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...

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I - JJ Bean (with guest Jeff)

12:39pm
I’ve been here for about three hours now and Jeff will come visit me soon as I told him how good the coffee is. So let's start my review other than what I've said about the problems of the JJ Bean music in the Problogue.

It’s big. It has nice high ceilings where the birds seem to like to fly around when it’s raining outside. It’s nice and bright as the walls have huge windows. The coffee bean roaster is pretty cool (see pic).

There’s chessboards and a nice selection of seating from a booth in the back to big soft chairs by the fireplace, tables, window bar looking onto the street, and lots of tables outside covered by a roof so you can sit outside when it’s raining. I really like how there is so many electrical outlets so you have no problem finding a plug in, however there is no wireless internet so if you’re are a crackbook victim, you’ll have to log on to the Bell system from Starbucks across the street that has a weak signal.

1:07pm

While forced to listen to “Blame it on the rain” (milli Vanilli?), “Baby baby” (Amy Grant) and “Never gonna get it”, I ordered a sandwich that went surprisingly weird.
Knowing now that I would now be a critic, I decided to ask the tall blond girl with huge blue eyes what she thought about the sandwiches…

“What do you think about the Chicken Pesto sandwich?” I asked.
She gave me a snobby look and told me “I have no idea.”
“Well, what do you eat when you’re here?”
“I don’t.”
Awkward pause…
“Well can you recommend anything I could have for lunch?”
“People seem to be eating the sandwiches.”

I felt like telling her to go straighten out her panties, but I remained polite figuring it was probably just that time of the month, so I just smiled and ordered the chicken pesto. She grilled it for 5 minutes and it hit the spot… cheesy, big chucks of chicken, and a powerful dill pickle, but a little small and pricy for 7.50$.


2:00pm

Jeff finally arrives. He’s in a bad mood.

Jeff's Opinion
my americano was really good, lots of flavor, strong body, simlar to the one I had at the locust lounge on king ed, and main. I already ate if I didn’t I would have one of the pesto chicken sandwiches on a chili cheese bread. looks good!!!



At the end of the day...

My Bill

Large Americano 2.85
Croissant 2.00
Large Chai Latte 4.05
Pesto Sandwich 7.50
Limonata 1.50

(taxes included in the price… cool! No Pennies!)

Rating

Coffee A+
Sevice C
Atmosphere A
Music F-
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