As I posted elsewhere we're just back from a mini trip to Canada - 3 days in Toronto then over to Banff for 3 days, the Rocky Mountaineer train from there to Vancouver for another 3.
It really was an amazing trip and we had some totally great experiences, but part of the motivation for the trip was to get to some of those coffee shops we hear so much about!
I had short listed 5 that I really wanted to visit, but found that one (Bump N Grind) was just too far out of our way. Fortunately another very good coffee shop was right next to our hotel so that sort of made up for it.
Our first coffee stop was to JJ Bean on Davie Street, this was right next to our hotel. I tend to order a large latte with extra shot and then go back up for a single espresso when I visit a new coffee shop, but we arrived too late for me to fit in the espresso before they shut. The latte was pretty good though, milk was textured to perfection and this was the first decent coffee of the trip.
The next morning I dragged Carol to Wicked Cafe on Hornby Street. This is an Intelligentsia supplied shop and it didn't disappoint (although I will admit I am a bit of an Intelli fanboy!). I got talking to the barista who turned out to be the "legendary" Arthur Wynne. This was one of the highlights of the coffee crawl, he is a genuinely great guy. Pretty soon I was clutching an espresso cup he'd given me as a souvenir and after mentioning Steve Leighton's name (in relation to his recent whisky crawl round Scotland) I was also clutching 2 bags of Black Cat as well as another 2 bags of SO coffee, to be split between myself and Steve). Awesome! Of course I should have visited the shop late in the afternoon so that I didn't have to carry all those freebies around Vancouver sightseeing!!!
Anyway, needless to say thanks Arthur! The coffee was pretty decent too!
Next up was Caffe Artigiano on W Hastings St. This is Sammy Piccolo's shop, it was far busier, being in a more commercial/office type part of town so didn't get much chance to chat with the baristas other than to briefly chat about the array of trophies behind the counter.
The coffee here was good too, but not the best of the trip. As you can see by the picture of the latte, the milk could have been textured better...