The Perfect Cuppa
A&D invited me to venture over to Kowloon side for dinner last night at Aspasia (remember Chez Roland? it's the same Chef Roland Schuller here on the first floor of Luxe Manor Hotel). Had a delightful meal that was definitely worth the cross-harbour trek. It was great meeting two other Ds (an amazing coincidence that all three guys at one table had the same first name), where the chatter jumped from Obama & McCain to the merits of Tasmanian black truffle to funny examples of CSIS's ultra-secretiveness and other interesting defense tidbits to which a Jane's subscriber might be privy. While I found the spook talk fascinating, what really inspired me was the story of a business co-founded by Canadian D's brother -- Transcend Coffee in Edmonton.
Oddly enough, the conversation started off about the evils of caffeine since A has given up coffee for more than a year and I had gone without a drop of coffee for nearly a month from when I started my detox. While I've wisened up to the fact that caffeine and sugar are the main culprit for morning sluggishness, afternoon bouts of sleepiness and general energy dips throughout the day, I love the taste and the experience of drinking a well made espresso or latté or cappucino to truly give it up for good. Off the detox, I now limit my coffee intake to less than one a day and I never start the morning with coffee (now, a cup of hot water and lemon juice is the first thing I ingest).
Listening to Canadian D describe his brother's passion for coffee -- finding the best beans, profiling and creating the perfect customised blend for individual clients -- made me lament the fact that Starbucks has lost all that. Starbucks was always a choice of convenience and familiarity rather than the choice made out of love. As D tells it, Transcend has created their own unique brand of perfectionist coffee culture, to the point of telling customers whenever they feel they are incapable of delivering the best, that they have developed a bit of a Canada-wide cult following despite having only one physical store in Edmonton. D's brother, A, is actually the company's "Chief of Culture". They're constantly concocting new coffee blends and drink creations. Reading their blog, I wondered how their business can grow and still keep its passion for and culture of perfection (i.e. when you grow from roasting 50,000 lbs of beans per year to 500,000 lbs per year, or 1 neighborhood store to national or even multi-national chain, culture often gives way to efficency).
About to hop on a plane to sunny Vancouver, and I'm already pining for a latté from cito espresso.
Oddly enough, the conversation started off about the evils of caffeine since A has given up coffee for more than a year and I had gone without a drop of coffee for nearly a month from when I started my detox. While I've wisened up to the fact that caffeine and sugar are the main culprit for morning sluggishness, afternoon bouts of sleepiness and general energy dips throughout the day, I love the taste and the experience of drinking a well made espresso or latté or cappucino to truly give it up for good. Off the detox, I now limit my coffee intake to less than one a day and I never start the morning with coffee (now, a cup of hot water and lemon juice is the first thing I ingest).
Listening to Canadian D describe his brother's passion for coffee -- finding the best beans, profiling and creating the perfect customised blend for individual clients -- made me lament the fact that Starbucks has lost all that. Starbucks was always a choice of convenience and familiarity rather than the choice made out of love. As D tells it, Transcend has created their own unique brand of perfectionist coffee culture, to the point of telling customers whenever they feel they are incapable of delivering the best, that they have developed a bit of a Canada-wide cult following despite having only one physical store in Edmonton. D's brother, A, is actually the company's "Chief of Culture". They're constantly concocting new coffee blends and drink creations. Reading their blog, I wondered how their business can grow and still keep its passion for and culture of perfection (i.e. when you grow from roasting 50,000 lbs of beans per year to 500,000 lbs per year, or 1 neighborhood store to national or even multi-national chain, culture often gives way to efficency).
About to hop on a plane to sunny Vancouver, and I'm already pining for a latté from cito espresso.
Labels: Canada, entrepreneurship, shops
posted by 10000miles at 18:10
2 Comments:
Hey there,
Just came across your fantastic blog (am a big coffee drinker and have been researching cafés around the world recently for the Mr & Mrs Smith travel blog) and was amazed that someone so passionate about coffee could give it up for any amount of time! And it was with fear in my heart that I recognised the sluggish morning/dozy afternoon symptoms too! Eek, time to cut down methinks.
We've been talking to NY Times coffee blogger Oliver Schwaner-Albright, and I'll definitely mention Transcend Coffee to him in case it's not already on his radar.
If you need some great places for coffee in Vancouver, just let me know. We know all the usual suspects.
chief of culture
transcend coffee
andrew@transcendcoffee.com
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