Problogue

Right... on another rainy day in Vancouver, I was motivated to start this coffee tour while sitting in JJ Bean, one of the more popular cafes on my street... main st. I was planning to work at JJ Bean for the next two weeks with daily 5-6 hour shifts of video editing... but as "Christina Aguilera's Genie in a Bottle" played overhead at the mid-point of day 1, I eventually decided that it was time to search for a better cafe. There is a little prologue to this story, and it goes a little something like…

About 2 months ago when I first moved to the Mt Pleasant hood, I was having a few pints with some friends, and Greg tells me that I’m lucky to be moving to Main because JJ Bean, on 14th and Main, has the “best” coffee in the world. I don’t think much of it as I can barely tell the difference between a coffee from Starbucks and 7-11. But anything that's the BEST in the WORLD deserves a go. So I finally hit up JJ BEAN to order Greg’s "best coffee in the world" - Americano (whatever that is)... and like a Glenlivet on the rocks, I do notice a difference right away. It really is the best coffee I have ever had. I ask a cute brunette coffee girl about it, and she explains that she is roasting the beans right there in the shop. That means that the beans are much more fresh than any place like Tim’s or Starbucks, hence the great coffee.

Perfect. It’s big, lots of space. Every table on the wall has it’s own electrical outlet so I can plug in. A lot of cool people come in and the staff seems to talk to people all friendly like. Plus they have lots of selection of food, snacks and cookies (ginger snaps... SNAP!). So I’m pretty sure this is going to be my office for the next couple of weeks. Wrong. And it wasn’t the crumbly croissant that upset me. I could easily change to just cookies. But the big reason that inspired me to begin my new search was the MUSIC. I wouldn’t have even minded no music at all, but I was horrified to realize that the music they were playing here was all wrong. They play 80s and 90s top 40 satellite music that the staff has no control over.

After two hours, a nice coffee and then smooth Chai to calm my nerves, the music had become as annoying as two white beagles locked in a Volvo. I became obsessed with what would be the next gay song. Obviously with top 40, there were some decent songs coming up, but there was a consistency of puke that just couldn’t sit in my stomach any longer…

At first, “Turn the beat around” made me smirk. Mariah Carey “Dreamlover” and some Enrique crap made me worry a bit. But when I heard 2 unlimited “are you Ready” and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”, it hit me like a blind date with Lisa Kudrow that this could never be “my café”, and I would have to start a new search. So I thought about it and there were like 10 other cafes in between my house and JJ Bean anyways. Let's take a look at what makes a good cafe...

Thursday, November 1, 2007

VII – Cuppa Joe


As I am a numbers guy, I was more positive today to hit a better café on my “7”th spot on the list. I picked Cuppa Joe because the name speaks to me for some reason… where did the name "Cup of Joe" even come from? I wikied it and it turns out to have several undecided whereabouts, but I think it sounds logical that it was named after the American Navy General “Joe Daniels” that banned alcohol on the ships... There probably was a little whisky in the first real cup of Joe.

So my Cuppa Joe experience started with a video from their web site. Sorry guys, but that was so long and so lame… hire me next time. It did however convince me to get a latte so I could see the special little artwork they do with the cream… very nice. The coffee was comparable to Starbucks but way under the JJ Bean standard. They didn't have much food to choose from, but they did have some free samples of what the guy said was the world's most scrumptious brownie... a little too sweet, but it sucked me in for a full one. Nothing there for lunch... Boo!

The place was nice and bright with a good location for people watching. I set up right on the window bar and being right on the corner of Main and Broadway, I got a good glimpse of about 1000 people today. Location, location, location… Cuppa Joe was packed all day long. They had free internet, but it was small inside so not much selection of chairs so most clients were “coffee-to-go” drinkers.
They were playing their own music and I got to listen to a great mix from Sarah McLachlan and some other dark rock and electronic music. There was a bulletin board in the back and the place was clean and very comfortable... I will be back!

At the end of my day

My Bill
Latte & Brownie 6.67$

My Rating
Coffee C
Service A-
Atmosphere A-
Music B
free internet +1 bonus point
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