Commercial Drive Vancouver - Life in the coffee time-tunnel · Saturday February 1, 2020 by colin newell
My take on Here comes the Sun…” Colin and Sean McCool on Guitar and Vocals
Here-Comes-The-Sun-V14.mp3Way back in 2008, I popped into Cafe Roma on Commercial Drive in Vancouver – a cafe that has a lot of history for this part of Vancouver and for me, some fond childhood memories!
One sunny mid-week Spring day, Dave, a contributor to the CoffeeCrew.com website, and I sampled the espressos and cappuccinos and tasted some delightful locally baked treats.
It reminded me of a unusually hot June of 1968, some 40 years earlier, as I walked down East 6th Avenue, Vancouver, towards Commercial Drive.
This was the first trip off of Vancouver Island and what started as a day trip turned into an overnight adventure as mom decided to hook up with some cousins in the big city.
Mom, who grew up in a multicultural enclave in Montreal, Quebec, had brought me over to Vancouver for the weekend to visit the Pacific National Exhibition and to see a big city for the first time. And what a cultural shock it was for a 11 year old to see something so different than sleepy small town Victoria.
Mom’s cousins lived on East 6th Avenue around 3 blocks from Commercial Drive – a big old character house the likes of which I had never seen before. The original block of houses remain in Vancouver to this day and walking the tree lined sidewalks in 2018 is like a memory drenched trip through a time tunnel.
On a Saturday morning in June 1968 I started the day with my young cousin Dennis by heading out for an exploration.
Only in the late 60’s would it seem perfectly normal for a couple of 11 year olds to head out into the urban jungle for a look see.
Turning onto Commercial Drive on this sunny Saturday late morning, Dennis and I walked down wide sidewalks past Italian delis, corner grocers and bustling cafes.
The street was full of life. Everything seemed brighter, louder, busier and decidedly more fragrant. For a naive kid from small town Victoria, I might as well have been on another planet.
The aroma of strong coffee, cured ham and fresh fruit drifted over the concrete beneath my feet. I stopped for a moment in front of a busy cafe. It seemed to be packed with men, young and old, entangled in a circle of loud conversation and broad hand gestures. They spoke Italian, a language my Montreal raised mother used with me when she was displeased.
A young couple caught my eye. They seemed disconnected from this humming umbilical of community.
A girl, likely in her twenties, wore a canary yellow sun-dress and her male friend, donned a wool suit. The suit seems softened by a few years worth of wear and somewhat sticky considering that it was a hotter than usual summer. Between his sips of strong looking coffee from an impossibly small cup and her demurely drawing from something that looked like a milkshake, they talked in a musical banter – words only they appeared to understand.
Dennis grabbed my shoulder and pulled me along. I looked back at the couple nodding and laughing. The girls hair moved up and down held in place by a daisy-yellow hair broach. Walking again, Dennis steered me into a green grocers hardly a door away from the cafe. With 90 cents in my pocket, a lot of money in 1968, I bought a chocolate bar, some pixie-sticks (fizzy candy in a paper tube) and a cola.
We exited the store and turned left towards the cafe again.
Caffe Roma is now buzzing louder as we strode towards my cousin’s avenue. The table where the young couple sat was now empty save for a cup and a glass. I spot them exiting onto the boulevard, hand in hand, her dress burning a permanent image into my mind, the itchy smell of his suit offering contrast. They vanished into a pulsating hive of urban humanity – a Saturday morning blend of shoppers, smokers, the odd smattering of fashionably clad hipsters and one wide-eyed child – me.
I look in the cafe window again flashing forward to the present. I stand outside of Caffe Roma on Commercial Drive and time has stood still just for me. The reflection in the window looks alternately young and slightly older.
Clouds pass by offering a broad selection of flattering light. CoffeeCrew contributing member Dave watches me for a moment before holding the door.
“Colin, let’s get some coffee…” he says.
The smells and sounds of the the Cafe and the street envelope me like an old gloved hand. For a moment I hold in my palm the paper tubes of fizzy candy and a half-eaten chocolate bar. Dave asks again, “What are you going to have, Colin?”
I order my usual when I am in a cafe for the first time – double espresso and a snack. In this case, they have very tasty looking apple turnovers. I get one.
The intensity of the Italian coffee and the tangy sweetness of the pastry are the perfect match. As I sip the beverage and feel the caffeine perking within me, I can almost hear the whispered conversations of the young lovers from so long ago at a nearby table. Where are they now? Have the years been kind? Most likely, their grandchildren are half-grown up, much as I was in 1968. I think about my marriage, now almost 2 decades in length, and how in places like these, time just stands still.
In the final moments before we leave for our next stop on the drive, the owner pops by to gather up our spent cups. I tell him the coffee is fabulous. His expression is priceless and without words – a combination of ‘of course it is son…’ and ‘I have a cafe to run today…’
As we step onto the still vibrant sidewalk of Commercial Drive, two ten year old boys approach on skate boards. One sails past me like a low flying seagull.
The other swishes to a stop and is immediately hypnotized by the activity in the cafe, the noise, the smells, the starling chatter of the old men.
The cycle continues season by season, year by year through the generations. We are thankful for our memories and the time we have ahead of us. Thanks for the memories Vancouver!
A few months later in 1968, Jimi Hendrix would play a stellar concert at the Pacific Coliseum and a couple of weeks before I arrived in Vancouver Robert Kennedy would be assassinated in Los Angeles during his presidential bid. Here in 2018, Caffe Roma is now part of the history books – but while in Vancouver, you can visit The Drive – Do so. You will be glad you did.
A Musical tribute…
My take on Here comes the Sun…” Colin and Sean McCool on Guitar and Vocals
Here-Comes-The-Sun-V14.mp3
It's National Coffee Day (almost) and what's up with that? · Thursday September 26, 2019 by colin newell
I was talking with Brad Plothow, VP of communications at Womply.com in Lehi, Utah this morning.
Womply, in its simplest terms, is a company that analyses market trends based on transactional commerce data – you know, credit card and debit transactions – who’s making them and what they are buying or selling.
And do they know coffee! At least who drinking what, when and how much.
And some of that information surprised even me! As a coffee drinker who sips the same amount of coffee, year around, it was interesting to look into the lens for more granular data on consumption trends.
- Which are the busiest days of the week at your average cafe.
- What is the busiest time of the year for cafes.
- What is the average amount of sales for the average cafe in North America
Not surprising, coffee house consumption tends to swing upwards later on in the week – and you guessed it, Friday is the busiest day at the campus, urban or office cafe when folks are rewarding themselves for a week well done!
Ironically, while Christmas shopping season in North America may be the busiest of any season year around, coffee drinking drops significantly in January (as resolutions kick in…) and then consumption slowly returns to “normal” in February!
You can read the entire article over here
My take-away: Womply.com is a creator of small business software that provide valuable market data and trends on consumption based on meta data from credit card transactions – very fascinating stuff.
National Coffee Day – without too much of a dig-down, I am assuming that the industry has created this date to “pay back” their valued clients with a free cuppa Joe. Me, I like to pay for my fancy coffees and I think in a city like Victoria, Vancouver, Portland or Seattle, you might be hard pressed to get a free serving of the good stuff. Dunno. Results may vary.
Meantime, enjoy a great cup of coffee every day of the year!
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and coffee expert who has been writing about cafe culture for 25+ years – now that’s a lot of coffee!
Instant pot living Mushroom Risotto · Tuesday February 5, 2019 by colin newell
Authentic and brilliant Mushroom Risotto in less than 25 minutes from start to finish? Oh yes!
This recipe produces creamy, perfect risotto every time.
This is best served right out of your Instant Pot to experience the best silky texture of the risotto.
Reheating with a little extra water and pad of butter helps recreate the creamy original texture, for you leftover lovers.
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The Ten Best Cities for Coffee in the United States of America · Thursday January 10, 2019 by colin newell
Living on the West Coast of North America in an area dominated by coffee culture, I cannot imagine not having the best of cafe culture within an easy walking distance. And in my 25 years of writing about the bean scene in Canada, I have traveled from the West Coast to the East Coast, with many stops along the way, looking for the best of the best in the brewed cup of joe.
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