Eleven Kinds of Coffee

Every morning I walk the eight-block stretch down 4th Avenue through the heart of Kitsilano to my little office on Burrard Street. And every morning when I strut down fourth like the Supermodel that I’m not, I dodge two full on buttery bakeries, three bank machines where I store imaginary money and ELEVEN (actually, eleven!) possible places to stop for coffee along the way.

Eleven! Is that even reasonable?

Surely not. And that’s ten more guaranteed distractions that I come across in my neighbourhood than the number of good looking guys that I run into in a week.

But I also happen to live in one of the most hippie drawing, yogi loving, dog walking, quinoa eating, only beach side communities in our country and so for all the ways that I can make fun of Kits I love it even more.

And since I do enjoy a great cup of coffee –
I’m really not one to complain.

But just saying.
As a consumer, it’s kind of crazy.

Anyways, here are my top 3 favourite Coffee Shops within an 8 block stretch of my toothbrush:

The Wired Monk: might actually be 8 paces away.

Once I make it down the three flights of stairs from my flat and into the street, it’s precisely one apartment and one quiet intersection away. I jay walk every time and bam! I’m in the heartbeat of java land.

Let it be known that the Wired monk delivers great coffee.
Their baristas are (almost) always kind to my hangover and kind to my lack of ability to carry actual money. They (almost) never refute my ridiculous asks that my change be all in bus money, even when it’s from a twenty. And they (always) have fully packed nerdy nights and poetry slams, where I’m certain the next Steven Harper hangs out.

But The Wired Monk is also the place where I go to borrow wifi when Shaw sucks, it’s where I come up with big ideas and where I make perfect change for laundry. It’s my neighbourhood haunt, my friend on a rainy day and is a really great safe space to feel like you’ve achieved something by leaving your flat.  www.wiredmonk.com

go: 2610 W 4th Ave (oh god, know you know where I live.)

49th Parallel: ahh, parallel. I tried to hate you at first.

I hated your lines and the foolish people who would wait in your lines for a take-a-way coffee when there are literally ten other options around you. But Parallel does a great job of delivering a perfectly frothed, optimum temperature classic latte almost every time, and I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that their super sane and entirely reasonable EVEN prices for cups of coffee make my early morning transactions easy. 4 dollars for a medium latte to go please. www.49thparallelroasters.com

go: 21898 W 4th Ave

Culprit: at first I hated Culprit too.

It braggs that everything is grain-fed or hand-raised or carbon-netural and when I tentatively approach the counter I immediately think that they’re mistaking me for a wealthy Kits inhabitant. And then I see that their seasonal special is a Salted Caramel Latte with (something, eco conscious vegan) and probably has less sugar than the scone that I’m going to eat for breakfast, so I decide to try it out.

Big mistake.

Now Culprit Coffee is one of my favourites. www.culpritcofeee.com

go: 2028 Vine Street

For the record, here are the eleven places on west fourth avenue between Trafalgar and Burrard where you can purchase a morning coffee:

~  The Wired Monk ~  Terra Breads ~ McDonalds ~ Culprit ~  Whole Foods Coffee Bar ~ Le Comptoir
~ Starbucks ~ Parallel 49 ~ Jitter’s Coffee ~ Starbucks (again) ~ Elysian Coffee

and to make  it an even dozen …. there’s another Starbucks option in the Safeway at Vine x