The Commercial Coffee Crawl

It was a dreary Monday afternoon, with the usual unsparing rain, crowded buses, and the mundane faces that longingly await the next day, as the week would indefinitely progress towards the weekend. Having been assigned to read several lengthy technical papers—side effects of which are similar to ingesting heavy sedatives—I decided to embark on a more interesting-than-usual Monday afternoon study. And what better way than to keep oneself entertained and awake than to visit several latte-art-enabled coffee shops on Commercial Drive. So the plan was to visit several trendy places, take in the decor, drink several espresso drinks, engage the baristas in conversation, and then be energized enough to pull through 2 more of the 24 remaining pages, until the next stop. The plan was flawless…

First Stop: Bump ‘n Grind

A very chill café with a great atmosphere; the meet between vegan sandal-and-socks guy and “Che Guevara” t-shirt guy; also, the only café I know of with a DJ and a turntable. Very polite barista that had some serious portafilter acrobatics going on. My drinks of choice were, of course, a single-shot macchiato and a single-shot espresso, both of which were served with a dainty almond biscuit. First, the espresso, which was much hotter than I’ve ever tried, consisted of a very distinct earthy aroma, but was difficult to enjoy due to its heat. Second was the macchiato—a ristretto shot—which had a much smaller proportion of milk than, say, a Crema macchiato or a JJ Bean macchiato. Nevertheless, both were far too hot to really enjoy, but the quality of the shots was well done otherwise.

Two pages down and three paragraphs later…

Second Stop: Continental

I am going to immediately by-pass any thoughts on atmosphere, partly because there was nothing distinctive, and partly because I want to get to the important stuff: they had the most amazing espresso I’ve ever tried. The barista recognized a fellow short-drinker, cracked his knuckles, rolled up his sleeves, and proceeded to perfecting a truly beautiful piece of aqueous art: the super-ristretto espresso. The first sip yielded an elegant swirl of sugary espresso with a slight hint of cinammon, which gave way to a smooth and vivid finish. To make a perfect ending even better, he served me a ristretto macchiato, also with a rich creamy milk sitting on the layered espresso which grew darker as the drink progressed. A truly fantastic pair of drinks which rendered me astounded by my overtaken senses.

Thirty minutes, two iPhone conversations, and zero pages later…

Third Stop: Prado

A very trendy café with plenty of natural light and space; I was quite overtaken be the atmosphere, but in a good way. The building must have been quite old as the doors shook a little when I opened them, but that’s why I seemed to really like it—a place that hasn’t yet been torn down for the next 48-storey “elegant trendy spacious” living facility. But the coffee won’t be arriving at the top of my list, though the espresso was surprisingly decent (one word: swift, and that’s only a good thing if you don’t know what that is). The shot was rich and smooth throughout; even had a favourable sweet after-taste. The barista must have been convinced—three words in—that either I was on speed or I had a severe speech impediment. The sixth espresso shorty was beginning to kick in and had a drastic effect on me; even my smooth and witty conversation sounded like an excited foreigner trying to collect his $5 winnings from Scratch ‘n Win.

Three pages (read and repeated 134 times), one bag of fresh tortellini, and twenty-seven minutes later…

Fourth Stop: JJ Bean

A short skid later brought me to the doors of my old favourite: JJ Bean. Having never visited this location on Commercial Drive, I was, nonetheless, expecting a top-notch macchiato. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. The barista in the control room served up a silky smooth macchiato sided elegantly with my favourite bubbly, Antipodes (despite being placed 3rd in a blind test, by yours truly). Despite having the best macchiato of the day, I was beginning to feel what was the start of a very long 7-espresso-shot recovery. Proud of the day’s accomplishments, I strolled out and found my way back to the train which would end my long detour.

The End of the Line

A truly magnificent expedition finalized as I stepped onto the train, to continue my monotonous commute into the tall city, fresh from a sunset after a heavy rain. A little detour that day left me with two favourites: the forget-me-not espresso à la Continental and the old time champion macchiato of JJ Bean. A refreshingly well spent Monday afternoon that I hope to repeat with other adventures in the near future: here’s to Mondays!

Note: Nick is a computer programmer, who has grown completely obsessed with espresso and everything in between, regularly downing 2 or 3 doubles before school. As he is not a barista nor in any way directly associated with any café, his opinions are non-biased and full of honesty and flecking crema.