Coffee culture percolating in St. Albert

Grab it at the drive-thru or linger with your laptop – St. Albert residents gotta get their caffeine fix.

Tim Hortons seems to always have a lineup, whatever time of day. The same goes for Starbucks, especially at the Chapters location, where customers enjoy books, comfy couches and catching up with friends over their favourite roast. And in warm-weather months, the patios at Earls or Original Joe’s have diners and coffee drinkers alike enjoying their cup of joe al fresco. But is there a definable coffee culture in St. Albert – spots where students and self-employed types work on their computers for hours, sipping refill upon refill on comfy couches and chairs, while enjoying light jazz music overhead and a relaxed, welcoming vibe?

Scott Young thinks he’s got the only place in town to fit that bill – the entrepreneur recently took over La Crema Caffe on downtown St. Thomas Street and is focusing on the daytime coffee-drinking crowd under his new banner, Sips & Sweets.

“It is a place where you can sit for hours – big sunny windows, a large, flower-filled patio, and the people-watching during the summer weekend farmers’ market,” said Young, who agrees that things like comfortable seating, free WiFi and satisfying coffee and desserts are part of the recipe needed to make people want to stay awhile. “We get realtors, lawyers, parents with strollers – people having business meetings – they want to support a local, independent shop like ours.”

In Edmonton, the competition is fiercer, where there are 10 Tim Hortons or Starbucks locations for every independent in town. About a dozen players are pushing a slow growth in the city’s coffee culture scene – offering small, unique spaces (mostly downtown, around Whyte Avenue and along other urban corridors) for people to work, visit with friends and enjoy a quality (and sometimes site-roasted) cup of coffee.

Poul Mark opened the city’s first Transcend Coffee shop ten years ago, and while his Argyll CafĂ© (62 Avenue and 98 Street) does good business, he hasn’t fared as well with a Jasper Avenue location (closed in 2013) and the current incarnation on 104 Street in the Mercer Building (which he assumes will gain in business when the new arena opens).

“It’s always slow growth – the city is still largely chain driven, and people’s mindset for coffee is based on convenience,” said Mark. “It’s an issue of access – having enough of an independent presence to create awareness; something to make people walk an extra few blocks for their favourite roast, instead of grabbing what’s closest, especially when the weather is bad.”

St. Albert native Daniel Cournoyer, of CafĂ© Bicyclette (in Edmonton’s French Quarter/Bonnie Doon) at La Cite Francophone, said “there’s a clientele looking for atmosphere – not just the coffee.

“We make a full-on effort with the French bistro presence, and a patio that we animate year-round,” he said. “I see it elsewhere in town – look at Little Brick or Iconoclast Koffiehuis. It’s taking off now.”

There is some ‘stick’ for players looking to create a culture in Edmonton: Leva and Credo have devoted followings, while Da Capo and Transcend are expanding in 2016 with spots on Jasper Avenue and in the Ritchie Market, respectively.

“We’re making our roasting machine more visible again in Ritchie. Having that visible presence in this competitive market should help. Ultimately you have to have the volume,” Mark said.

Mary Bailey, editor of The Tomato food and drink magazine, said that in the last five years, she has seen a wave of independents give urbanites a reason to ‘take a walk for that coffee experience. And there is a trend toward those coffee bars that roast their own. People don’t think of Starbucks as cool anymore,” she said.