travel | Coffee, It's a Helluva Drug

guest post: Vancouver coffee

Submitted by my pal Rachel. Enjoy. – Matty

After a year of living in North Vancouver, British Columbia, I can attest to the very high quality of local coffee shops. That said, let me confess that this review is very limited to my neighborhood; Lonsdale – a pretty, mellow community with stunning views of the North Shore mountains, Vancouver Harbor, and the city skyline. I’ve also thrown in a bonus shop that’s a short drive up the road and just too delightful to omit. Let me also confess that I am a cappuccino drinker and, when I rate coffee, that is my brew. In Vancouver, most coffee shops also sell lovely pastries, made locally or in-house, and no review would be complete without discussing the treats.

In Lonsdale:

BEAN ON 5TH (official name: Bean Around the World – 5th & Chesterfield)
506 Chesterfield Avenue, North Vancouver, BC
https://batwcoffee.com

Coffee: Consistently excellent

Ambiance: Cozy garden outside, casual and inviting inside

Pastry: All very delicious, but the star of the show is the chocolate bread pudding, only available on weekends. It is sublime; crusty, gooey, and rich. Cookies, blueberry loaf, and muffins are also above average.

Location: An unexpected delight on a quiet, residential street just a couple of blocks from Lonsdale Avenue, the commercial heart of Lonsdale. With plentiful outdoor seating on a shady patio, this is a great place to take your dog out to coffee. Or, if you are like me this past year and temporarily dogless, this is where you go to bother other coffee drinkers with your need to pet their dog.

one more spring trip

As I’ve posted recently, I’ve been very lucky this spring to travel to Arizona for baseball spring training, and to Portugal with my family. Last week I enjoyed one more very special trip, driving in the US south, and of course visited some coffee places. I neglected to do my usual rounds of picture taking, but we may be better off without them.

I’ve been a big fan of Red Rooster Coffee for a while now, enjoying their coffee at some of the best DC-area cafés. Their coffee’s flavor profiles are often bold, but offer layers of complexity that make them more interesting that just smacking you in the face. I’ve wanted to visit their café and roastery, but Floyd, VA is a bit far from where I live, I’m not a bluegrass fan so a visit to Floydfest isn’t in the cards, and Floyd hasn’t been on the way to places I’ve gone before. This trip gave me the opportunity to route myself in their direction, so I built a stop into the itinerary.

road trip: Portugal

I recently returned from an amazing week’s vacay with my family. Now I understand why everyone has been there, is there, is planning to go there, or wants to go there. We were blessed with mostly magical weather, manageable crowds, terrific food and drink, and very warm and friendly people.

We were mostly in Lisbon and Porto, with a few other stops. I had great coffee, though unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to visit as many places as I would have liked in Porto. To spare my family I didn’t go through my usual picture taking frenzy at cafés, so here’s a list interspersed with the usual tourist pics – those of you who follow my social media accounts have likely seen these – and a couple non-coffee things.

First, a tip for anyone traveling anywhere in Europe, European Coffee Trip is *the* guide you need to find specialty cafés and roasters. It quickly became my primary coffee resource for this trip.

view from the bedroom of our AirBnB in Porto

COFFEE – Porto

Combi Coffee
Fábrica Coffee Roasters (Rua do Souto)

Phoenix part 4 (fin)

fourth & final in a series of four posts

Let’s wrap up the Phoenix field report. Two cafés left to cover.

WINDOW COFFEE BAR (Melrose)

*where’s Frank? Dino? Sammy? Joey Bishop?*

from the second you pull up to the Royale complex, which houses this outlet of Window Coffee Bar, you’re awash in 60’s Vegas cool and invited to find your inner rat packer as you relax in a bright metal chair on the astroturfed courtyard
the café is bright and colorful, and it took a lot of willpower not to take home one of their really cool mugs
great coffee, teas (I went back for pictures and got a really good iced herbal tea), and pastries – another fine pop tart, this one raspberry and pear

*concrete floor, check; cool art, check; light wood…….*

*I’ll take one of the mugs from the bottom shelf, please*

*pardon me, sir, do you know Angie Dickinson?*

Phoenix part 3

third in a series of four posts

Yes, there’s more…….

BERDENA

in a nice block of old town Scottsdale
airy, bright, beautiful tiles, and a sweet baby blue Slayer espresso machine
don’t make the same mistake I made by stopping on Sunday morning, the family breakfast/brunch crowd will guarantee a long wait

Phoenix travel report part 2

second in a series of four posts

Back to our guide to the Valley of the Sun.

CARTEL ROASTING CO. (Coronado)

one of well-regarded chain’s 11 Arizona outlets, also found in Palm Springs, CA
beautiful old stone block bungalow that’s so nice you’ll want to move in
lots of interesting art on the walls
if the blueberry pop tart is in the pastry case, get one, it’s amazing

travel report: Phoenix

first in a series of four posts

I recently met my brother in Arizona for spring training baseball. It was my first visit to the Grand Canyon State, and while we didn’t venture beyond the Phoenix metro area we did see and do a lot. Of course, for me that included visiting a lot of cafés.

I came in without expectations one way or another about the coffee scene in the Valley of the Sun, but I was pleasantly surprised with the consistently high quality. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprised, given the city’s official logo looks like latte art.

If you look at my café guide, you’ll find that all 10 places I visited made the list, 9 of which earned the Coveted Asterisk of Quality^TM. Rather than indulging my usual proclivity to babble on and on (and on), I’m going to lean more on the pictures to tell the story, with an occasional touristy intervention. Let’s go!

the ‘other’ Portland

I’ve certainly posted more than my share about the joys of Portland, Oregon. Here’s more Portland travel news, but this time from the Portland that’s not found on the upper left of the map of the United States.

Our family went to Maine recently for a short vacation, which included an overnight in Portland. What a terrific small city! Interesting neighborhoods, nice waterfront, lots of great food and drink options, and what the kids these days call good vibes. For coffee, the city punches well above its weight with a concentration of excellent roasters and cafés. I was able to squeeze in visits to three cafés, two operated by roasters and one independent shop serving beans from yet another well-reputed local roaster.

We stayed at an Airbnb in the East Bayside neighborhood, and the location could not have been more perfect. Within easy walking distance were cafés, bars, brewpubs, and interesting food. We weren’t there long enough to even scratch the surface, but experienced a few places and all were all top-notch.

First stop was Coffee by Design‘s Diamond Street roastery and café. A large industrial space made warm by colorful paint, art, and wood, with a big, round coffee bar in the middle. The staff could not have been friendlier or more thoughtful, the coffee was excellent, and there was a good-sized crowd of patrons for a weekday afternoon.

great find in Orlando

I’m on my first visit to Orlando that doesn’t take place only in hotels and conference rooms, and had the opportunity this weekend to get out and explore a bit.

The googles led me to the Mills50 outlet of Lineage Coffee Roasting. Beautiful shop, interesting neighborhood, great coffee. It was really hopping on a Sunday afternoon. Definitely worth a visit when you need to get away from the mouse or your 1,000 closest friends at your conference.

If you’re interested in upping your home coffee game, take a look at the education section of their website and order from the selection of instructional booklets. I leafed through a couple when I was there, and they were very clearly written and not too technical.

yet another Oregon coffee report

I recently made from my annual trek to the Beaver State, spending time as always in Portland and Eugene.

*in the garden area at Equiano Coffee Roasters, Eugene*

I’m convinced that Portland is America’s best coffee city, Cofflandia if you will. Why, you ask?

large number of quality cafés
home to some of the country’s best roasters
the city has a large geographic footprint, but the high quality cafes are spread all over
Portland is a magnet for coffee talent

Let’s dig into the details. Click to keep reading.