Oh, good grief!

You're giving me indigestion and anxiety attack. Quick - gimme my 5 a.m. emergency mix, 2 heaping spoonfuls of red-label instant, dissolved in water from my hot-tap...!

gluk-gluk-gluk..

Yeah, that's better. You were saying?

farming

I got as far as the second sentence in this article and was so horrified I had to stop reading and comment. We do not grow our food in DIRT! It springs from the SOIL!

?

sorry, there's really such a difference between the words dirt and soil? We don't grow our food? It springs?

correction

Just a quick note - in the sidebar I mention "roasters like her 49th Parallel" which may imply that Amy runs 49th, which she does not, and in fact only uses their lovely beans in her store.

also, yes, farmers use soil, although to me, dirt is a reverential term as much as soil, and both are important.

Thanks for the article, you

Thanks for the article, you articulated most of my feelings about coffee right here, so thank you! I started my Barista experience at the now defunct Think! Coffee Lounge and have since been caught looking at the odd shot of espresso porn (see the links at the top..lock your door). Recently, (now brace your selves) I applied at the Safeway for a job at the Starbucks kiosk. Now, it was intended as a 3 week job (lasted 1.5) for a little cash before I travel to Europe and it certainly was a bridge I was willing to burn, I will never be back. Now I had been working at a reputable espresso joint in the years past so everything my manager told me about making the best espresso and coffee had me secretly rolling my eyes. According to him a shot dies after 30 SECONDS..?

My favorite places for coffee, are The Elysian Room (@5th/Burrard and now on Broadway too!), 49 Parallel, and Soma.
I have a simple question, Where do you go if your are not close to any of these options. What are the best chains (excluding Artigiano)?

In the not too trendy suburbs...

....and to answer your question "uvicrepresnet"-you don't go to a upscale coffee bar when you live in Ladner.

We now have two Starbucks separated by a few parking stalls. The newly upgraded Safeway now has a Starbucks even though the other one is a few steps away.

Our local Starbucks has usually long lines-by that i mean over 8 people waiting. The staff are slow and appear not to be properly trained.

This new Starbucks will probably contribute to more garbage as does the current Starbucks.
For some reason sipping expensive brews from paper cups appears to be part of the Starbucks "culture".

Personally i prefer tea but occasionally indulge in a home brewed cup of fair traded/organic coffee preferably with friends.

The best coffee....

...is enjoyed with friends. Lots of frothy conversation and
depending on the topic- the occasional foaming at the mouth....:)
Have a good weekend Tyee readers and staff.

fair trade and quality

As a fair trade importer working at a local company called cafe etico, I'm happy to say that we too do not scimp on quality, and focus on building long-term relationships based on fairness and respect with small-scale farmers in premium coffee growing regions in Latin America. We regularly visit the farmer cooperatives we buy our coffee from, and maintain communication over phone and email, and will be organizing a tour in the coming year to take Canadians to meet the farmers that produce their coffee.

The farmers we buy our coffee from use a portion of their profits for a wide range of grassroots-led community development, and work with organizations that help more farmers convert to organic production and improve coffee quality.

In addition to paying prices well above fair trade minimums for excellent quality beans, all our profits support CoDevelopment Canada, an international solidarity NGO based in Vancouver.

Keep it simple...

I always enjoy it when a friend asks if I want an instant coffee. Usually they have a filter drip one cupper in their cupboard.
"That takes too long!" they exclaim. I say, "time how long it takes the kettle to boil".
"Oh, yeah! Right!"

The author has discovered a phenomenon that actually occurred 10 years+ previously in Vancouver, and elsewhere in BC: Nelson for instance. Here in Nelson the hub of coffee pleasure is Oso Negro, a 100% locally built, staffed and focused cafe/roastry, now in its 15th year. This business proves without any doubt, that the corporate world doesn't stand a chance against a locally committed business.

A couple snippets to add from my days of enjoying barista-ship:

'Just say no... to milk!'

To the double caff/halfcaff soy/rice almond flavour latte, no foam, not too hot customer,
"I'm sorry. We only serve coffee flavour here."

And once, when in line at a Bread Garden (Surrey) when asking the barista to thoroughly rinse the gruppo, a customer behind me accussed me of being a coffee snob!!
"You're wrong! I'm a coffee slut!"

Good recommendations on tools of choice, for the home. I prefer the Italian Space Program (stovetop).

Kudos to Etico

Coffee-centered enterprises that can only operate with a clear conscience, and 'win-win' outcomes, are the real wave that's happening now.

Our coffee affectations have been born and bread from the advantageous consequences from colonialism and economic imperialism. Its astounding that how affordable an espresso still is when factoring environmental, economic, and social imperatives into the price of 'beans-to-the-roastery'.

Yes! Everyone can win!

here's to you, southdeltawalker

Thanks for the warm weekend wishes. We Tyeesters raise our virtual cups to you.

Coffee...with a bit of sugar

Sadly, no one had a response to my rice milk coffee question.

I don't eat dairy or soy, so if I could find a decent coffee that I can drink with just a bit of sugar I would be happy with that too. Make that a decent DECAF coffee (I don't need the caffeine, I just like the smell & taste of a good cup of joe).

I'll try out the places mentioned in the comments above, and if I'm ever in Nelson I know where to go.

The very idea!

"..Get on the discerning drinker band wagon.."

But that's exactly my point, Patrick! I'm not the least bit disc-cerning, it's all utilitarian with me. Hot and brown and roasty, and with lots of caffeine is all I ask. It's about the caffeine and getting upright. The finer points aren't my cup of - well... How much camping have YOU done at Alice Lake over the Thanksgiving day weekend, during a deluge, not owning a single dry stitch of clothing?? Only then will you know what I mean...

Not too Trendy

Trendiness should be seen as an indicator of the likelihood one is getting ripped off. Being a discerning consumer means, at the very least, you know how not to get cheated; it doesn't have to be about snobbery.

Most coffee drinkers I see are not discerning and, thus, a large swath of the population is consistently robbed of drinking a decent brew. An indicator of poor coffee is feeling compelled to have to add sugar and dairy. People have become so conditioned to this that it's like pulling teeth to get people to even consider it could be any other way. I find that sad and deplorable.

This article offers excellent guidelines as to how to achieve a good cup. Take the time to get properly set up at home (doesn't have to be complicated and expensive), and you'll immediately notice the difference, saving a bunch of money in the process. Do the math on what it costs in a year to make your coffee at home and/or at work, as opposed to buying it mostly from a cafe. You might be in for a bit of a shock. The luxury isn't buying the $25 pound of coffee; it's going to Starbucks twice or more a day.

I also like southdeltawalker's comment about enjoying a coffee with friends over good conversation. So true! This is what cafes were formed around to begin with.

If you're only drinking coffee for the caffeine and, otherwise, couldn't care less, there are more efficient ways of getting it than supporting a market for crap corporate coffee. I feel the same way about beer: if you're drinking industrial light lager to get drunk, you should buy vodka instead. If you guzzle rice beer, drink sake instead.

To appreciate and enjoy some simple pleasures, know that what you are having was made by someone who gave a damn. Life's too short to do otherwise.

Trends

Nice article, and good advice. I like the reminder of the enthusiasm and pleasure the author feels for this.

I find the biggest barrier to savouring that pleasure is neither finding a good shop nor making a great cup myself, but that the twin taskmasters of business and home/kids just sap my will for anything much more than my stovetop moka pot every morning. Time for things like this has just evaporated over the last years.

As for the "third wave", I think the coffee shops are welcome and more power to them, but I have to admit, as soon as things like this are named movements, it reduces my pleasure of that perfect espresso. I realized this last year when I found an entire book on the so-called third wave of coffee on the shelf of my local library. I picked it up, began to read, and realized 50 pages in that for me, great coffee is a pleasure, but reading an entire book about it is not. Things can just be treated too preciously.

I guess I'm an advocate of a more low-key push for people to pay attention to taste and quality. I like the coffee part, just not the naming of a trend. Somehow, as soon as this thing has a name, it puts it on the path of all trends. Would the Tyee still publish a primer on what to look for in coffee if you didn't identify a trend and name it? To me this would be far more curious and interesting—coffee occupies the headline spot that just a few days ago was reserved for the provincial budget. No explanation, no validation by mentioning Seattle, Portland, no recession news hook, just coffee, like it always was the most important thing.

dorothy; gerard

dorothy: Well, I like both yours and Sarah's style. Part cowboy coffee camper, part cafe coffee dillettante--why not?

gerard: Your comment about wishing for the low-key is interesting, worth thinking about. But perhaps making something a movement gives it momentum, strength, a protective shell, even: it helps makes something good really happen. Plus, there can be something fun about this--it makes it more tangible, more something you can play with. (I also have a sneaking suspicion it's about helping a generation muscle it's way in to the forefront, like the baby-boomers eventually did with whatever cultural movements to push aside the "Greatest Generation." Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, are what the young "White people like," [for good reason], after-all.)

But everyone: please just say no to Tim Hortons. It's not just the coffee--it's what happens to you when you veer near, not the cowboy cool, but the beastially coarse! Best to go to the places Sarah directs us to, but settle for a Starbucks if you have to: Tim Hortons, willy-nilly, will tar your spirit to the Harper side. No (truly) good company is to be found, there--just bats and bat droppings.

Starbucks over Tim's?

American over Canadian?

That's no choice!

A discerning coffee drinker will actually not choose anywhere else if their personal haunt isn't accessible.

When travelling (usually by bike) I bring along a camp stove, stovetop pot, a small hand grinder and fresh beans from a small roaster. Never disappointed!

However, I do admit that during a cross Canada trip with my wife 2 years ago I checked out the phone book for cafes and roasteries in towns I stopped in. And I discovered that THERE IS VIRTUALLY NOTHING OUTSIDE BC except for Starbucks in Safeways.

The Aeropress

For the past couple of years, I've been making coffee with the Aeropress -(http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm). It is almost as simple as a french press but produces the smoothest espresso every time.

Coffee in BC is a slowly maturing industry, as the author says there is no reason to drink bad coffee. BTW - My favourite coffee shop in the Kootenays is Oso Negro in Nelson, friendly knowledgeable staff make consistently good coffee, and the coffee is roasted by the owners as well.

I stopped drinking coffee.

And then ... I was introduced to the type of coffee described in this article. I appreciate the baristas intervening. Here is my new found respect for this artwork and my recommendations...

• Caffe Fantastico, Cook Street Village, Victoria

• Salt Spring Roasting Company, Ganges, Saltspring Island

• Oso Negro, Nelson

red-label? go back to sleep. Quicker - gimme my 5 a.m., 2 heaping spoonfuls of Café Awasa direct fair trade organic ethiopian, just ground and tamped in the portafilter of a slightly broken but very cheap Cuisinart espresso machine!

I quit drinking crappy coffee.

happy

yes, starbucks over tims. not a nation thing: a culture thing.

The taste of water... ARRGGHHH pt.1

Ok let's get a few things straight, if water, or more specifically H2O, has any taste, the taste is in the stuff in the water that isn't water. Specifically the minerals, the chlorine and whatever "dirt" or turbidity in the water that gets through to you from your tap. H2O is a very, very simple chemical compound.

"Boiling, boiling, boiling" water will NOT change it's taste. To even suggest such a thing demonstrates rather profound ignorance of chemistry. In fact, boiling water is not something humans can consume as it is too hot. Boiling the crap out of it and letting it cool to a consumable temperature does not in any way change water chemically. So it cannot have a different taste. What changes taste are changes in chemical composition.

Now exposing coffee grounds to overly hot temperatures will undoubtedly affect the taste of the coffee, because the heat will change the coffee's chemical composition.

It could also be that the pot you boil the water in could add chemicals to the water because the pot is dirty, or because the material of the pot leeches chemicals into the water, and this is likely to happen at a greater scale the hotter the water is.

I admire Amy and her coffee knowledge, but most important thing that makes any cup of coffee worse is dirty equipment, which seems to be especially common in most people's homes.

What really negatively changes coffee's taste is the process of oxidization. It's a similar process to what changes a cut apple brown. If you do not clean the things you make and pour your coffee into, the oxidized remains will poison the taste of your cup.

Believe it or not, I learned a looooong time ago about how to make the most out of any coffee, and that was by having read an old sci-fi book as a kid, called "A Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

The book is a reactionary bit of trash, but it has an Arab character in it that tells another character how to make the best coffee with what you have available by simply keeping all the equipment, from the grinder to your drinking cup, clean.

So, well before anyone but a handful of people in Seattle thought of Starbucks and coffee in the same context. I was making pretty damn good coffee, with admittedly poor beans.

The taste of water... ARRGGHHH pt.2

Now keeping your equipment clean doesn't mean you bleach everything and leave bleach or soap residue on your equipment. It means wash but especially rise with plenty of clean water (oh god there's that so-called taste-filled water again....)

The most dramatic coffee taste difference experience I had was when I worked for an auto mechanic one summer. My first day I unfortunately took a swig of a cup of coffee given to me by the shop owner. It tasted like they had used an old car oil filter to strain the coffee through.

They had the standard office issue round glass pot setup with the drip coffee maker. The thing, including the pot, had literally never, ever been cleaned. The transparent glass pot was opaque with the layers of old dried coffee that had dehydrated in the warmth of the hot plate. and the filter container had its own sediment crust. It took me a fair bit of time and a number of cola slurpees to clean the thing (the phosphoric acid in the cola and the abrasion of the ice particles are good at getting rid of old dried coffee, although things should never get that bad in the first place). But once it was finally clean (without telling anyone) I made a pot. The owner of the shop, smelling fresh coffee (the coffee was just something like a new can of Taster's Choice), came over and poured himself a cup. He gasped and said, "Jeesus, what did you do to the coffee!?! It tastes wonderful!"

Now that cup was a far cry from a really good espresso made from wonderful fresh ground beans. But sometimes you have to make do with what you have, and whatever kind of coffee you have, your biggest enemy is oxidization.

You may have the most expensive coffee in the world, but if you make it with equipment encrusted with old oxidized coffee remains (and that includes your grinder), it will just be expensive crap.

oxidization

Thanks James!

You are officially a way better coffee nerd than I am, getting all scientific and oxidization-centred. The point about clean equipment is SO important. For example, someone mentioned Salt Spring Island roasters being one of their favorite coffee's above. I used to cringe when I saw their logo in shops around town, until I visited their flagship shop on Salt Spring, run by the roasters themselves (not 100% sure on this one). I had a beautiful, creamy shot of espresso that made me realize why I thought their beans were terrible. It was the simple fact that most places they supply beans to don't keep their machines clean (and likely also don't know how to properly extract it). I have worked in so many terrible cafe's, where they simply rinse the filters every night and call it done, leaving a crust of dried, oxidized crap inside the filter to build. So poor Salt Spring has been misrepresented to a disturbing degree.

Also, apologies to Coffeegeek for calling them a blog! It is a community website/forum thing with interesting discussion from around the world.

I am so impressed at how nerdy this string of comments has gotten.

Boiling water

James Burns said:

'"Boiling, boiling, boiling" water will NOT change it's taste. To even suggest such a thing demonstrates rather profound ignorance of chemistry. In fact, boiling water is not something humans can consume as it is too hot. Boiling the crap out of it and letting it cool to a consumable temperature does not in any way change water chemically. So it cannot have a different taste. What changes taste are changes in chemical composition.'

Actually, I don't think you're correct on this point. Fresh water has oxygen dissolved in it. When it's boiled for a long time, that oxygen is released. It then tastes different. While the chemical composition of the actual H2O doesn't change, the amount of oxygen has changed and it does make a different taste in a cup of coffee or tea.

Agua

gerard, you actually don't think I'm correct, but you didn't take the time to check, right?

When you hit somewhere about 50 to 80 degrees C, (water boils at about 100 C at sea level), most if not all of the measurable amount of dissolved oxygen is ejected. By the time water actually boils boiling longer or shorter won't change the amount of something not there.

Tap water holds all kinds of dissolved chemicals. These are the things that create water's different tastes. The pot you use to boil water can have a dramatic effect on the water's taste, because, as I already said, the pot can leech chemicals into the water. It depends on how clean the pot is, and the quality of the materials the pot is made from. The longer you boil water in a crappy pot, the greater the chance the pot will add something to affect the taste.

One practical quibble

Perfectionism must sometimes give way to practicality. Although my in-shop drinking is almost always done at 49th Parallel Cafe or an Artigiano location, for home use I buy my beans at Continental Coffee on Commercial Drive. For whatever reason I have always found their Continental Blend works best for me.

The point is, that's a cross-town hike. So I buy several bags and freeze them, removing just enough beans for a single use and letting them warm up to room temperature before use. I have never noticed a problem with this method.