While at PAZZ performance festival in Oldenburg, I met a writer/theatre artist (and fellow Canadian) named Alex Ferguson. Alex was lamenting "the desperate lack of anything resembling a drinkable espresso in Oldenburg." We had just been at a workshop presentation of Mammalian Diving Reflex's (wonderful) The Best Sex I've Ever Had. Our conversation inspired me to write the following:
These are some of the best (and worst) coffees I’ve ever had, in each of the cities/towns where I have lived, in chronological order.
It's a (slightly geeky) obsession I wanted to share.
Amsterdam, 2010
Espressobar Puccini, located on Staalstraat 21
This was the place I had my first really great koffie verkeerd in Amsterdam. Rich and delicious. The cakes here are also splendid. The food looks absolutely lovely but it’s a bit too dear for me...
Latei
Very decent coffee and a cafe really worth going to. It’s a small and eclectic set-up and all the nicknacks visible are for sale. It’s a hodge- podge cafe and flea market in one. Try fried eggs with cheese.
Winkel
Go on a Monday and have Apple Pie and Coffee. It is a bit of a trendy thing to do but really, when you're eating the pie with whipped cream surrounded by loads of people eating and delighted by nothing but that very same pie, you won't care. And the coffee along side will satisfy.
Pancakes! Amsterdam
I didn’t go here with any coffee expectations. I went here for... the pancakes. Dutch ones. (Why did I never think of making a massive crepes, cooking a piece of bacon right inside it and the covering the whole thing is syrup??--and that’s only one variation.) But the coffee at Pancakes! Amsterdam is actually really good. (Though for some reason it seems to be better if you order a coffee verkeerd than if you order a Latte.) They use beans from The Golden Coffee Box-- Awesome coffee.
The Public (Openbare) Library
I need to mention the Amsterdam Public Library here because while it is possibly one of my favorite places in the world--you have to see it to believe it-- the coffee is terrible. This is noteworthy because everything else at this public institution is so splendid that it is better just to be warned about the coffee and skip it. That said, there are two places to get coffee (and all sorts of food and drink) at the Library (a mark of it’s enlightenment), one actually in the Library on the top floor (great view!), run by "La Place"--a marché style restaurant with loads of fresh and lovely food. The other place is a restaurant on the ground floor attached to, but not inside, the Library. The coffee is MUCH better downstairs, but the real thing to have downstairs is the very affordable and delicious pizza in a highly enjoyable environment.
Al Ponte Caffe Italiano
This place is noteworthy, even if I did ultimately find the coffee disappointing considering their own claims. They have a great logo with the tagline: Make Coffee Not War, fight bad coffee not other people. They have stickers and t-shirts that say this. The coolest thing about this place is that you take a free 5 minute ferry from the train station to get to it. It is a kiosk so definitely better on a sunny day.
Leamington Spa, England, 2009
Bar Angeli
They get there coffee from Monmouth in London and they know how to brew it.
Glasgow, 2008-2009
Where the Monkey Sleeps
Another bike courier haunt. Breakfast is also very yummie and affordable. mmmmmm. The downside for some about this place is that it is VERY noisy. Lots of heavy metal playing... There are other great cafes to hang out in (including offshore, the wonderful threesome: mono, stereo and the 78...) but the coffee is just fine, not special.
Paris, 2007-2008
The worst coffee I’ve ever had has generally been in Paris--a tragic disappointment. Really, coffee in Paris is a disgrace. I did find one place worth going too called grocce di caffe. It is only a kiosk so its better to go when the weather is nice. The guy who runs it is really great. He is from Rome and claims that his regular clientele is made up of Australians living in Paris.
St. John’s, 2006-2007
Not the coffee capital. Really better for beer. Try Eric’s Red or anything brewed at Quidi Vidi! Also quite possibly the best bagels in North America are made in St. John’s (Sorry Montreal, sorry New York). The owner of a place called the Georgetown Bakery went to Montreal to learn how to make bagels and then made them better. Rumor has it that he puts rum in the water at the boiling stage.
Montreal, 2004-2006
Cafe Rico
On site roasting, 100% fair trade. I spent almost every Saturday afternoon here (and actually presented a show I directed there one of the nights of the run). What you want from this place is a cappuccino. The only thing is, some of the staff made it substantially better than others. I used to wait for the right person to be at the counter before ordering.
Cafe Santropol
This is a very cool place and a very cool project. They also have excellent sandwiches (there is one with green olives and honey which is surprisingly delicious). The coffee is very good and you can buy beans.
Les Copains D’abord.
You want to buy bread here, and cheese croissants. Mmmmmm. There isn’t much seating at this bakery but if you snag a spot, the coffee is quite good.
Iqaluit, 2003-2004
This was a sad time for all things involving eating or drinking out (hunting trips excluded). But that’s alright, Iqaluit clutches your heart in other ways. The best coffee was definitely made in my friend Paula’s kitchen. She introduced me to the portable milk frother.
Strasbourg, 2001-2002
I’m ashamed to have little to report...What was I doing that year?! Must have been drinking wine at all times. The coffee’s decent at a place called
L’Epicerie--a really great place in any case.
Sackville NB, 1998-2001
Coffeeshop 13.
That’s what it was called when I lived there. It was an institution, and the coffee wasn’t bad. Now it is called Bridge Street Cafe. My friend John Haney says it’s good. “Actually,” he wrote me, “there are several places. This is a good thing... Rags of Time books, Cackling Goose Market...”
Toronto, 1979-1998 (and a few months here and there subsequently):
Jetfuel
An institution. Very good coffee and worthy in strength of the name ‘jetfuel’. Especially nice is the double shot iced latte--with no frills--in the summer. I recently learned that ‘Alleycat’ races started there, though my as my cousin Geoff has said: “it likes to reminisce about being the cool courier coffee shop. its now more dads and mums with baby carriages (tho the fastest carriages around) who are trying to feel like they did 10 years ago before they got grow'd up and soft.”
Dooneys
This is my dad’s pick. Coffee + Journalism= Cool.
Linux Cafe
The coffee (and breakfast) is very good and really too cheap to be true nowadays. A very cool place all around.
Clafouti.
Mostly, you need to go here for the pastries and particularly the various croissants. Yum. But the coffee is solid too.
Cafe Diplomatico, or ‘the dip’
Another of my dad’s picks. Italian.
Alternative Grounds
This place sells beans too. Nice ones. Fair Trade. And it’s a good place to sit for the afternoon and work.
Balzac at the Distillery
A bit hoity toity, but quality coffee and beautiful building.
The Roastery.
I can’t really comment on the coffee, or anything about this place now, but when I was a teenager, It was special. I went there all the time. Located in the Beaches--it’s very Beaches.
And a few highlights from places visited/stayed briefly:
Edinburgh
Artisan Roast****
Run by Australians who are serious about coffee. Quite possibly the best coffee I’ve every had though I should say that I only ever had it while I was working during the Edinburgh festival and exhausted out of my mind. It’s quite small and there isn’t much seating, so it’s more of a place to get a fix and have a quick chat with the roasting dudes than a place to hang out.
Prague
Globe Bookstore and Cafe**
Amazing. Really dark and creamy espresso.
London
Monmouth**
Sigh. Its just lovely. And so Quality. I don’t drink filtered coffee, but those who do can also pick which bean they want to drink on the spot. The espresso is delish.
Venice
Cafe Florian
This place is extortionate. But it is arguably worth going to as a tourist attraction. The coffee is good--as it should be for 10 euros or whatever it is a pop.
Note:
I should say that I almost always drink espresso based coffee with milk, so these comments are based mostly on lattes which, I acknowledge, not all consider to be real coffee. (In Dutch, lattes are actually called coffee verkeerd which means “wrong” or “false” coffee.)
