I was here shortly yesterday, and the music and sound brought me back for another re-entry. This place rocks. Today it was almost full and I got the last table with no plug. Well screw all liabilities… the man needs power and what kind of “space-themed” café would not provide electrical power to their space cadets? The man, Matt, got me a big long ugly yellow extention cord and hooked me up. See I like that. They put their trust in the customers that no one will sue them if they trip over this cord.
Again, the music was perfect and the coffee tasted good. The guys working were very cool and made good conversation with everyone.
My complaints are minor as I don’t really care but you might. They don’t really have a nice newspaper selection. They are closed early… around 5:30pm. No bulletin board, but they post stuff up on this one pillar by the door which is much more noticeable then some bulletin boards I’ve seen hidden in the back. Oh yeah and they don’t have any healthy food like sandwiches or wraps… but everything is cool because “East is East” was one block away (my favorite Indian wrap place).
So as closing time came, the music got louder and better. I made conversation with Matt, and he gave me a free brownie because the Pineapple-Coconut muffin was only morning fresh. I'll be coming back...
My Bill
Americano 2.25
Americano and Muffin 4.75
My Rating
Coffee B
Service A
Atmosphere A-
Music A+
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...
1 comment:
Hi Andre,
I work for BCIT Magazine, a weekly current affairs show that airs on Shaw Cable.
I came across your blog and would love to do a story on your coffee-finding mission.
Please email me at philskipper@gmail.com or call 604-783-5314, and we can talk about how we can best do this.
If you're available, I think doing this will be a lot of fun.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Phil
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