Vancouver Coffee

The 2008 Western Regional Barista Championship will be held this week on August 14th at Heritage Hall (3102 Main St) in Vancouver. It’s a free event that’s open to the public, although I can’t find what the times are.

There will be at least 12 contenders competing in the western regional finals. Each competitor must prepare and serve 12 separate espresso beverages - 4 espresso, 4 cappuccinos, and 4 "signature" drinks of their own creation. They have 15 minutes to prepare all of the drinks. A panel of judges look at station cleanliness, taste, beverage presentation, technical skills and overall judges impression.

The top 3 baristas from each regional competition will go to the Canadian Barista Championship on October 21-22 in Montreal. The winner of that competition will move on to the World Barista Championship in Atlanta in 2009.

Via cleanhotdry Tags: coffee, barista championship, canada, vancouver, vancouver coffee, barista

BoingBoing TV has fun video of a recent tour of Intelligentsia

The baristas of cleanhotdry.com have created a desktop wallpaper featuring espresso pulled and consumed from Vancouver cafes. Clean, simple, elegant - show your love for Vancouver coffee!

You can download the wallpaper in various sizes here.

Tags: vancouver, vancouver coffee, espresso, wallpaper

On Friday, I ushered in the summer by taking a long walk in North Vancouver. Despite the heat, I decided to go for a coffee. I went to Waves on Lonsdale and 1st.

The coffee shop was wonderfully air conditioned and beautifully decorated. There were not quite as many people there as I would expect on such a nice day, particularly considering the free wireless that is heavily advertised for all Waves locations.

Waves serves Organic Fair Trade coffee that is roasted here in Vancouver. As with all my first reviews, I had an Americano. It was made well - a very subtle taste, but nicely roasted. Definitely above Starbucks par. There wasn’t very much crema to the shot, and it was a little watery, but the taste was ok. It’s a place I’d go to hang out, for sure, and to enjoy the nice patio.

Tags: waves, waves coffee, vancouver coffee, vancouver

Above is shown the Coffee Cuff, a coffee sleeve handmade from reclaimed architectural veneer offcuts. A green alternative to the waste generated from all the cardboard sleeves.

A great alternative for the eco-minded. Stylish too!

Via iltli ; Image: contexture.ca ; Tags: coffee cuffs, bentwood, design, coffee, coffee sleeve, recycled, eco friendly, eco, green

Here is an interesting article about how to optimize your intake of caffeine. Some highlights:

small hourly doses of caffeine (.3mg per kg of body weight [approx 20 mg per hour; thanks digg!]) can support extended wakefulness

Caffeine may increase the speed with which you work, may decrease attentional lapses, and may even benefit recall - but is less likely to benefit more complex cognitive functions, and may even hurt others

The beneficial effects of caffeine may be most pronounced in conjunction with sugar.

How do you consume your caffeine throughout the day?

Tags: caffeine, optimize

Early this morning, a Starbucks on West Broadway and Heather in Vancouver exploded.

At 2:30 am on the morning of February 13th, an explosion in the 600-block of West Broadway in Vancouver leveled several street-level stores, including a Starbucks and Taco Del Mar, and did some damage to the London Drugs across the street. The noise and shock wave awoke residents for many blocks around.

No injuries have been reported, and no structural integrity issues have arisen as a result of the explosion.

Police and fire crews are investigating what caused the explosion and whether or not it was deliberately set. Police Spokesman Constable Tim Fanning said that arson investigators are calling the explosion "suspicious." Eye witnesses are reporting a man running from the area after the explosion. That said, fire investigators are looking into a possible gas leak at Taco Del Mar as the source of the problem.

You can view more photos taken by a local resident here.

Via canada.com, canadian press, aol Photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward Tags: starbucks, explosion, vancouver, broadway, fire

"I am not a paper cup…", available for sale later this month, is a porcelain cup with a silicone lid that mimics the standard paper cup used across the globe. Eco-friendly and reusable!

Via popgadget Tags: cup, paper cup, eco friendly, green, i am not a paper cup

Starbucks is testing out a new $1 coffee and free refill price program. The test is being conducted in Seattle stores.

The $1 cup would see the return of the "short" cup size, about fifty cents off the tall price for drip coffee. Free refills will be extended for brewed coffee, though the sizes applicable were not specified. This would put the Starbucks brew back on teh same pricepoint as competitors.

The move to this new price point has been prompted by slower consumer spending and new competition from fast-food rivals, such as McDonald’s, whose coffee offerings have expanded.

Starbucks says that "This test is not indicative of any new business strategy." They claim the testing is a part of their ongoing business and will not comment on the test until a decision has been made.

Via reuters ; Tags: starbucks, coffee, free refill, mcdonalds, starucks coffee, seattle, free refills

The IngenuiTEA Teapot is an ingenious little 16oz teapot. Simply brew your tea for your preferred amount of time then rest the pot over your mug - the spring-loaded valve will empty the tea into your mug, but leave the leaves behind. Just rinse for next time!

Via cribcandy Tags: ingenuitea, teapot, loose leaf tea, tea, tea pot, brewing

Vancouver coffee and tea chain Murchie’s is under new ownership by a Victoria family, under management of Belmont Management.

Murchie’s is a 113-year-old Vancouver landmark with five metro Vancouver stores and one Victoria store. The chain was facing bankruptcy.

The new managing director, Grant Kuebler, thinks marketing lies at the root of the issue - a good product that has gone unmarketed. Though the name may be well known, it is not top-of-mind in product purchase decisions.

What will this change bring? More locations, modernization (behind-the-scenes and up front), and broader marketing.

"So we see an opportunity there, and within a year our goal is to get a blueprint in place that will allow us to expand."

Via Vancouver Sun Tags: murchies, tea, coffee, vancouver, vancouver coffee

Michael Allen Smith of INeedCoffee has published a great set of reference tips for troubleshooting the French Press and the quality of coffee you can get from it.

We have long used the French Press - it is, by far, the cheapest and easiest way to get high quality coffee.

The tips offered encompass:

• water quality
• brewing temperature (just off a boil)
• fresh coffee
• grind size
• steep time (may vary per coffee and as per your taste)
• dosage

And, as Michael notes, don’t take that last sip of coffee. Unless you feel like filtering it, you’re going to get a mouthful of sediment. Not the yummiest part of the coffee.

Tags: french press, french press coffee, coffee, coffee press, brewing coffee

Can you function without coffee? If not, this is the cup for you! Start up your machine in the morning with this on / off mug.

via swiss miss Tags: coffee mug, on off mug, mug, coffee

Check out this 2008 illustrated coffee calendar by Mike Rohde. It features several unique drinks from various areas of the world. You can see all the illustrations in this Flickr page, and if you like them you can buy the calendar from Cafepress.

The Zarafina Tea Maker is a controlled -tea envornment. It will steep your tea to exacty the righ temperature - select loose or bag, strong medium or mild, and the type of tea, and it will steep then dispense up to 16oz of tea. Sleek looking.

Tags: zarafina tea maker, tea, tea maker, tea brewer, steeping tea, zarafina

Vancouver-based Blenz has opened its first LEED-Certified coffee shop. LEED stands for Leader in Energy and Environmental Design.

Basically, Blenz has gone Green.

Certification requires a complete approach to sustainability by recognizing the building’s performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. This coffee shop is a first for Blenz and one of only a handful of LEED-certified buildings in BC.

The ‘Green’ Blenz is located in Tsawwassen.

Via newswire Tags: blenz, green, environmentally friendly, coffee, coffee shop, leed certification

Feeling lonely working at home? Well, toss a handy friend into your routine! This cute Penguin Teaboy will time your tea dunk, and remove your bag when your tea is steeped:

Via popgadget Tags: penguin teaboy, tea, gadgets

Hacked Gadgets has posted a link to the "Internet Enabled Coffee Machine" - essentially, if you’ve got a hankering for coffee, you can tell your coffee machine to make it. Just access it from your computer. This could also mean that, if preloaded with coffee, you could message from your mobile phone on your way home to start the brew - and have it ready when you walk in the door.

Tags: internet enabled coffee machine, coffee, coffee gadgets

The Urban Tea Merchant is celebrating 3 years in Vancouver. Here are the details of an event they are holding to celebrate:

Please join us on Sunday October 14th for free birthday cake and birthday tea.

We are very pleased to have Angela Cooper perform Fon Saaw Mai Akkaporn - a traditional Thai dance at both 1:00pm and 3:00pm. This would be a perfect time to reserve your Afternoon Tea or Tea Ritual.

Please call (604) 926-3392 for reservations.

Tags: urban tea merchant, tea, vancouver

In Spain, we stayed in a beach-town called Sitges. It has a very popular shopping strip in the centre of town, and there you can find Firenze Gourmet Coffee. It is one of the more posh store fronts, with automatic doors and comfortable leather seats.

It looks like it could be a chain from it’s organization, but I can’t find any evidence that it is anything more than a well done local shop.

Here, you can order your coffee at the bar or sit and be served. I again ordered the Cafe con Leche. They serve up your coffee with a side of milk chocolate, which is a nice touch.

The coffee was better than my experience at the train station. More foamy, but still with that subtle coffee and silky milk texture that I enjoyed about Spanish coffee. Firenze seemed to perk up at night again when people flocked there for dessert. Worth a shot to anyone in Sitges.

Tags: sitges, spain, spanish coffee, coffee spain, coffee sitges, firenze, firenze gourmet coffee, firenze coffee