Coffee shop review - Our Town Cafe (Kingsway and Broadway)

Well, while we are on the topic of coffee shops, I have to say that one of the cutest (and most relaxing ones) I’ve ever been at is Our Town Café. Located at the corner of Kingsway and Broadway, Our Town Café is the epitome of relaxation. I wouldn’t recommend you to come to OTC if you really like to have an ebullient atmosphere.

OTC is the ideal coffee shop to come and read a book, relax, take the day easy. The food is nice (they’ve got some organic items there too) and the coffee is good too (although I wouldn’t actually say it’s Artigiano’s coffee). The most important element: the relaxing atmosphere you get here. Best place to have a nice coffee or tea and read a book. Even when it’s raining.

Coffee shop review - Cafe Artigiano

There are few things I love more than coffee. Real coffee. The stuff that makes you smile when you wake up in the morning to the smell of a dark, freshly brewed concoction. Unfortunately, my tummy has begun to be slightly sensitive (please replace that with VERY sensitive) to irritants, and therefore coffee is now more or less off grounds.

The problem with this is that my daily routine does involve coffee. Even if I work from home for about one or two hours before heading to the office, that’s the first thing I do: I wake up, barely conscious, stagger until I reach my coffee maker and turn it on. However, I’ve recently had several episodes of stomach ache that are associated with dairy consumption (cheese, of all things!) and caffeine consumption.

Therefore, what I did today (as an innovation) was to make a pot of English breakfast tea, and start working. The kick wasn’t enough, I got to tell you. So, when KP said that she wanted to meet for coffee downtown, I jumped at the possibility. Particularly since we haven’t seen each other (and I totally missed her birthday!) and so she suggested Café Artigiano.

Now, to the uninitiated, this could be just any other coffee shop. But no, don’t be fooled. This is Café Artigiano. The one and only. This is gourmet coffee, even the Americano is amazing. The atmosphere is extremely warm. And the staff… not only are they beautiful (physically speaking), they are so incredibly sweet. *swoons*

I have been to Café Artigiano many a time, but had never actually had the time to sit down and write a coffee shop review, so now that I’m waiting for KP to show up, it’s the perfect occasion.

As I write this review, I’m looking at the baristas (both male and female) and they keep smiling. How do they do that, particularly after a really long day at work? I don’t know, but those smiles are beautiful and I feel so welcome at this place, it’s going to be kind of hard to leave. Of course, the incentive to get out of here is that I’m heading down to CBC Studios to see a live performance of Delhi2Dublin. I’ll tell you all about it afterwards.

Small inconvenients of Café Artigiano:

• If you’re a blogger or need a wireless connection, you are pretty much SOL. This place doesn’t provide wifi. But on the plus side, if you actually want to work on a paper or read stuff, you can do it without the added distraction of having an internet connection.
• The people coming here (and working here) are pretty damn hot. That may be a bit of a distraction if you’re trying to concentrate on a project. I have a very, very short attention span and can easily be swayed away from an assignment with a beautiful smile [ that being said, I’ve also been blamed for charming people away from their work by using my eye-lash batting powers and my mega-watt smile… ooops :o) ]
• Not enough power outlets to connect your laptop. So, make sure you got a nice battery before heading down here to do work. I managed to sweet-talk my neighbours into letting me connect to the power outlet and run my cord undernearth their legs, but it’s slightly embarrassing.
• The atmosphere is quite animated, so if you’re trying to concentrate on something that requires attention, you may be SOL. I am wearing my headphones and listening to Miguel Migs on my iPod and still can hear my neighbour’s conversations.

Overall, I still would come to CA (Hornby and almost Robson, near the Vancouver Art Gallery). Just accompanied with a nice book though ;)

Coffe place review - Bean Around the World (Main and Broadway)

Theoretically, this location will eventually become Bean Around the World. Right now, it is a coffee shop right beside where Monsoon used to be and in the location formerly known as the home of SoMa. The coffee is good, not too harsh on my tummy, and the barista is pretty nice.

I actually couldn't use the wireless, although they do have it, but my wireless card didn't seem to be talking with their router. The place is well illuminated, and quite spacious. It looks as though a few people have taken it up as their centre of operations. I still see many more people at Waves, or at Lugz. But as somebody said, there's always space for everyone.

If I had woken up at a decent hour, I probably would have come here to work and spent the whole day looking at the beautiful mountains (this location has a gorgeous view of the snowed mountains). The night lighting is quite good, and if you need to stay late, you could very well stay here until 10pm. But that's the drawback. This coffee shop only opens until 10pm (and I think only until 8pm on weekends).

I would still come back to work here. There's more than enough space to work, and enough hotties that walk by to provide good eye candy. It's a good place to do people watching too.

Coffee shop review - The End Cafe (Commercial Drive)

There is a gazillion reasons why you should mosey over to Commercial Drive. It's a vibrant and diverse community that has managed to create a mosaic of exciting and fun events. If you want to be up-to-date on the comings and goings on The Drive, I'd recommend the blog "Commercial Drive - Live!".

I'm writing this post as I sit at The End Cafe (corner of N Grandview Hwy and Commercial Drive, pretty much at 6th Avenue and Commercial). I have met friends of mine here on our way to dinner or a movie. However, this is the very first time I actually have spent any time at The End Cafe.

I have heard rave reviews of the place, particularly jazz nights on Sundays (7-9 pm). Admittedly, that kind of clashes with my evenings with J, but I am sure I can convince him to come and listen to jazz (he wasn't very keen on acid jazz when we went to the Fairview pub, but hey it's all about having an open mind, don't you think?)

The coffee is pretty good, and I have to say that the layout is very conducive to doing everything: from doing work on your laptop (there are two side bars with plenty of jacks to connect to the electrical energy, and free wireless internet) to having a relaxed evening reading a book and having a coffee (comfy couches) to doing school homework (plenty of tables with enough seating to entertain a small army of school brats) to having a drink (they're licensed to serve alcohol until 11.45pm).

I read on the Girlports website that there is an informal queer women group every second Wednesday at the End Cafe.

Another habitual haunt for the lesbian set, the End Café is especially helpful for travelers with their free wifi access. They’ve got a nice loungey feel and serve coffee, soups, fresh organic sandwiches, burgers, breakfast and desserts. Every other Wednesday there’s an informal lesbian meet’n’greet you may want to keep your eyes open for.[Girlports website]

I can't praise enough the management of End Cafe for being this queer-positive. Of course, this is one of the most diverse and culturally-aware neighbourhoods in Vancouver!

Coffee shop review - Esquires Coffee

Located at the corner of 16th Avenue and Oak, Esquires is a cute coffee shop that also has wireless internet. I have had some good coffees here, particularly with close friends. There's also a nice pastry/coffee/deli shop right across the street (Max's), but I definitely enjoy Esquires as I can work on my laptop there.

Coffee shop review - Bean Around the World Coffees

I am a big supporter of local business, and to be frank, I always had a soft sport for Bean Around the World. One great thing about this particular location on Main and 20th is that it's really close to me and other colleagues, and I thus I can hold work meetings or just relax with a coffee.

Bean Around the World has wireless internet, and a large patio. I would say best place to do work around the Main area, but there are other coffee shops that are so cute. JJ Bean, The Grind, Cuppa Joe and Waves. And the coffee is really good!

Furthermore, BATW has a card similar to Starbuck's with which you can pay your drinks. I quickly proceeded to buy one as I never carry cash with me. So, all around, fun to go to this BATW, I recommend this coffee shop!

Caffeine crazed - The tradition of working at coffee shops

The phrase “working at a coffee shop” has often triggered a few strange comments from my friends. “Are you actually working as a barista?” is often one of them. The truth is no, I don’t work at a coffee shop, but I do work AT a coffee shop. Yeah, I know it sounds strange. What that statement means is that I often bring my laptop and some papers to work with and start my work. That’s what I mean by “working at a coffee shop”. And on that note, two things.

• Caffeine is not working. I’m very sleepy.

• Vancouver has LOTS of coffee shops with wireless that you can work at.

I found a really neat webpage that tracks WiFi in Vancouver (coffee shops particularly). Check it out.

“Because nobody living with AIDS should live with hunger” (A Loving Spoonful), please consider donating.

Coffee shop review - Higher Grounds

If you love hanging out and drinking coffee in Kitsilano, and eavesdropping on loud customers' conversations does not bother you, you'll love Higher Grounds.

The coffee is really good and I always have a fun time watching customers. Drawbacks - wireless is not officially theirs (you might catch some signals here and there) and not enough electrical energy plugs. So this is perhaps a good place for a nice read, work on something that doesn't require much internet and/or just relax sipping a nice coffee. It still remains one of my favourite coffee shops.

Location I have been to: Broadway at Vine.

Coffee shop review - The Wicked Cafe

Who wouldn't dare to have coffee here with a slogan like this: "Coffee You'd Sell Your Soul For". I kid you not. That's the slogan of the Wicked Cafe. I mean, I am not ready to sell my soul as of yet so I figured I'd try it and see if it is all worth what they say it is. To be honest, it didn't go well with me that they said they had just run out of regular coffee (I only buy the lavish mocha or capuccino's when I really want to give myself a really nice treat, and tonight I am only doing work so no excuse, really).

So I settled for some Apple Amaretto tea. The second thing that didn't go well was that since I had a loose-leaf tea, they gave me a small container to leave my bag. The only problem is that the container is so small that to leave your bag you need to really be a master maneuverer. And since the container is metal-based, if your bag is hot you're bound to get burned.

Those two things out of the way, on to the really nice things about Wicked Cafe:

First, it's off the beaten path. It is located on 7th and Hemlock, so even though this is South Granville - Fairview Slopes, it's not really all that crowded. You do find lots of people as Hemlock is one of the major routes to get to downtown from the Granville and Broadway area, but the coffee shop itself is not located along a 'common' route.

Second, the cafe has wireless internet, and that's a great advantage. The actual signal was quite powerful and I could work really well there. There are two small problems (for me) working there. One is that there aren't lots of power outlets. The second one is that a lot of really interesting people walk in and out of the coffee shop. So I get easily distracted (as I love people-watching).

I would definitely come here to have a coffee and chat with friends of mine who live around the South Granville area. I probably wouldn't sell my soul for this coffee but I really enjoyed it. I am quite puzzled about the fact that there's an eatery right beside that I should really try at some point.

Coffee shop review - The Elysian Room

Since most of my friends are Kits-centric, I have had to re-adjust and come back to some old haunts. The Burrard stretch between Broadway and 4th Avenue has always been an area where me and my friends hang out. I couldn't tell you how many times I have taken in a movie at 5th Avenue Cinemas.

The advantage of The Elysian Room is that it's so close to 5th Avenue Cinemas. A few months ago, I met up at the here with L and M as they were going to watch a movie, and we had a very nice coffee. In my opinion, the coffee is very good, although the food is expensive for what it is.

Since I have been so strapped for time, it was nice to sit at a great coffee shop for an hour in between tasks. I have read some rave reviews and some nasty ones, but I'd really reccommend it. The baristas are nice people.

Coffee shop review - Cedar Cottage Coffee House

I had considered the possibility of starting a new line of reviews (work-places, those little cafes where we can sit down, relax, have a cup of tea or coffee and do work on our laptops). While there is a website that summarizes all the coffee shops in town with wireless access (Vancouver WiFi Mug), the purpose of my reviews was to provide an idea of where one could work.

So the first one is a coffee shop that I fell in love recently when out with S for a cup of tea. Located at 3728 Clark Drive (corner of Clark Drive and Kingsway), the Cedar Cottage Coffee House is a small coffee shop that serves some of the best tea and munchies I have had in a few years. Fully equipped with wireless, reading materials (please don't take the books or magazines!) and big windows, this little cafe is the definition of organic and friendly.

The staff is really nice and they will spoil you to no end. At least, S and I had a really good time when we were there for coffee. I haven't really worked there for a long period of time so I can't really assess that element, but it looks like a good place to work on the weekends (since I come into the office most weekdays).