On a quest for good coffee: The Winnipeg Espresso Roundup
I’ve become frustrated at the apparent lack of shops in Winnipeg that are passionate about their coffee (and especially espresso). Vancouver and Seattle have many of these so called “Third Wave” coffee shops, and Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal have a few as well. Heck, even Saskatoon has two or three good coffee places to our zero.
Don’t just take my word for it either — we got skipped in a recent trans-Canada coffee adventure by some professionals.
Now, before you say “Who cares what this coffee snob has to say. I’m headed to Timmy’s/Starbucks/The Second Cup/whatever.”, let me explain why these third wave coffee places are important:
I’m sure many of you have had a bitter or sour shot of espresso before, only to say “Who would ever drink this stuff straight?”. This leads to the Starbucks phenomenon where most people only find espresso palatable as a smidgen of espresso (both in volume and flavor) with loads of steamed milk and flavored syrup. But coffee doesn’t have to be this way.
Just like fine restaurants, third wave coffee shops care about the sources, quality and freshness of their ingredients, have great equipment and well-trained staff, and are passionate about technique to deliver the best possible product to their clientèle. Espressos made at these places are not overly bitter or sour, and taste a lot like the smell of fresh ground coffee. Lattés are a more even balance of espresso and milk, where the sweetness of the milk is kept in check with the slight bitterness of the coffee, and they are typically crowned with latté art by a skilled barista.
Given the sad state of affairs in Winnipeg, I plan to embark on an evaluation of the reasonable coffee joints in our fair city to determine who’s got the best espresso skills and drinks. I’m not expecting to find a true “third wave” shop here, nor am I expecting latté art on my lattés. I simply hope to identify the best places for Winnipeg espresso lovers to indulge in their espresso beverage of choice, and maybe a few pleasant surprises about the espresso shops in our town.
The review plan may change, but I hope to try the two cornerstone espresso drinks at each shop: straight espresso shots and lattés.
Finally, here’s the list of places I hope to check out as this adventure continues (feel free to offer additional suggestions in the comments):
- Starbucks
- The Second Cup
- The Fyxx
- S-Cues
- Espresso Junction
- Nucci’s Gelati
- Eva’s Gelato
- Roca Jack’s
- Mondragon
- Pastry Castle
- The Black Pearl
- Crazy Water (in St. Malo)
- The Edge Cafe (in Selkirk)
- DeLuca’s
- Tim Hortons — yes, they do technically serve espressos & lattes
Hopefully I won’t be too jittery by the time this is all said and done.
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
“Third Wave” is basically an invention of young people who have barely left their parents’ houses, discovered good coffee, and naively believe that they are the first to actually care about good coffee while prior generations of coffee industry types are ignorant dolts.
It’s like the morons who talk about “web 2.0″ and other ridiculous notions like that. Narcissistic egotists who think they are part of something so special that has never happened before should be slapped in the face with a side of bacon and mercilessly stoned with potatoes. Please do not propagate this silliness.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Igor, I’m not sure if we’re talking about the same “third wave” here. It was my understanding that the “third wave” was typically used to refer to coffee shops that were focused on getting the best coffee/espresso/whatever possible by pursuing excellence in every step of the coffee process: growing/sourcing, blending, roasting, and coffee/espresso preparation (and often with some scientific rigor, like David Schomer).
It’s not to say that the way that espresso has been done in Europe (or even certain parts of North America) for years is “the wrong way” — it’s just that, from what I understand, never before has such effort (or obsession, depending on your point of view) been put into obtaining really good espresso.
In any event, how would you prefer to describe these types of coffee establishments?
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Sounds like you need to set up a special blog for this. This also sounds like something a local radio station would be interested in interviewing you for, once you complete it.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
stevius,
#81 (Things White* People Like)
Consuming Only the Authentic SomethingSomething
*- ostensibly renamed to maintain some semblance of accuracy despite horribly missing the point – also known as “20 to 30 something indie hipster upper middle class north americans”
apoorvaTRON
PS have you had turkish coffee? or south indian coffee?? both of which are delicious and different??
March 9th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
[...] At Mr. Tyas’ suggestion, I’ve fired up a new blog devoted to the search for good coffee I blogged about earlier: YWG Coffee. [...]
June 30th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Steve
Previously i was a salesman for a cappuccino company in Calgary.Moved to Winnipeg recently and find the quality of espresso as well as epuipment in the caffe’s here, far lower quality than i am used too.
I was lucky enough to purchase a Lamorzocco GS/3 machine before i left so usually get my coffee fix at home. I love the process of making quality espresso as well as doing latte art. I am Considering opening up a caffe but not sure if there is enough people in Winnipeg that are searching for this as you are. Still doing research on this so it was nice to see this blog and notice that some people love quality coffee.
Ps. Would serve espresso’s out of my kitchen if the city let me..:)
April 29th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Steev:
My wife and I are in shock! Finally someone who feels the same way we do about this dilemma in Winnipeg. I lived in Winnipeg my whole life, but decided back in 2001 to move to Calgary, and just recently moved back to the Peg.
Since being here I have been to almost every coffee house here and have yet to find a great shot of espresso, and no one really seems to dabble in latte art.
Tony, PLEASE open up your coffee house, my wife and I will be guaranteed customers everyday!
I think it’s sad that people don’t understand the difference between average espresso and GOOD espresso. When people go to fine restaurants they expect to drink fine wine, why shouldn’t we also have a fine coffee house so those that understand fine espresso should have that same opportunity.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:24 am
Hello Steev,
I just stumbled on this site and got a good chuckle out of it. I too am passionate about a good cup of E. I actually brought my own little unit on wheels with me and can be found at the St. Norbert Market on Sat and Wed. I happily found “Green Bean” which is locally roasted and organic and fair trade and get a great looking and tasting shot from it. Black Pearl was a great gem to find too and just a good place to go look.
I think we all hope to open our own little Mecca of sophistication some day ( I know I do ) and expose the many exceptional and for lack of a better word, cool, ways of exposing the virtues of the iconic bean to the masses of those who would otherwise never know what they are missing.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Just moved back from Vancouver and realized what a gaping hole Winnipeg has in the espresso/latte industry. When Starbucks is considered the best coffee place in the city, it makes me sad. If anyone else has found any good coffee places, please post!