We humans do have our attachments. Coffee is a zillion dollar business after all. And we are all wondering about the future of Starbucks. Calgary has some good coffee places which totally make Starbucks a waste of time. The best for over 20 years is Cafe Beano.

I was walking downtown and came across another coffee place where a customer in line said the Phil & Sebastian Coffee Company at the farmers market is good plus another place downtown on the Art Mall If fact he said the owners, Phil and Sebastian were over at the other table themselves having a coffee. I suppose that is because their shop in the Farmers Market is only open on weekends as that is only when the market is open. I had an espresso and it wasn’t the best, more a blend for drinks with milk. Same goes for the one from Kava.

It is an interesting story on Phil & Sebastian, written up by the CBC and Calgary Herald food critic, John Gilchrist. 

I did have a Clover vacuum pressed coffee and it was very tasty and not too strong. I didn’t know but then on the airplane afterwards read the article on Starbucks and the Clover machine in Wired Magazine, not to be missed. Read it here. So there are only 250 Clovers in service and Kava and Phil & Sebastian each have one! It figures the engineer initiated coffee shop would have one.

But still, for straight espresso or Americanos, Beano wins every time and the atmosphere there is uniquely Bohemian trendy.

On a sunny day many sit outside. And there is no smoking within 5 meters of the doorway or inside according to local bylaws.

And they decorate the latte properly. (So does Joe & Sebastian) But you wouldn’t see it as Starbucks!

But now that I’m back to Kuwait I’ll just drink green tea. It is only worth spending on a good coffee now and again if it’s good.

On another topic, I noticed some clothing stores not in big shopping malls going out of business. How could anyone do a business plan for a retail clothing shop in the base of an office and dental clinic building, it doesn’t work. Leasing and inventory costs for the number of walk-in customers is a losing proposition. But coffee is almost all profit with little inventory and not too much equipment cost. And if you give your staff free product they’ll work fast

This is in spite of the boom times in Calgary.

Here’s the Herald’s article:

Farmers’ market brews coffee nirvana

U of C engineers Phil & Sebastian make quest for the perfect cup their science

John Gilchrist

Calgary Herald Sunday, April 15, 2007

CREDIT: Tim Fraser, Calgary Herald

Phil Robertson, left, and Sebastian Sztabzyb have put some pricey coffee equipment to use at the Calgary Farmers’ Market in the form of a $15,000 La Marzocco FB80 and a $10,000 Clover.

The call went out two weeks ago. In the subterranean, over-caffeinated world of the Calgary coffee connoisseur, word spread quickly that there was a new player in town. And that this new player had game. That the new player had beans, machines, passion, talent and commitment, the hardcore components to be big in the coffee biz.

Within minutes of the first espresso being pressed at Phil & Sebastian Coffee Co. (667-8004) in the Calgary Farmers’ Market, e-mails extolling the richness and depth of P&S’s brew started rolling in. J.M., a self-described coffee geek, declared it a “coffee nirvana” serving “espresso porn.”

All weekend Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb played host to wide-eyed coffee nerds ogling the La Marzocco FB80 espresso machine and gasping at the shiny Clover 1S VacuumPress. Some coffee cynics, warily imbibing their required caffeine, challenged the newcomers to do it right and quizzed them with tricky questions.

I witnessed instant conversions as eyes grew wider and knees became shaky at the first taste of a perfect brew.

The coffee community not only embraced the new kids, many instantly handed them the crema crown, declaring them the best in all the land. Devotees have committed the date and time of their first P&S coffee to memory and will no doubt share the story with their grandchildren for decades to come.

So who are Phil and Sebastian, the newborn Kings of Calgary Caffeine? Engineers, they say. Met at the University of Calgary, studying for their iron rings and spending long nights with inferior coffee, so legend tells. Software writers until recently, a couple of guys with a simple idea and a nagging addiction to good beans, brewed right. Calgary boys who saddled up and rode west into the dark-roasted netherworld of Vancouver and Seattle where they drilled deep into coffee culture. Where they learned the necessary words and skills at the feet of espresso masters, discerning proper grind textures and brewing times and water temperatures. From where they emerged, clad in recycled coffee bags, as apostles of the true bean. And who now have returned, cappuccino in hand, to pass on their knowledge one creamy cup at a time.

So they say.

It helps to have a La Marzocco FB80 on the counter. Handmade in Florence since 1927, the La Marzocco is a beauty and worth $15,000.

And the Clover, a Seattle sensation for the past couple of years, simply revolutionizes the concept of the brewed cuppa Joe. The machine itself costs more than $10,000 and is slowly spreading across North America. The first Clover arrived in Los Angeles just a few weeks before P&S opened in Calgary.

Similar in concept to a French press, the coffee grounds are dumped into the Clover’s stainless steel chamber and injected with hot water (198 degreesF). The grounds are stirred and brewed for approximately 40 seconds and then vacuum pressed into a cup. Beauty! Nice, nice coffee. About $3.25 a cup and up, but tasty.

The coffees themselves are sourced from roasters in Chicago, Denver, and Vancouver. (Nothing against local roasters, the boys just want to present something new to the city.) Most are single bean roasts (the espresso is a blend) that are direct trade coffees. Direct trade is the next step up from fair trade, wherein the growers are more directly involved in the business transactions and receive higher profits. Again, not cheap, starting at about $9.50 for a half-pound, but extremely high quality.

What else? Phil & Sebastian carry a decaf, some loose teas, hot chocolate, and goodies from Brulee Patisserie. All their water goes through a filtration system and even their coffee grinder is a high-tech Anfim out of Milan. It’s all good. Very, very good.

That’s the story of Phil & Sebastian. Serious coffee guys who have already converted hundreds to the way of La Marzocco and Clover.

Are you next?

A second new food booth has opened recently at the Calgary Farmers’ Market. It’s Shef’s Fiery Kitchen (245-6580), an East African-influenced northern Indian entry run by Shefali Somani. Until recently, Somani had focused on the “home party” side of her business where she conducts Indian cooking classes for groups in private homes. The farmers’ market booth is her first retail operation. She features Indian and Thai dishes for on-site consumption and sells a line of spice powders and pastes that she roasts and packages herself. Somani also has a cookbook for the avid home chef.

John Gilchrist reviews restaurants for CBC Radio One. The sixth Edition of Gilchrist’s My Favourite Restaurants in Calgary & Banff is now available in bookstores across southern Alberta. He can be reached at escurial@telus.net or 235-7532.

© The Calgary Herald 2007