Team of judges taste-test the city’s best, awarding 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters on West Fourth with the annual Krups Kup of Excellence
Joanne Sasvari
Sun
Vince Picolo (left), owner of 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters Café and Krups Kup winner, with Raffi Kouyoumdjian of Krups
Things are percolating on Vancouver‘s always stimulating coffee scene.
“You’re very, very fortunate in Vancouver. You’re definitely the most accelerated coffee culture in Canada,” said Raffi Kouyoumdjian of Krups, the coffee equipment company.
Just days after a Vancouverite — Michael Yung of Park Royal’s Caffe Artigiano — won the Canadian National Barista Championship in Toronto, Kouyoumdjian was in town for the third annual Krups Kup of Excellence.
This year’s winner is a place that’s so new, the paint has barely dried on its walls.
“I’m very appreciative of the fact [that we won], especially since I think it was our fifth day of business,” said Vince Piccolo, president of 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters on West Fourth Avenue.”The café is still not even completed.”
The Krups Kup is held each year in cities across Canada “to educate consumers and support independents.”
A team of judges comprising sommeliers, chefs and media (including this writer) travelled around the city, visiting cafes from North Vancouver to Commercial Drive to Kitsilano.
The day began at the Wedgwood Hotel with a tutorial on coffee tasting.
“I parallel coffee to wine. Just as there are different grapes, there are different beans. The analogy of tasting is very similar,” Kouyoumdjian explained.
We would be tasting espresso because it is the purest form of coffee.
“It really is the root of all coffee beverages,” he said.
Each cafe would be judged on its appearance, friendliness and knowledge of its staff, presentation of the coffee and, of course, the coffee itself.
The coffee should be a reddish hazelnut colour, he said, with a froth — called crema — that’s fairly thick and does not dissipate when stirred with a spoon. “If it leaves a big black hole, it’s under-extracted,” he said.
Espresso is “under-extracted” when the hot water passes too rapidly through the coffee, resulting in a pale, watery espresso.
If it’s over-extracted, it’ll have a pungent, burnt taste, with a thin, dark crema sometimes marred with white streaks.
“It should taste bittersweet. It should not taste burned,” Kouyoumdjian added. “It should appeal to all your senses: the smell, sight, even the sound of the cafe.”
We began our tour of Vancouver cafes amid the bustle of the busy Caffe Artigiano on Hornby Street, continued to the candy box charm of Thomas Haas patisserie in North Vancouver, had a taste of old-school coffee culture at Continental Cafe on Commercial Drive and savoured Wicked, home to Canada’s second-place barista, Cady Wu.
49th Parallel was our last stop.
Where other cafes were functional, this one was simply beautiful — all cool modern design with turquoise and chocolate décor elements, soaring ceilings and even an artist-designed espresso machine.
And the coffee was remarkable, as it should be. After all, Piccolo was the founder of Caffe Artigiano, which he sold last October to concentrate on the roasting company he’d started with his brother Mike.
The brothers will only have the one cafe, at least for now, but it’s already proven to be a pretty special place.
“We just wanted to focus on the coffee and make sure you had the best coffee around,” Piccolo said.
It seems he succeeded.
– The Vancouver winner of the Krups Kup of Excellence, 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, is at 2152 West 4th Ave., 604-420-4901, www.49thparralelcoffeeroasters.com. The other national winners are: Dark Horse Espresso Bar in Toronto, Toi & Moi Cafe in Montreal and Bumpy’s Café in Calgary. For more information, visit www.krupscoffee.ca.
