love that they operate as a couple. The decor here is very nice – lots of comfortable chairs, as well as some stiffer ones. Lots of little nooks, as well as a bar area seated around the barista. Tons of open floor space and windows all over the place really makes you feel open and at ease. I am particularly fond of the artwork around the fireplace – a plaster relief of the Monk and the logo, embellished with paint. Even if this is a standardized look across all Wired Monks, it’s new to me so I like it ;)

Tuesday, Friday, Saturday they have Open Mic – sometime 6 to 8 will start up. There is a ton of space in here, so I can see us coming back to hangout.

So, it’s no Elysian room that makes you go "wow", but it’s a big step above Starbucks and many other coffee joints, and I can see us coming in regularly for the coffee and the great atmosphere.

Maybe our next time around we can sit down with Timothy and Leah to see how they’re liking their new cafe :)

Location: 4th and Trafalgar

Tags: wired monk, coffee, vancouver, fratello

Subtle flavour profile. Smooth. Nice. One of my favourite regions. It is a good everyday coffee for me – not too bold or tangy.

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There was a great vibe in there. Relaxed, artsy, comfortable. The chairs could use an upgrade, but otherwise a nice feeling.

So, it’s a great place to hang out…

… but it’s not a great place for coffee. Ianiv & I both drank our regular fare: the Americano. It’s a good test coffee. Not too complicated. Well… it was not the best roast to start with. It tasted burned, like a Starbucks brew up a little more sharp. Way too dark as well.

Ianiv found his so bad he actually put in milk and sugar. Big thing for him. Mine was drinkable, but I’d even put it a notch below "diner coffee" (the best of which is from Sophie’s, btw).

So, Soma is a great hangout, but not a great coffee joint.

Tags: soma coffee, vancouver, main street, coffee, coffee review

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Will keep you posted.

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First, something negative that I hadn’t expected: the coffee. It sucks, all over the Redmond campus. I would never have thought that a company managed like Microsoft would be incapable of providing decent coffee to its employees. But it’s true. This stuff is gut-wrenching bad. Coffee-addict-repulsing bad.

Read the rest at Doug’s World.

Oh, it was not fun, let me tell you. We went to what looked like the most “main” in terms of coffee at Disneyland, the Blue Ribbon Bakery on Mainstreet.

Now, the first clue here is that the cafe is sponsored by, and served by, Nestle. Oy. I was in for it there. Well, I decided to get an Americano, and Ianiv a plain old drip coffee. Can you tell which is which?

Well, the one on the left was the Americano. And you can see me trying below. What you don’t see is the grimace on my face. Oh my. I have to say it was as bad as any coffee from a random gas station that was brewed 4 hours ago kind of thing. And it was watery. So watery. Skimping on pennies for sure. Ianiv’s was a tad more horrible, and perhaps even more watery. Lovely.

Carmen Estate is located in the Paso Ancho region, above the Finca La Florentina. From Sweet Maria’s:

Carmen is on a very steep hillside with southern exposure, and due to the high altitude, the coffee has greater density, better acidity, a more piquant cup. So in a way, Florentina was getting some better cup quality with Carmen in the mix. But the farm was passed down to the new generation of the Franceschi family, namely Carlos Franceschi (Carmen was his grandmother) … and he realized that they had a better coffee on their family farm then something to blend with lower-grown coffees. He built an independant mill for the Estate down in the valley using the latest equipment, and began a program to care for the trees usign new techniques. This farm uses the de-muscilage process where the muscilage is stripped off the parchment layer using friction, rather than traditional fermentation…

This coffee won the #3 spot in the Best of Panama competition in 2003, 2004 and #2 in 2005. The entire farm is very high altitude; it starts at 1450, an altitude many farms don’t even reach, meters and goes up from there! We have a special arrangement to buy the coffee each year from the 1700+ meter altitudes, a very small amount of coffee. We sold out of that lot rapidly this year, but the entire crop is so good (a testament to Carlos’ innovations) we set aside this Estate lot from his later shipment to the US, based on sample approval once it got here.

I preferred the brightness of this coffee over the more floral taste of the other Panama we tried. That’s just a personal taste, as each has really bold flavours, but in different ways. I want to say this one was more sweet, although I know that was not the right word.

It was really a treat to drink it and to compare the differences, which were obvious right of the bat and in the finish, between the two Panama coffees.

I am first going to talk about the one we tried in the cafe – it’s from the Best of Panama crop from the Hacienda La Esmeralda farm. It was roasted by Hines. The coffee set a record at action, fetching $21 per pound with a score of 95.6 out of 100 at the Best of Panama competition – also placing first in the Rainforest Alliance “Cupping for Quality” in 2004. So, it was great to try this coffee that retails for $9 per cup and $50-$80 per pound!

Here is some information about the estate from their website:

Seven years ago we bought an additional coffee farm in Boquete, in the area known as Jaramillo. We had known for some time that the farm had good altitude (1450 to 1700 meters) and a nice slightly orange cup. It was an old farm with an interesting collection of coffee varieties planted by various owners over the years. We increased the plantings to about 60 hectares (part had been converted to a dairy) and basically ‘overhauled’ the farm. Much of the newer plantings did not come into production until the 03/04 harvest.

During this past year it occurred to my son, Daniel, that perhaps the cup of this farm was not due to an overall goodness, but rather perhaps there was one area that was producing an exceptional cup and, when mixed together with the rest of the production, a generally ‘good’ cup resulted. He tested this notion by cupping coffees from all over the farm. Sure enough, there was one small valley at the high end of the farm which produced the extraordinary cup now known as ‘Esmeralda Special’ – and which was the coffee that sold at the extraordinary price. The coffee on the remainder of the farm remains quite good, but not the really knock-your-socks-off cup of the Esmeralda Special.

We are not really sure yet whether this cup is the result of the micro-climate in the small valley, the rather unusual variety of coffee planted there, or a combination of both. We will be looking into this in the coming harvest. It is also a very low yielding area – again due to both the cool climate and very long internode variety. Thus it only produced about 50 bags this year and, hopefully, 75 to 100 in the coming harvest.

We do know that this coffee is NOT the result of intense selection – a common requirement for great coffees. We actually export a higher percentage of cherry picked in this coffee than in the rest of the farm. Likewise, it is not just coffee from the peak of the harvest – the quality seems to hold up from beginning to end. It is also not a ‘curiosity’ coffee – i.e. one that has passed through the digestive tract of an odd animal or originated in a isolated island in the middle of the sea. We suspect and hope that it will be a coffee that can be multiplied in Boquete to a point where reasonable volumes can be obtained.

So, what do I think of the coffee?

Well, at first I thought I didn’t like it. But then I realized that my chapstick had melted on the cup and I was tasting the wax. So, after wiping it off, I tried it again and really quite liked it.

It had a more flowery aroma – less chocolatey than some others. More tart to the taste, but the final taste is amazing. It was so long lasting and filling in my mouth. I really liked it.

So, that was a great treat for us and we got to learn a bit about coffee auctions in the process!

Next review – a coffee from the Carmen Estate!

I usually express my ideas of smell/taste in very similar words, and I think this is because both senses are very strong for me. You’ll often find me saying that something smells buttery or tangy, which are not words anyone usually uses to express smell. Anyway, this time my nose was far off my taste, and that was interesting.

The coffee we are trying is from Honduras – La Tortuga

“Action-packed” only begins to describe the Tortuga experience. This is truly one of the most intriguing Central American coffees out there, dense with flavor notes that range from dark chocolate and fudge to fig, tamarind, and spiced pear cider. The body is plush and velvety, and the finish resolves itself confidently with some residual chocolate and a touch of cedar. There is a sense of intrigue with this coffee, as if one could continue peeling back layers of flavor without ever knowing the whole story. A tremendously satisfying taste experience!

I do find the coffee less full bodied than the previous one from Hines. This one sits in the mouth differently – more of a jolt than a smooth ride, if you can understand that weird description. I like it, though – it has an almost fruity taste to it. Still, when it’s out, I’ll be more preferential to coffees in the smooth, creamy flavour that I love.

Technorati Tags: intelligentsia, coffee, honduras, la tortuga

I love Hines Coffee. Really. One of the best. Recently they had to vacate their premises so some condos could be put up, but they will be back. And yet, they are still roasting! The batch we just bought yesterday was roasted at Stumptown. We got it from the Elysian Room. They get a lot of our coffee buying business.

Anywho, we tried a new Hines yesterday. Oh my. Heaven in a cup. No kidding. We’ve had other blends before and considered them our faves, and were really partial to Ethiopian coffees from various roasters, but this new one we have is a Nicaraguan. Unspeakably good. Smooth. Strong but not in your face flavour. Something complex in the flavour. Settles nicely in your mouth. Needs hardly any milk (yes, I put milk and sugar in most coffees – unless it’s a really well done Americano). Makes my mouth tingle, I love it so much. I’ll have to try more from Nicaragua to compare.

So, I am very happy Hines is still roasting. Though we still continue to try other blends and other roasters so we can fully understand coffee in all its different options, we are always coming back to Hines.

Yesterday we also bought another coffee from Intelligentsia – will try it tomorrow. From my initial smell and chew of a bean (a habit I got into, probably not a good one), it seems more acidic. Anyway, won’t venture too far out there, but will comment tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: hines, coffee, nicaragua, blends, single origin, roasting, tasting, french press

I had my first coffee at Calhoun’s last week. I’ve been to the cafe many times, but I think it was always at night and I stayed to tea or steamed milk or hot chocolate. Of of these late night beverages were pretty good.

However, coffee was not good. The machine was not so great, and the barista didn’t ask how many shots of coffee I wanted before measuring coffee – thus just running the water extra long. It really does not have much in the way of good points. It was worse than anything I could make on a bad day at home, so that was not fun.

So, go to Calhoun’s to hang out, have some good tea and a nice dessert. But don’t go for coffee.

Coffee: 40%

Service: 78%

Atmosphere: 82%

Technorati Tags: calhouns, coffee, vancouver