Halifax Coffee Culture

For the love of coffee!!  Coffee is alluring, intoxicating and is the drink of choice for millions. It's one of the largest traded commodities in the world and plays a role in the lives of millions of people every day. There are two main species of coffee: coffea robusta and the Arabica bean. The robusta is low growing, fast producing, inexpensive and not very flavorful (used in canned or instant coffees). Arabica is grown at higher altitudes (1600m) or more. Cool evening temperatures slow the growth of the plant which allows complex sugars to develop. The Arabica bean is a hard, expensive bean and is prized by the specialty coffee industry. The coffee tree (an evergreen shrub) must grow for 5 years before it can produce on a yearly basis. This truly is a labor of love for the farmers.

The coffee scene in Halifax is amazing to say the least.  The population in the HRM is over 370,000 and is the largest city east of Québec and north of Boston.  There are 8 Starbucks, 9 Second Cups, and 30 Tim Hortons.  With these numbers in mind, one would think the market is saturated.  Think again!  Haligonians love a good cup of java and they love to support local coffee shops. And what's unique about these coffee shops is that they all roast their own beans.  After searching for a few placess to enjoy this tawny drink,  here's my list:

Coburg Coffee House (6085 Coburg Rd.) - cappuccino was good but the wait left a bad taste in my mouth.

Cabin Coffee (1544 Hollis St.) - cappuccino was a bit too hot but nice flavor, and plenty of food to choose from.

The Coastal Cafe (2731 Robie St.) - cappuccino had an almost choclately flavor, had a decent amount of foam and the crispy chicken, bacon, avocado, Havarti, and Ranch Wrap was delish!

Alterego's Coffee House (2193 Gottigen St.) - the organic cappuccino was good but too hot, soups and sandwiches are home made .

Just Us! Coffee (5896 Spring Garden Rd. plus 4 other locations) -  this coffee shop is one of my favorites!  The cappuccino is silky smooth and the ambience in this Victorian home is very welcoming.

Steve O Reno's (1536 Brunswick St. plus at the Farmer's Market and Robie St.) - another favorite of mine!  The shop is small but the atmosphere is fun, food is good and the cappuccino's are heavenly! They were voted Best espresso 2009 by The Coast and were written up in Frommer's.

Smiling Goat (1551 South Park St.) - a good cappuccino can certainly be found at this espresso bar.

Wired Monk (5147 Morris plus numerous other locations) - cool atmosphere in this lovely heritage building, cappuccino was very good, and food was scrumptious.

Two If By The Sea Cafe (66 Ochterloney St.) - there was a bit of a buzz surrounding the opening of this cafe which opened today.  My own curiosity brought me to the cafe and I had the most delectable, velvety cappuccino since Sant 'Eustachio in Rome!  I met Zane Kelsall, Master Barista and Tara MacDonald, Baker extraordinaire.  Today was just a taste of what is to come from this cafe.


The Culinary Chase's Note:  ?Cappuccino? is derived from the Italian word ?Capuchin?. The Catholic Capuchin monks wear headdress that bear a likeness to the frothy layer of cappuccino.  I gauge a good coffee shop by how well the barista makes a cappuccino and you shouldn't have to wait a long time for one either!  That's just absurd considering it takes less than 20 seconds for a single espresso shot to come out of the machine.  A cappuccino should never be piping hot and it should have a smooth layer of frothed milk (not a mile high).  The crema (a light-colored top layer from the espresso shot) should be visible around the edge of the cup.