9 Great Coffees

Katherine Cancila - Saveur Magazine

Burnaby, Canada; $14.10 for 12 ounces) Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, still produces some of the most complexly flavored beans in the world. The valley of Yerga cheffe is renowned for beans with a distinctive, lemony taste; this particular variety adds notes of cherry and anise to the mix. Though 49th Parallel is only three years old, the Canadian company has already earned praise for its focus on flavor and diversity in the sourcing of African beans.

A pdf is available here.

10 tastes of: Vancouver

Christine Pacheca - Canadian Living.com

A walk along gorgeous Kitsilano beach should be prefaced with the java at 49th Parallel’s coffee lounge. Vince and Mike Piccolo, co-founder of Café Artigiano, are the reigning kings in Vancouver’s coffee-centric culture. The unrivaled creamy, smooth and well-balanced coffee goodness comes from buying, blending, and roasting their own beans.

The sweeter side of coffee addiction

Rebecca Tay - Westender - Dec 6-12, 2007

...Kitsilano's 49th Parallel (2152 West 4th, 604-420-4901, 49thParallelRoasters.com) - owned by Vince and Mike Piccolo, who co-founded Caffè Artigiano - offers one of the city's best selections of specialty custom roasted beans, and recently won the prestigious nationwide Krups Kup of Excellence competition. Fitting, then, that their mocha ($3.65) is less about sugar than it is about fine coffee, so while it doesn't provide a cringe-worthy kick of sweetness, even the most inexperienced coffee drinker will sense the high quality of the java here...

Love it a latte

Vitamin V.ca - Daily Dose

Fuel up for your next West Fourth shopping spree (Gravity Pope Tailored Goods, anyone?) with a girlfriend rendez-vous at the new 49th Parallel coffee shop where modern décor (big, backlit walls) meets deco-chic (chandeliers and wallpaper).

Robins’ egg blue coffee cups pop against the espresso-coloured décor and you can be sure the coffee’s as good as the design – the owners founded the famous Caffe Artigiano chainlet.

And if you’re two for tea? We suggest the pretty flower teas served in clear glass teapots that literally bloom before your eyes.

'Showcase Lounge' for coffee in Kits

Mia Stainsby

When coffee worship migrated north from Seattle, javaphiles launched into this dark brew with the intensity of ardent oenophiles. Our version of Starbucks is Vince Piccolo, former owner of Caffe Artigiano and now, coffee wholesaler.

His company, 49th Parallel, buys, blends, roasts, packages and then sells coffee to discerning retailers around North America. His 49th Parallel coffee bar in Kitsilano is the “showcase lounge” for the dark, rich brew.

This room is like a cup of coffee itself, in signature dark browns and “Tiffany blue” – colours that also conjure a Birks’ blue box, wrapped in its brown ribbon. See? Colour psychology at work!

But it’s not all about the packaging. To go with the excellent coffees, he brings in coffee friendly edibles from Thomas Haas, the prince of pastries and chocolates – brioche, pain au chocolat, croissants, almond croissant and quark cheese Danish zapped with lemon zest and raisins. Other edibles include chocolate sour cherry torte, biscotti, carrot cake and brownies.

As for coffee, there are 13 roasts, including single-origin beans from Australia called Australian Mountain Top. It’s served in their espresso-based drinks on Fridays. For drip coffee, they use a Clover coffee system which brews up fresh coffee by the cup in one minute. And regulars, take note.

Every so often, Piccolo or one of his staff will be conducting cuppings, which in coffee-speak means tastings.

“Our goal is to be the world’s best coffee roaster. We only see the best coffees and are meticulous about in buying green, the way it’s shipped, sample-roasted, the way it’s cupped, roasted, packaged and produced,” says Piccolo.

In the end, coffee isn’t about words. Go and check it out yourself. I think you’ll like it. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m on Sunday.

Big Buzz, low caffeine

Vancouver Sun - October 31, 2007

Big buzz, low caffeine: Vince Piccolo, the city’s Pied Piper of coffee, has introduced a new low-caffeine coffee not only to Vancouver, but to Canada. You’ll find it at his coffee bar, 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters Café (2152 West Fourth Ave.). Daterra Opus Exotic Blend from Brazil is said to be the world’s one and only naturally grown low-caffeine coffee with only one-per-cent caffeine, a result of a dozen years of natural breeding to grow low-caffeine beans.

“Some people who don’t want too much caffeine don’t like the taste of decaffeinated coffee,” says publicist Tiffany Soper. “This has the taste of a regular coffee but is lower in caffeine. It’s ideal for someone like me who loves coffee but can’t drink coffee after 4 p.m. without being up all night.” At 49th Parallel, Daterra coffee is made on a $10,000 Clover machine (makes each order fresh) and costs $3.75 a cup.

Is one cup of coffee worth $15?

Kate Lunau

A Panamanian brew called Esmeralda has brought the coffee-drinking world to its knees.

By Kate Lunau

Toronto residents have long been accustomed to emptying their wallets for a gourmet meal or fine glass of wine. But is Canada's most expensive city ready for the $15 cup of coffee? Matthew Lee thinks so. Lee, 29, recently opened Manic Coffee, a café on the bustling outskirts of Toronto's Little Italy. To celebrate, on Oct. 19 he'll begin offering up a limited amount of Esmeralda Special - a heady Panamanian brew that brought the coffee-drinking world to its knees.

Can one cup of coffee really be worth $15? "All I can say is yes," Lee says earnestly. "It is the most remarkable coffee I've ever had in my life." Fragrant, floral and tea-like, with notes of jasmine and bergamot - these are some of the qualities connoisseurs ascribe to Esmeralda. Others seem to get tongue-tied at the very thought of it. "It's amazing. That's all I can say," gushes Aaron Webb, a roaster at Discovery Coffee in Victoria, B.C. And Lee won't be offering standard Esmeralda in his café. He's bringing in the legendary Esmeralda auction lot (a careful selection of the farm's very best beans) in other words, the crème de la crème of coffee. Lee and Webb aren't alone in the enthusiasm; the hype has been deafening. Esmeralda first caught the attention of coffee lovers in 2004 - the year a coffee tree known as the geisha was discovered on Hacienda la Esmeralda in lush western Panama. As is produces less that a typical coffee plant, the geisha is rarely cultivated on Central American farms. But after owners sampled beans from the geisha tree-originally from Ethiopia, it flourishes in Panama's high altitudes-they knew they had a winner. "It's a flavour that's never been found in the Americas before," says marketing director Rachel Peterson.

That year, the auction lot sold for a record US$21 a pound, at a time when a pound of commercial-grade coffee was going for about 73 cents. It quickly became "a marketing thing," says Mark Prince, senior editor of coffee appreciation site Coffeegeek.com. One buyer (Kansas City's The Roasterie) even hired an armoured truck to deliver it, presumably for protection against over-caffeinated fanatics.

The award-winning beans went on to smash record auction prices for two of the next three years. But this year's crop-recognized as the best yet-blew the others away. At online auction in May, bidding got so frantic the site temporarily crashed. After eight gruelling hours, the lot sold for a stunning US$130 a pound-over 100 times the price of commercial grade coffee (and roughly 10 times higher than non-auction Esmeralda Special geisha beans). 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters was one of seven winning bidders, and the only Canadian company, to claim a share of the 500-lb lot; it roasts the coffee exclusively for Caffè Artigiano in Vancouver.

Since then, Esmeralda hype has reached fever pitch. A Caffè Artigiano press release dubbed it "the World's Best Coffee, EVER!" Journalists who attended a tasting event touting the $15 cup of coffee were gifted a half pound bag, which sells in store for $135. Owner Willie Mounzer has focused on making Esmeralda "an experience" for customers who order it: a manager personally delivers it on a silver platter. So who's buying? "Anybody with a distinct palate; [people] in the industry; showoffs," says manager Joaquin Quian.

Within the coffee community, Esmeralda backlash has begun. "It is out of control, in my opinion," Prince says. He suspects some retailers have been "less than crystal" about whether their coffee is auction-lot or not especially confusing since both bear the same name, Esmeralda Special. Prince himself bought three half-pound bags he believed to be auction-lot Esmeralda, only to find he'd been duped. (Non-auction-lot Esmeralda sells in cafés for about $5 a cup. Timothy's will be offering half-pound bags of non-auction beans for $17.99 as of mid-November.)

Prince's advice to consumers seeking auction-lot beans is to make sure retailers get specific about what they're selling before forking over cash. But, he admits, the average taste buds probably couldn't tell the difference anyway: "They're both fantastic."

Back at Manic, the auction-lot Esmeralda Special is definitely for real. Lee's bringing in three pouds from Chicago-based Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters. It'll probably only be enough for about 50 cups, he acknowledges, and even with the $15 price tag he doesn't expect to make much profit. But it's worth it, he insists. Just don't ask for a paper cup-Lee draws the line at serving Esmeralda to go.

Neighbourhood cafés keep the city buzzing

Andrew Morrison - The Westender

In the cities, towns, and villages of Great Britain and its far-flung former colonies, communities have long bonded in quiet neighbourhoods pubs. Not so here in Vancouver. Thanks to the teetotalers and nincompoops who penned the Draconian liquor laws that established our reputation as a no-fun city, residential public houses remain few and far between. The licensing regulations may have been eased and simplified in 2002 (from seven different liquor licenses to two, and there’s still a long way to go), but it will likely be many years before pub culture finds a road back to relevance in a food-and-drink market that is currently — and almost comically — over-saturated.

Thank goodness for our cafés, then. They are our new social hubs, and, like so many disparate glues, they do their part in keeping our communities together.

Fortunately, they’re pretty good, too. Some of our baristas are internationally famous for their skills, and good interior design hasn’t been in short supply. Your favourite could be down on the corner or it might be a destination spot across town, but the staff will know your favourite drink as well as your name, and you’ll feel very much at home. With wireless internet access, you might even bring your laptop to get a little work done, and feel secure enough to leave it unplugged on the table when you go pee. It could well be the place where you spend the bulk of your time outside of home and work.

In my little village of Dundarave, in West Vancouver, there’s a coffeehouse where the locals get powered up throughout the day, while community gossip is exchanged between residents and shopkeepers. Even the mayor is a regular. Give it a dartboard and a liquor license and it’s straight out of Coronation Street. When Starbucks opened up right beside it a couple of years ago, people were so incensed by the interloper’s effrontery that they’ve stayed away. Of all the Starbucks locations in the Lower Mainland, I wouldn’t be surprised if it pulled in the least.

There are many others across the city that engender a similarly proprietary sense of community purpose and belonging. SOMA, until recently a longtime fixture of the Main-Broadway intersection, springs to mind. At the original location of this cool-kid café, neo-Beatnik locals lounged on the couches and relished its coziness. For lack of a better word, it was a “scene.” When it was squeezed out by the landlord, owners Jonathan Kerridge and Oswaldo Abolio moved it down a block and across the street (151 E. 8th, 604 873-1750, SomaVancouver.com), taking their indignant customers with them. The result is a cool little coffeehouse/wine-bar hybrid. Reminiscent of Gastown’s Salt Tasting Room, it has similar barstools and a small and sharable menu from chef Jeremie Adams (formerly of Lolita’s and Bins 941 & 942) written on a large blackboard. SOMA has clearly moved on from its café beginnings — and it’s doing gangbusters. (The Caffè Barney that replaced the original SOMA, however, isn’t. Of course, it’s too early to speculate on its fate, but loyalty can be a real bitch.)

If we take quality coffee as a given, The Elysian Room (1778 West 5th, 604 734-1778, ElysianRoom.com) and Wicked (1399 West 7th, 604-420-4901, WickedCafe.ca) are exemplary. Both boast equally high bean standards, baristas that can compete with the best in the nation, and that elusive neighbourhood feel that can turn a walk-in customer into a regular by the first sip. The former is warm, temple-like, and comparatively quiet (the painted concrete floor has faded beautifully), while the latter exudes an irresistible come-as-you-are vibe that smacks of just the right amount of caffeine.

Caffè Artigiano, renowned for the artistry with which its baristas exhibit their craft, has taken high quality to the mainstream. Five locations have arrived so far, three of which are in the heart of downtown (1101 West Pender, 763 Hornby, and 740 West Hastings). Worries that a dip in quality would ensue after owners Vince and Sam Piccolo sold the company last year to Earls Restaurant executive Willie Mounzer have come to naught. Each cup I’ve had since has been excellent, and the attention to detail remains laudably exceptional. (Visit CaffeArtigiano.com to find out all the locations).

The Piccolos didn’t buy a retirement island with their winnings, though. Instead, last month they expanded their Burnaby-based roasting company, 49th Parallel, to include a retail shop and café in the heart of Kitsilano (2152 West 4th, 604 420-4901, 49thParallelCoffeeRoasters.com). Aesthetically, it’s a knockout, and it’s far enough away from the corporate nabobs that crowd the Artigiano locations to give it a fresh, unhurried, and thoroughly neighbourly feel. Long and narrow (and bottlenecking not a little awkwardly at the cash register), it’s dressed in a combination of light blue, brown and white that compliments the soaring ceilings and low-slung seats. It didn’t hurt that they were cranking Neil Young’s Harvest on my last visit a couple of days ago. Looks and sounds aside, it’s hard to imagine a café more dedicated to coffee than 49th. Master roaster Mike Piccolo is internationally recognized for his palate, and was on last year’s jury for the Brazilian Cup of Excellence, which selected that country’s best beans. One of their baristas, Colter Jones, is a past Canadian Barista Champion, and if that weren’t enough, 49th was recently named Best Café in Vancouver in the prestigious Krups Cup of Excellence, a nationwide café competition that calibrates scores based on quality of coffee, design, and the friendliness and knowledge of the baristas. Considering it’s only been open for a month, that’s a pretty good start.

Vancouver's new cafe wins best coffee in region

Joanne Sasvari

Team of judges taste-test the city's best, awarding 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters on West Fourth with the annual Krups Kup of Excellence.

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 it’s 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 49^th 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) traveled 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 café would be judged on its appearance, friendliness and knowledge of its staff, presentation of the coffee and, of course, the coffee itself.

The 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 café.”

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 Café on Commercial Drive and savoured Wicked, home to Canada’s second-place barista, Cady Wu.

49^th 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 café, 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.

Urban Diner - The Fresh Sheet

Andrew Morrison - The Westender

Brand new neighbourhood café alert. The good-lookin 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters (2152 W 4th) is a swankydank temple to the dark stuff from folks who brought us Caffè Artigiano. Find out more at 49thParallelRoasters.com

Flare.com West Coast Alert

Susie Wall

Had it with java shops in Kitsilano that are either A) A little heavy on the shabby and light on the chic or B) Far too cookie cutter to justify anything more than a Lindsay Lohan grab-and-go? Meet 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters Café. Legendary bean roasters in these parts (they supply the famed Caffè Artigiano), the company first storefront has landed along 4th Avenue. A dynamite location for hip mamas (it's next door to Crocodile Baby and is, brace yourselves, stroller-friendly) and general shopping pros alike (Gravity Pope, Capers, Wear Else! And Terra Breads all reside in thls hood), cuppa-Joe pro's dig the high ceilings, the espresso-turquoise colour story and of course, the gourmet jet fuel, 2152 West 4th Ave., or visit 49thparallelcoffeeroasters.com

Black Gold

Jessica Werb - BC Business Online

It's described as, "intensely fragranat and aromatic... explosively floral on the palate," boasting "exotic jasmine and orange-blossom notes." It was bought at auction for a record-breaking US$130 a pound. Vince Piccolo, founder and former owner of Caffe Artigiano and President of 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, says it's the the best coffee you'll ever taste. Yes folks, it's here: the $15 cuppa joe.

When Piccolo opens his first cafe outlet this month under the 49th Parallel banner, on 4th Avenue in Kitsilano, Hacienda La Esmeralda will be on the menu. But you'll have to act fast; Piccolo has just 30 pounds of the beans on reserve. In June, after securing an alliance of seven companies to enter the $65,000 winning bid for 10 50-pound bags of the Panama-grown beans, Piccolo sold the bulk of his 100-pound share to Caffe Artigiano, which began offering the high-priced brew to discerning customers last month.

"We were the first company to pay US$49.75 a pound for a coffee that came number one in Brazil, and people said we are crazy to pay all this money," Piccolo recalls with a chuckle. That was back in 2006 when a $5 cup of coffee seemed ridiculous. And yet the beans sold out months in advance. Todays' consumers seem happy to fork out a little extra to savour a taste of the good life, even if it's for something as run-of-the-mill as a hamburger ($35 at Diva at the Met) or a caffeine hit.

"It's all part of luxury branding, which has become available, not only to the aristocratic classes and the walthy, but als affordable for the middle classes," observes Steven Kates, associate professor of business administration at SFU.

There's also some sly consumer marketing at play. "There is a psychological tendency of people to buy toward the middle," notes Kates. If you've got a $15 americano on the menu, suddenly a $5 cappuccino doesn't look so bad.

"But a $15 cup of coffee?" Kates can't help blurting out. "That sort of blows my mind."

Edible BC newsletter

Edible BC

Keep your eyes on this space! Each week we will showcase one of our many unique artisan products. For our inaugural feature, we chose 49th Parallel Coffee to honour the West Coast's love affair with the coffee bean. 49th Parallel roasts beans for the infamous coffee house, Caffe Artigiano. At EBC, we have four delicious varieties. lndian Peaberry results in a bold cup of coffee that has a steady sweetness matched with hints of smokiness. Finca La Perla won the Presidential Award at the 2006 Cup of Excellence Competition with it's citric, sweet, and fine characteristics. For the dark roast coffee lovers, 49th Parallel roasts an Organic ltalian Roast coffee which is smoky, powerful, and spicy. lt makes a delicious espresso or dark roast filter coffee. Finally, we have the Wesf Coast Blend Espresso which delivers a rich and complex, yet sweet espresso. If you're a fan of Caffe Artigiano coffee, come give these a try.

Artful Brew

Granville Magazine - Winter 2007

It's no secret that Vancouverites have been seduced by the velvety black liquid that fills our coffee cups each morning. Or that some aficionados went loco over Panamanian Hacienda la Esmeralda Especial when it was unveiled at Caffe Artigiano last fall. one connoisseur compared its complexity of flavours to a glass of cognac, and at a staggering $15 a cup, it's an apt analogy But you don't need to break the bank for an award-inning cup of brew that's fairly traded and organice, with tasting notes that rival high-quality brandy. one such coffee is Vancouver's 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters' award-winning Brazil Fazenda Santa Terezinha. The coffee roaster's tasting notes describe the brew as having citrus and berry aromas and a long-lasting finish of apricots, rosehips and bergamot. And at $24.95 a pound it's a veritable steal.

"By paying more that fair-trade prices for coffee beans we purchase, this helps to sustain farming operations and allows the coffee farmers to attain a greater quality of life," says 49th Parallel president Vince Piccolo, noting that organic farming minimizes the impact on the environment.

In a city where coffee line-ups can be seen snaking around the block, and where a humble cup of Joe has been replaced with latte art and barista championships, that's a good thing.

Smooth Move

Georgia Straight - Oct 11-18/2007

New beanery on the block, 49th Parallel Coffee Rosters, coffee supplier to Artigiano and other cafés, has set up shop in sleek Italianate surroundings at 2152 West 4th Avenue. In addition to excellent espresso-based coffee drinks, Clover coffee, teas and fresh-baked dolce, find whole beans, grinders, and cupping sessions for restauranteurs and serious coffee geeks.

Third Edition of the Krups Kup of Excellence

Krups has once again crossed the country in search of the best espresso. Working with an expert panel of connoisseurs, restaurateurs and culinary media, independent cafes in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and for the first time, Calgary, were visited and evaluated to determine each city’s top spot for espresso.

This program has been developed to recognize the commitment of independent cafes to brewing superior-tasting espresso in a unique environment that celebrates Canadians’ passion for skillfully prepared coffee.

Finalist cafes in each city are judged by a panel consisting of 7 judges that assess the espresso and the establishments according to 4 criteria: atmosphere, staff expertise and customer service, beverage presentation, and finally, the espresso itself.

49th Parallel Coffee Roasters won the Krups award this year - just after opening day.

Scene Scout

Imbibe - November/December 2007

Modus Operandi: The venerable Vancouver roaster has christened a café of it's own in Kitsilano. Expect greatness.

Coordinates: 2152 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver; 604-420-4901;
49thparallelroasters.com

Pastries without Parallel - a Quick Bite

Mark Freeman - Eat Vancouver writer

Since I arrived in Vancouver, I’ve been trying to find a decent coffee shop in my area where I could write but have been consistently disappointed with the overpriced, generic cafe food in the coffee shops along 4th. But after discovering 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, I haven’t had to go anywhere else again. They have great coffee, a regular for 1.69, and even better espresso, a double for 2.25, but it’s the pastries that keep pulling me back every week.

Most of the pastries are supplied by Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates & Patisserie in North Vancouver and then baked on site. They cost from around 2.00 to 3.50 and buying only one seems like a waste so I usually grab another for the walk home, in addition to the two I have with my double espresso. I was originally advised to visit 49th to have the pan au chocolat, which a friend assured me was better than any he’d ever had in Paris, and he wasn’t lying. Beyond that there’s the quark cheese danish, a fluffy pastry wrapped around creamy cheese and moist raisins. I don’t even like raisins and I get it every time I go. The brioche has a light outer layer with a denser, sweet bready inside, almost like a doughnut but without the grease. And there’s more! Any one of them is worth breaking the ridiculous New Year’s resolutions you lied to yourself about keeping.

Life on the 49th Parallel · 15.11.07

by colin newell - CoffeeCrew Blog

Life for Mike Piccolo, of 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters in Vancouver must seem idyllic. Having been a chef for over 20 years in the Vancouver food community, his departure from that World into the World of specialty coffee must have come with some surprises.

Food World, it would appear, is all about the hours. A short day in Chef-land is about 10 to 14 hours… a day… ometimes everyday… for weeks. Heck, I have a hard enough time focusing for 7 hours on anything. I did write for 7 hours once… but not in a row.

Mike Piccolo, on the other hand, is a study of youth and patience. In a business that seems to gain more energy everyday – it’s a wonder that he can find solace in this choice of career. But he does.

Specialty coffee is the rising star in North America right now – as it has been for the last 10 years or more. The kind of energy that fuels the likes of 49th Parallel Coffee roasters, Ethical Bean in Vancouver, Hines Coffee (and others) knows no bounds. And yet family run companies like Murchie’s fail to harness this phenomenon – and ultimately fail.

So what does Mike Piccolo and his family have that the others do not? Simple; Generosity, family values and a scalpel sharp business acumen to boot.

Mike is part of a family circle that includes Vincent Piccolo, the elder brother and Sammy Piccolo, the younger. They are the creators of Cafe Artigiano – a family success story. And although these Boys are all different and talented in their own special way, their assorted gifts compliment each other in such a way as to give them the Midas touch.

Mike Piccolo’s day job is attending to the coffee roasting facility. At the heart of this operation is a coffee roaster that can roast about 160 pounds of coffee at a time – in a rough measure, that is a burlap bag of green coffee every 25 minutes or so. The facility is a blend of the old and the new. A conveyor system loads the roasters hopper in about 6 minutes or so. The load of coffee can be manually or automatically dropped into the roaster by a proprietary computer system. The roasted coffee is quickly cooled and collected through a column of air through a device called a de-stoner. Believe it or not, despite the rigorous inspections that green coffee goes through, there still is the odd rock, twig or bottle cap that gets in the mix – and you do not want to run a bottle cap through your burr grinder, trust me!

The roaster is gas fired – which in itself is a fairly clean process. But roast coffee is a very aromatic thing and even small amounts of the smoke can carry in the wind a long way. As a result, 49th Parallel run an afterburner that incinerates a lot of the particulates in the exhaust gas that would, well, make the neighborhood smell like coffee – all of the time. It is also more eco-friendly to do this – and it contributes greatly to the overall cost of the product.

But that is what you do when you want to be the best.

So, Mike Piccolo takes all this in his stride. One gets the impression walking around the facility that this is a totally family oriented operation. Everyone seems happy and busy.

For Mike Piccolo, his World begins after 7 in the morning and he may start to wind down later in the afternoon. A far cry from the World of Chef-land by a long shot. He has a young family to think about and life is more about Dolce Vita that making a killing overnight.

I think his brothers might agree. I sampled several coffee at the 49th Parallel Cafe on West 4th in Vancouver while Vince Piccolo looked on. If it is possible for Vince to be interested in something other than his satisfied customers, it could well be his staff and the environment in which he works.

The staff at 49th Parallel represent the ideal in coffee World. Beyond the basics of good pay and some benefits (oh yeah, and a great work environment) they are the messengers of the specialty coffee medium. They are fully engaged, informed and 100% dedicated to customer satisfaction and customer education.

As I sipped their single origin espresso, an Australian called Mountain-Top, I could not help but be somewhat skeptical and sardonic. I reminded Vince Piccolo that Australia is not the ideal growing environment for coffee. Needless to say he was quick to shut me down – and rightfully so. Open up your mind Colin, he was saying symbolically… Open up your mind.

In over 30 years of playing with and writing about specialty coffee, I think what I do know could fill an 8 ounce Euro Cappuccino cup at the 49th Parallel Cafe… and what I do not know could fill a 70kg Bag roaster.

But this is what the Piccolo family are all about – Customer Satisfaction and Education.

World's Best Coffee Captures Record Price in Online Auction

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--World famous coffee estate, Hacienda La Esmeralda, set another record when its Esmeralda Especial coffee sold for a stunning $130 a pound during an online auction on May 29. The Panama coffee producer was recognized for producing the world's best coffee during the Specialty Coffee Association of America's (SCAA) 2007 Roasters Guild Cupping Pavilion Competition on May 7, an event Hacienda La Esmeralda also captured in 2005 and 2006. This year marks the third time in four years that the Panama coffee producer sold coffee for a world record-setting price.

After nearly eight hours of negotiating by six different bidders, 10 bags of Esmeralda Especial - each weighing 50 pounds - sold for $65,000. Commercial-grade coffee is currently selling in the commodity market for just above a dollar per pound. The winning bid was entered by an alliance consisting of 49th Parallel Roasters, Coffee Klatch Roasting, Groundwork Coffee Company, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, The Roasterie, Roastermasters.com (Willoughby's Coffee & Tea) and Zoka Coffee Roaster and Tea Co.

"Today's sale of Esmeralda Especial affirms the decision made by 30 experienced roasters during our recent SCAA Cupping Pavilion event, which Hacienda La Esmeralda won this year," said SCAA President, Dawn Jantsch. "The sale also supports the position specialty coffee holds as a premier beverage in the culinary industry."

Price Peterson, owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda, said, "The response of buyers participating in today's auction underscores the current demand for premier specialty coffee. The exceptional demand for Esmeralda Especial as well as the other coffees entered in this auction also serves to raise the awareness of the premier quality of specialty coffee that is grown by the farmers of Panama."

In addition to Esmeralda Especial, 24 other lots of specialty coffee totaling nearly 19-thousand pounds - ranging in price from $1.95 to $11.80 a pound - were sold in the online auction, which was hosted by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama. All of the coffee sold in the online auction received high marks during the "Best of Panama" cupping competition held in April. To view the results of the auction, visit: http://auction.stoneworks.com/includes/pa2007/final_results.html.

THE BELLINGHAM HERALD story

Caleb Heeringa

SOCIETY
Baristas congregate for a ‘cupping’
Coffee lovers share methods, brews and beans

The face of Lindsay Parker, a Vancouver, B.C., barista with 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters, is reflected in an espresso machine as she prepares espresso shots for coffee enthusiasts attending the first Bellingham Barista Jam at Depot Market Square on Sunday. The event, which organizers plan on hosting annually, provided coffee education to people interested in coffee preparation or supplies. Parker came to offer samples of her company’s coffee beans and demonstrate one of their coffee grinders.