Sitting at Bubby Rose's Bakery... · Saturday June 24, 2006 by colin newell
Could be as close to heaven as possible.
Sitting at Bubby Rose’s Bakery, on the sidewalk.
With a mug of Sam Jone’s Discovery Coffee Yirghacheffe.
And one of Mark Engel’s fabulous Cinnamon Buns.
This is not one of your run-of-the-mill sticky buns folks.
This is a Mark Engels tour-de-force.
This baby contains real butter, flour, milk, cinnamon, more butter and some secret ingredients.
Imagine that with a great cup of coffee… on the avenue in historic Cook Street Village, Victoria.
Pretty girls walk by. Some with their dogs. Some with their pretty boyfriends. Ah. Cook Street village.
This is living!
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But it's a Canadian institution! · Friday June 23, 2006 by colin newell
Help me out here folks… (or folk. Could be I am down to my last reader. — life sucks when you are as dull as I am.)
But what do they put in Tim Horton’s doughnuts?
I know what you are thinking. What is coffee-guy doing at Tim Hortons anyway?
Yea. It is a Canadian institution. As Canadian as Lloyd Roberston. As trusted as Lisa Laflamme. It’s the beaver. You know it. You trust it.
Ok. So maybe it was the coffee.
The coffee.
Here is the deal. I eat a doughnut from Tim’s and honest-to-God, when it hits my stomach, it instantly reconstitutes itself into a whole doughnut again. Maybe it grows a bit. Maybe it shape-shifts into a Canadian-tire dime-bag of brass-screws. I don’t know.
All I know is, I feel like I have a 15 pound sinker-lead in my belly.
It’ll pass. Maybe I can walk it off.
Actually, Tim’s coffee is not that bad. If, perhaps, you compare it to Folgers or Chase & Sanborn or Post-um. It is not that bad.
There might just be a fleck or two of Robusta in there. Not sure of it but maybe.
I mean – my caffeine-ometer red-lines when I come out of there.
Could be the coffee and the maple-dip together.
Maybe I should chew more. The coffee I mean.
I chew the doughnut. Lots in fact.
Anyway – need to be careful when flirting with the desecration of a national monument.
Really. Really careful.
Welcome to Colin's Coffee Orphanage · Saturday June 17, 2006 by colin newell
Was walking through Victoria’s historic General Store Capital Iron and Steel.
Yea, it is an odd name for a family owned business that has been around for, I dunno, about 100 years.
Probably wrong about that.
I digress.
They have a pretty good garden centre.
Someone told me that there we coffee plants there.
I found one (with the help of a wonderful gardener-lady-staffer).
I think I got the last one. Neglected? You betcha.
No offense to the staff at Capital Iron & Steel but you cannot know the ins and outs of every single tropical plant. Or can you?
Anyway – this is day one of the adoption of Khan the new coffee plant in the coffeecrew.com orphanage.
My other coffee plant, Juan de Fuca was 4’ high but sadly neglected by Reg James (of EspressoTec) – he forced me to take it.
Glad I did.
I stumped it down to about 12” in height. After 3 monthes or so, it is now 17” in height.
Khan is 7” in height.
Anyho. Stay tuned for updated in the coffee plant.
A big hello to our 7 readers of the coffeecrew blog! Okay, so I get about 10,000 hits a month on this blog. I am sure most of those are mistaken hits. Apologies all around!
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Can coffee get any better? · Monday June 12, 2006 by colin newell
We have just returned from a 3-day visit to Vancouver. For me, it was a chance to scope out the latest and greatest in cafe culture in the lower mainland.
The coffee scene in Victoria and Vancouver has taken a massive leap forward. For coffee consumers, fans, geeks and newcomers, it is an all good news message. For existing cafes that are not getting in on some of the trends, they run the risk of getting left behind.
So what is going on in Victoria and Vancouver and who are the players?
Vancouver: The Elysian Room (5th Avenue West & Burrard) and Prado (Commercial and East 4th) seem to be ‘top of their game’ with espresso. This is not to say that there are not contenders breathing fire up their portafilters – because there are, and the players are plenty.
The Cafe Artigianos are holding their own in the espresso zone but they see some of the writing on the wall – as a result they have responded with Clover coffee at one location and thermal French press presentations at some of the other locations. Add to that some very exotic offerings; cup of excellence single origin bean – and now you have the mixings for a very competitive position on the part of the Piccolo’s cafes.
JJ Bean? They are not exactly resting on their laurels. They offer uber-fresh origins, blends and espressos that are always spot-on!
Over on Vancouver Island, there is no lack of activity. In fact, there may be more on the ball here (per capita) than in Vancouver or Seattle.
Sam Jones, of Discovery Coffee and 2% Jazz has cornered the market on the leading edge gear – Synesso and Clover. Sam is even roasting his own bean. And although his roasts are not quite at the level of a Batdorf and Bronson, he shows great promise. Currently, the intellectual leader of leading edge roasting is at Cafe Fantastico – Derek is currently handling the bulk of the batch roasting with Ryan and Kristie doing parental duty.
So. What about the tools that I keep refering to?
The Clover. It is a brewer. It is a single cup brewer. In the right hands (and the right coffee) it can produce a remarkable cup.
It is like a French-press on steroids. All steel. An element of pressure brewing. It produces a remarkably transparent cup. From what I have tasted it has surpassed anything I can do with my most high-end temperature controlled drip brewing techniques.
There are some words that I would like to toss around to describe my initial Clover experiences: stunning, shocking, humbling, challenging… I could go on and on about this.
The Clover could be the single most important development in the cafe tool-kit in years. I mentioned previously that the Aeropress is the single most significant development for the home or travelling coffee lover of the last 25 years. However hyperbolic, I stand behind this statement.
In the World of espresso brewing, there are the Rancilio’s, the Gaggia’s, the Cimbali’s, the Nuova Simonelli and the like.
Then there is the La Marzocco and the Synesso.
There is some family history between those last two.
One of the engineers from L.M. left to become a Synesso engineering partner. Good move.
The Synesso takes advantage of digital temperature control and pre-infusion to ensure the best possible environment for the espresso brew cycle. If you can find a cafe in your neighborhood that uses a Synesso – do it!
So. Victoria has one. Ladysmith B.C. has one. Nanaimo has two I believe – soon three! The Coyote Cafe, currently my pick for Vancouver Island’s best cup of coffee and espresso, uses a Synesso. They know their coffee and it shows.
Yup – for coffee lovers, there are exciting times indeed. There is something very special happening in Victoria and Vancouver right now – perhaps this is an important part of our coffee/cafe history.
