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August 14-20, 2014 | WEVancouver.com
Okanagan eats
and treats 8
Coffee
rock stars
A pastry guide
to Paris 12
The real
Steve Nash 17
Indie shops stick it to
corporate coffee culture 6-7
Master roaster Brian Turko
of Milano Coffee.
Jennifer Gauthier photo
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Vancouver’s coffee rock stars
Vancouver’s growing number of indie coffee shops are sticking
it to corporate coffee culture and doing things their way
By Robert Mangelsdorf
W
ith a warm purr and a gurgle,
the hot dark liquid slides out
of the imposing stainless steel
hulk sitting atop the bar at
Milano Coffee on West 8th. Nearly the size
of a V-8 engine, it produces just a dainty
cup’s worth of black gold: Owner Brian
Turko’s own La Futura espresso blend.
Turko takes a small spoon and barely
dips its tip into a bowl of sugar, dissolving
the crystals into the thin layer of crema
floating atop his coffee.
“Just a touch of sugar,” he says as he
stirs, “and it opens up your taste buds.”
The flavours are complex, and intense.
There’s nutty cocoa, hints of citrus and
vanilla. There’s spice too – cloves and
cardamom – and a sweet toffee finish. Ten
different kinds of arabica beans go into this
blend, each with its own personality, each
a variable in the equation.
Last year, La Futura brought home gold
at Italy’s International Coffee Tasting Competition, beating out espresso blends from
around the world.
Turko is one of a growing number of
local artisan coffeemakers who are finding
success by following their passion for the
bean. And like the many different beans
in an espresso blend, Vancouver’s many
independent coffee shops each have their
own personality.
The Innovator
Clockwise, from bottom: 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters barista Cole Trepanier pours the
perfect cappuchino; Coffee at Revolver in
Gastown resembles a work of art; The pourover method of brewing coffee is a big hit
at Revolver; Brian Turko, owner and master
roaster of Milano Coffee rocks out while his
coffee roasts. Jennifer Gauthier photos
6
August 14 – 20, 2014
Vancouver has always been a coffee
town, thanks to the many Italian immigrants who settled in our fair city and
brought their delicious traditions with
them.
Turko grew up just a few blocks away
from the espresso shops of Commercial
Drive. Although he was an outsider in the
heavily Italian neighbourhood, Turko nevertheless fell in love with the social nature
of the coffee shop at an early age.
“That’s where the girls were,” he chuckles.
Before long, he found himself working
in the cafés he frequented, learning the
secrets of the trade.
Turko and his wife Linda struck out on
their own in 1997, opening Turk’s Coffee
Bar. Their little café was the first nonItalian coffee shop on the Drive, and for
a time at least, was largely ignored by the
community.
“We were coffee geeks before there were
coffee geeks,” says Turko.
But soon word got out, and within
months the coffee shop became a Commercial Drive staple. Six years later the
couple bought Milano Coffee and its roasting facilities on West 8th, where former
owner and master torrefazoni Francesco
Curatolo took Turko under his wing and
shared with him his craft.
Through a doorway into Milano’s back
room lies Turko’s laboratory. Here in the
roasting room, he oversees every aspect of
his coffee’s production, from the roasting, to the blending, to the packaging, all
the while, plucking a tune on a beat-up
acoustic guitar.
“The key characteristics of coffee are
its body, flavour, aroma, and acidity,”
Turko explains. “[As a roaster], you have
to pair these elements and match it to the
tastebuds: Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and
umami.”
The sweet spot for roasting takes place
between 200 C and 221 C. Even one degree over can burn the beans.
Darker roasts produce a fuller flavour
with more caramelization and bitterness, while lighter roasts produce subtler
flavours, with more acidity and more
caffeine.
Chains like Starbucks – which are notorious for over-roasting, if not burning, their
beans – have helped popularize a taste for
dark roasts on the West Coast.
Starbucks opened its first location
outside of the U.S. here in Vancouver at
Waterfront Station in 1987. The shop was
an instant hit with caffeine-addicted commuters, and today the global coffee chain
operates close to 100 locations within the
city limits. Until 2012, the intersection
of Robson and Thurlow featured a pair
of Starbucks shops, right across the street
from each other.
Not long after Starbucks arrived on the
scene, the Blenz coffee franchise opened its
first location at Robson and Bute in 1992.
The chain is one of the biggest in BC and
now stretches across the Pacific Rim with
locations in Japan and the Philippines.
While Tim Hortons holds more than 60
per cent of the Canadian coffee market,
Vancouverites didn’t get to roll up their
rims until 1994, when the first BC location
opened on East Hastings. But the weak
drip coffee the chain offers has never had
much appeal to Vancouverites.
“What Starbucks has done is popularize
European coffee culture,” says Turko.
According to the Coffee Association of
Canada, more than 65 per cent of Canadians drink coffee daily, averaging 2.8 cups
per day.
And while corporate coffee chains of
every variety have spent big bucks on
advertising to encourage that daily coffee
ritual, Vancouver’s coffee drinkers are
growing up, says Turko.
And after decades of corporate coffee,
Vancouver’s java junkies are ready for the
real thing, and their tastes are expanding:
Pour-overs, single-origin, artisan roasting.
Coffee fans are beginning to realize
there’s more to coffee than burnt beans
and sugary, milky drinks.
For Turko, his product has finally caught
up with his customers.
Three-and-half years ago Milano’s Gastown location was the first coffee shop in
the city to offer pour-overs. Common in
Japan, this take on traditional filter coffee
is brewed to order using a glass carafe and
a specially-designed kettle, producing an
exceptionally smooth and flavourful cup
of black coffee.
Today, pour-overs can be found in just
about any independent coffee shop in the
city.
“We don’t follow trends,” says Turko.
“We follow the art of coffee gastronomy.”
WEVancouver.com
eat & drink
Revolver Coffee owner/manager George Giannakos.
The Young Gun
For Revolver Coffee owner and manager George Giannakos,
coffee is in his blood. Giannakos grew up surrounded by coffee
culture in his parents’ shop, The Daily Roast, on the Sunshine
Coast. The coffee shop quickly became a Sechelt landmark after
it opened in the early 1990s, and still operates today, albeit
under different owners.
“There were no Starbucks around then,” recalls Giannakos. “If you wanted a coffee, you had to go to a diner or a
gas station.”
While he was immersed in all things coffee-related for years,
it wasn’t until his parents opened Crema Coffee Bar in West
Vancouver that Giannakos began to take coffee seriously.
“That’s when I learned to taste it, to serve it, to really appreciate it,” he says.
Before long, Giannakos had left the nest, travelling around
the world to sample coffee culture in places like Montreal,
Portland, New York, and Japan. What he learned, he brought
back to Vancouver, and in 2011 opened Revolver on Cambie in
Gastown with the help of his family. The thoroughly modern
coffee shop has quickly gained a devoted following thanks to its
hip personality and devotion to the art of coffee.
“We wanted to create a super coffee-focused place with great
service, tons of options, and if you don’t want to geek out,
that’s great too,” says Giannakos.
In addition to offering traditional espresso blends and pourovers, Revolver also features a wide range of single-origin coffees, which contain one type of bean, from one farm or region,
roasted one way. The result is a coffee with a very specific and
distinct flavour, allowing the shop to offer a variety of different
flavours from geographical regions around the world.
“And people want to know where their coffee is coming
from,” says Giannakos.
That sense of connectedness applies to the store itself. Independent coffee shops are members of the community they
serve, and, compared to corporate chains, a greater percentage
of their profits stay in that community. And their customers
realize that.
“There’s a very real personality with each business, and with
chains, you don’t get that same personality and spirit,” says
Giannakos. “At the end of the day, there’s a lot of passion in the
independent shops, and you can get a unique product.”
For Giannakos, it’s as much about the coffee as it is the
experience. And while Vancouver’s coffee drinkers are thirsty to
explore the creative new world of the independent coffee shop,
he understands they are also creatures of habit.
“It’s a delicate thing,” he says. “Everyone has experience with
[coffee], so everyone has an expectation of how it should be.
“And it’s easy to come across as pretentious when you’re doing something different.”
Trepanier. Of course, technical skills and a highly-refined
palate are also necessary. Working an espresso machine is a
delicate art that requires constant taste-testing and recalibrating to ensure a consistent product, Trepanier explains.
“The weather, the humidity, the heat of the grinder, everything goes into account,” he says. “If we open the garage doors
here, it completely changes the profile of the coffee.”
Trepanier’s passion for coffee is evident, and infectious. And
that’s part of the appeal of an independent coffee shop.
“We’re passionate, but we tread careful ground,” he says.
“We don’t want to be pretentious, we just want people to care
about coffee the way we care about coffee.”
While Trepanier says there’s an invisible divide in Vancouver
between those who only go to the independent coffee shops
and those who get their coffee wherever, overall, customers are
much more educated and willing to try new things.
“Have an open mind, try a different roast profile, talk to
your barista, and you’ll get to understand the nuances of the
flavours,” says Trepanier.
And don’t be afraid to ask your barista any questions you
might have.
“It’s always exciting for a barista to get to talk about coffee
with customers and share our passion.”
10 indie coffee joints
you need to try
• Bel Café
801 W. Georgia
• Milano Coffee
Gastown
36 Powell
• Thierry
1059 Alberni
• Prophouse Café
1636 Venables
• Revolver Coffee
325 Cambie
• Agro Café and Bistro
1363 Railspur Alley
(Granville Island)
• Finch’s Tea and
Coffee House
353 W. Pender
• 49th Parallel
2902 Main
• Matchstick Coffee
639 E. 15th
• Innocent Coffee
1340 W. 4th
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Barista Cole Trepanier grew up in rural Hope, far away from
the coffee scene of the big city. But in a town with not much to
do, the local coffee shop was a godsend.
“That’s where we would all hang out,” he says. “There
wasn’t a lot of access to anything truly special, but that’s
what we had.”
After moving to Vancouver in 2008, Trepanier decided to
pursue his love of coffee professionally and train as a barista.
Last month, Trepanier took first place at the Western Regional Barista Competition, hosted by Rocanini Coffee Roasters
in Richmond, earning him a spot at the Canadian National
Barista Competition in Mississauga next month.
“I love the ritual of making my coffee,” says Trepanier, who
pulls espressos for 49th Parallel Roasters on Main. “It’s such a
sensory experience.”
During the competition, baristas give a 15-minute serviceoriented presentation, serving four espressos, four cappuccinos,
and four signature beverages to the judges. It is a race against
the clock as competitors are scored on a complex set of rules
that emphasize cleanliness, taste, professionalism, efficiency
and mastery of craft. It’s not enough to have a perfect flavour
profile, however. Competitors are also judged on their ability
to be personable.
“Customer service is such a big part of what we do,” says
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August 14 – 20, 2014
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