Extreme Coffee Freak

Round Two after Timbertrain.  We walked around the corner literally and seen that there was a Bean Around the World on the corner of West Hastings and Cambie.  This is a very nice location across from The Vancouver Film School and kiddy corner to one of Simon Fraser University’s buildings.

This location has one long table, a high bar, and a bunch of little tables all with industrial stools and chairs.  The bar is very industrial and it looks like they have three different kinds of beans that they sell.

We were on the search for breakfast and here they have a bacon, ham, and veggie breakfast sandwiches.  They also have a assortment of sandwiches and baked goods.  We ordered the bacon and ham breakfast sandwiches which were very good, they had peppers on them which added an extra crunch to the sandwich. 

We also ordered more caffeinated beverages, my daughter ordered a Hot Chocolate, my wife ordered a London Fog, and I ordered a Vanilla Latte.  I also ordered an Orange Date muffin, which was delicious.

The drinks were tasty and well needed even tho we had just drank other caffeinated beverages over at Timbertrain.  The Hot Chocolate was very chocolatey, the vanilla latte was very smooth the coffee was not bitter, and the London Fog was creamy and delicious.

Bridges Restaurant on Granville Island

Since it was so beautiful outside we said we had to eat on a patio somewhere.  So why not Granville Island, we had been to Bridges before but not with my daughter.

The patio was full and it was hard to find a table in the shade, we moved three times to finally have a table in the shade.  It was so nice watching the boats, kayakers, and even the paddle boarders.

My daughter and I ordered the halibut and chips, my wife ordered the CAB Sandwich (free range chicken, avocado, and bacon), and my son ordered the baked halibut (rice pilaff, sautéed kale, and a lemon dill sauce).

Everything was absolutely amazing.  The only thing is I ordered a starter Ceasar Salad and I never got it.  Other than that the service was good.

This cafe was recommended by Rick, the owner of Momento.  This location is in downtown Vancouver in Gastown.  When we arrived we seen that they have their own coffee brand of beans.  Each one sounded amazing.

Entering in this shop there is very interesting seating, there are longer tables and near the wall there is little two seater tables.  There is a little upstairs area that looked like an office.  This location was very busy there was a couple people working on their laptops, people in business meetings, and people just catching up.  The decor in this location is very steampunk modern, behind the bar is very industrial and the one wall is completely exposed brick.

We ordered a latte, a cappuccino, and a ginger tumeric iced tea.  We got some cool latte art on the tops of two of our beverage.  My daughter got a swan and I got a leaf, I wanted a swan, I have seen the swan but never have I ever got one.  As we were getting ready to leave a lady had some really cool latte art.  The baristas here have some seriously mad latte art skills.

They do offer pastries and little snacks, but nothing really essential.  The great thing about all their pastries is that they are all made on site.

The drinks were very good, the iced tea was very refreshing and it’s great that the ginger and tumeric work so well together.  The cappuccino is very good and stronger than some I’ve had, which I enjoy.  The latte is very good, it’s not as strong as what my daughter has had in the past, but still is very good.

Thank you Rick for the awesome recommendation.

This little mom and pop shop is located on Great Northern Way next to The Centre for Digital Media and the future site of the new Emily Carr.  There is very limited parking and unfortunately like all parking in Vancouver you will have to pay.  They are open 8am to 3pm Monday to Friday.

The owner is very friendly and has gotten to know the students that go to The Centre for Digital Media and that includes my daughter.  This little shop has a variety of drinks offered as well as an assortment of different food and pastry options. 

They offer a different lunch special every day of the week, for students and construction workers, which is nice to have a food option so close.  The schedule is;

• Monday – Random Surprise
• Tuesday – Random Surprise
• Wednesday – Pizza
• Thursday – Mac and Cheese
• Friday – Butter Chicken

For the drinks I ordered an iced latte, my wife ordered a blueberry smoothie, my son had a long black, and my daughter had an iced tea.  Everything was delicious and refreshing.

Their decor is very industrial, on the main level they have a giant long table, a bunch of two seater tables, and a big round table by the door.  Upstairs they have a table for eight which is made from an old bowling alley and a Coke sign from 1942.  The barn wood featured throughout is 100 year old handcrafted and adds a nice aesthetic appeal to this little shop.

The whole time we sat there Rick, the owner, talked to us about different places to go to Vancouver.  He suggested a couple places that we will definitely be checking out.  In exchange I was going to give him a list of a few of my favourite places in Calgary and surrounding area.

Located in Kamloops BC on Victoria Street.

When we first arrived we seen the patio loaded up with a ton of bikers. When I say bikers, I mean a bunch of senior men riding road bikes all decked out like they just rode the Tour de Kamloops. I had overheard one of the men say that they should get to work, and then a couple minutes later they were gone.

As we walked into Caffe Motivo, the inside of the cafe was very full, not to many empty seats. This is an extremely busy place. The other thing I noticed was in the short time we were there, they had several regulars come in for their beverages. All the staff were very talkative with them. The service we received on Thursday was outstanding and prompt. The staff seem genuinely friendly and looked like they enjoyed being at work, which is really great to see.

The barista asked how my day was going, I said great. I asked him how his was going and he said he was making everybody’s day better one cup at a time.

Drinks ordered today:
Vanilla latte – was very good. The use JJ Beans. A roaster out of Vancouver.
London fog – was very good

We didn’t order any food but what I saw on display looked delicious. They had cookies displayed in lanterns, which was really cool.

Caffe Motivo has a great patio, several large tables. As we sat out there we had a few people say good morning. Very friendly place.

I also want to give a shout out to the Kami cab driver of cab #9. The driver got out of his cab and helped an older lady passenger out of his cab and proceeded to walk her over to the hair salon across the street and helped her right inside. Can’t say I have seen this happen in quite some time. So kudos to this company and to this driver.
Kami Cab Car #9 (250-374-9999)

The last thing I would like to say is that I have been to numerous coffee shops over the last few months and these guys have a great thing going here. I would say they are as good if not better than any of the big city coffee shops that I have been to. If you ever go to Kamloops, check this place out. I mean it. Caffe Motivo is excellent. You won’t regret going here. (www.caffemotivo.com)

Located just off 9th Street & 17th Ave SW.

It is a unique little place, the entrance is quite tight when you get a few people lined up to get a beverage, but then you have a bunch of people trying to get out the same entrance we are coming in. Caffe Beano serves up a variety of drinks from espresso’s, latte’s, regular coffee’s and tea’s. They also have quite an assortment of baked goods.

We were there last Saturday afternoon, and it was very busy, the staff were extremely friendly and kept the line up of customers moving along.

What I think I liked the most about Caffe Beano was the people that were there sitting around having a beverage. Where can you go and see hipsters, bikers, older people, younger people and whatever else I missed sitting outside on the benches talking and having a great time. The other cool thing was that most of the people there knew each other. What a cool place!!!!

There was plenty of seating both inside and out. The inside had a diner type vibe with some large industrial lighting. Today since is warm and not raining, we went outside to the benches to do some people watching and enjoy the sun.

Drinks ordered:
Cappuccino – it was really good and very smooth
Americano – my son said it was excellent
Iced Chai Tea Latte – very refreshing

Food ordered:
Fruit and nut cookie – was really good

If you find yourself down on 17th Ave SW, go check this place out.

On Friday, August 12, we headed down to Inglewood for our third night market. We got down there quite early, around 6pm. The first thing I noticed was there seemed to be a few more vendors, and of those there were a lot of different ones from the previous night market.

Once again, there was a live band playing, lots of people were sitting on chairs and on the grass listening to the band.

The boys from Calgary Heritage Roasting Company were down there, this time selling their goods out of the back of their truck. I had the chance to talk with one of the boys about roasting my own beans. These guys know their stuff. Check out their website and see what they have to offer. (http://www.calgaryheritageroastingco.com)

I also seen the mobile cart from KaffeeKlatsch, unfortunately didn’t stop by to talk. I recently heard that they are closing their closet location downtown. This is the location is where the business started. If you haven’t been there, go check it out before August 27. It is a cool little place.

We then headed over to Gravity Cafe to get ourselves a beverage and sit out on their patio and do some serious people/dog watching. Again, I can’t believe how many people have dogs. After we enjoyed our beverage, we went over to Bite and had some dinner. The food is excellent.

Lastly if you haven’t been to the Inglewood Night Market, please go and check it out, the next one is September 9th.

After we were done in Inglewood, we wanted to take our son who was in town for the weekend for a siphon coffee. So where did we go, we headed over to Cafe Blanca. We went there about a month ago for my first siphon coffee. On Friday night when we got there, there was a paint night going on, lots of inspiring artists trying their hands at painting. It was quite interesting to see how many different interpretations there were of the same painting. Cafe Blanca have other events on different nights, such as open mike night’s for singers, comedians, etc. If you can’t make to those events, follow them on Twitter and you can watch via Periscope everything that is going on at the cafe.

Anyway, we managed to make to the till to place our order, my son and I ordered a siphon coffee, and my wife ordered the London fog. My son was able to watch the whole process that goes into a siphon coffee. The girl that help us explain the whole process. The staff that we have dealt with at Cafe Blanca have all been excellent. I really like this place. Finally our coffee’s are ready, my son takes his first sip of his siphon coffee and then tries the regular brewed version of the exact same beans. He can’t believe the difference. We sat outside and enjoyed our beverages. What a way to spend an evening?

Check this place out and try a siphon coffee. You won’t be disappointed.

This is my final blog of my YYC weekend, we are at Buttermilk Fine Waffles down on 17th Ave SW.  This building is very modern and farmhouse inside.  There is a really nice long table in the middle of the restaurant.

When we walked in it was not crazy busy, it was nice there was two older couples, a group of three, and a mom with her two kids.  There is many kinds of waffles you can order, there is six sweet waffles and three savoury waffles.

My Mom ordered the seasonal Pina Colada and the Lemon Waffle, my Dad ordered the Village and the Blueberry waffle, and I ordered the S’more and the Village waffle.

The Pina Colada Waffle was absolutely delicious, just the right amount of sweet, the Lemon Waffle was to die for, the goat cheese made it super creamy and toned down the tart.

The Village Waffle with sticky toffee was unbelievable, and the Village Waffle with Village Vanilla Ice Cream was absolutely amazing.

The S’More Waffle was delicious, it tasted exactly like a fresh S’More, and the Village Waffle with Chocolate Sauce was very filling but amazing.

The Village Ice Cream adds such a dimension to the waffles and is just amazing.  We realized before today we have never had Village Ice Cream’s Vanilla before, it too was amazing.

The wafflers were very friendly, when they seen us taking pictures, they came over to ask if everything was okay… Of course it was, look at those waffles.

Tip: if you are going to come check this place out, make sure you come early because as we were finishing up it got really busy.  It’s exciting to see all these people support a local waffle shop.

Another really cool thing about Buttermilk is they have monthly movie nights and Wednesday Game Nights.  Have to check out a movie, I am going to try to get to “Jumanji”on August 29.

You gotta waffle here.

 

As an after breakfast caffeinated beverage we drove up to Philosafy Coffee across from Western Canada High School.  This place is so cool, they have 10 two seater tables out front, and when you come inside there is a bunch of tables surrounding the bar.

Their menu is limited but they service is plentiful.  I ordered a London Fog, Mom ordered a Hot Chocolate, and Dad ordered a Pour Over.

Once we sat down to people watch we started enjoy our drinks, the London Fog was great, and the Hot Chocolate was smooth and cocoa…ey.  The pour over is not as smooth as a siphon coffee, it wasn’t bitter, and it was very good.  Everything was delicious and I look forward to visiting again.

Cafe Ole is located in Drumheller and since my Dad had just completed Tough Mudder, we thought it would be cool to check this place out for a post Mudder beverage.

To enter this coffee shop, you go through a glass door and then find a more interesting door to go through to enter the actual coffee shop.  When you enter it is really dark, it’s kind of creepy, it reminded me of what I can picture a dungeon to look like.  The only places that are lit are the ordering counter and bar, everywhere else is dark.

They serve the same stuff as other coffee shops that we have visited before. At Cafe Ole they have this “Red Symphony” which is rooibos tea, cinnamon, and a million other ingredients… It sounds very complicated, I don’t think I would every order it unless I got  to sample it first.

I ordered a Strawberry Steamer, my Mom ordered a London Fog, and my Dad ordered a Caramel Macchiato.  A Steamer is heated milk with froth mixed with any flavour syrup  that the coffee shop has.

The caramel macchiato was good but could be better. The strawberry steamer tasted great, exactly like strawberry milk but hot.  The London fog was good, my Mom finds that she can taste the difference in syrups when shops use different ones.  We sat in this really comfy area with couches.

The strange thing about this cafe is its attached to The Brick. Which we found was interesting, there isn’t many coffee shops attached to major stores like that.

This year it was located in roughly the same place last year. The only difference is the weather is really nice, last year was the “Toughest Mudder” only because it was crazy raining and the course was wet and slippery.  This year with the nice weather the course is easier, to a certain extent.

For us spectators this year was a lot easier to get around to see the obstacles. Unfortunately this year the course isn’t marked as good so it was hard to know where to go. For the few obstacles we were able to get to it was awesome to see my Dad and his team get through them.

The sad part is my Dad has been nursing a calf strain and hasn’t been training for 3 weeks.  Somewhere along the first part of the Tough Mudder course he tweaked it again and he is in some pain.  The good thing is there is medics all through the course so if he is gets worse then he can let them know.

Watching multiple people complete the final obstacle was entertaining to say the least.  The announcer made sure that they were moving and motivated to get going, even when they didn’t want to.  My Mom and I sat watching everyone pass through “Electroshock Therapy” as my Dad and his team completed the back half of the course that we could not see.

As more and more people were coming through completing we were getting worried that we didn’t see anyone from our team coming.  At one point we seen the Ambulance head out onto the course and we were worried that it might be Dad because of his calf.  When we seen that, I headed over to the Medic’s booth to check if it was Dad.  Thankfully it was not him, but some guy had completed the obstacle “Berlin Wall” and fell and broke his ankle. (Poor guy.)

Talking to my Dad after Tough Mudder I asked about the obstacles.  He said the hardest one was “Mud Mile 2.0” and “Pyramid Scheme”. “Mud Mile 2.0” is where you jump into several pits of mud, crawl across, then try and climb out. “Pyramid Scheme” is you climbing up a slanted wall after swimming a little.

Overall my Dad said that this was a way better experience than last year. Everyone on the team finished together which was amazing.  I wanted to show the before and after photos of the team as well…

With all the obstacles I was able to see I was very proud of my Dad and everything he has done. It’s so great to see him complete this Tough Mudder course 2 years in a row.