This website was dreamed up as a place to share my photos, but also as a platform to host my coffee ratings as a geospatial webapp. While curating my content for PUB 101, I have been collecting reviews of local cafes and roasters to fill it out, and have gotten a better idea of the metric I want to use.

These reviews aren't what you typically find on foodie blogs or influencer profiles. I am not aiming to tell a story and go into detail about the experience and why you should go there, no seasonal promotions. My reviews aim first to quantify my experience and desire to go back, then provide a description of what you can expect at the cafe. The focus on quantification is because I want to build enough data to eventually curate an interactive visualization of coffee quality, and remove fluctuations in my ratings due to mood, time of day, barista, and other factors. I think exploring coffee through data journalism would be interesting.

I am not a connoisseur or self-proclaimed coffee snob. I am looking for a smooth textured latte which neither weak nor astringent, a good latte should be smooth, creamy, and tasty all the way through. I am working on a four-stage system where I rate--in this order--the texture and taste of the steamed milk, the scent, the flavour of the body of the drink from start to end, and the ambiance of the experience. The last quality if the hardest to define as it encompasses a subjective experience of the staff, menu, and atmosphere; as such I weight it the least. The other quantities are averaged equally to give a total rating out of 10 which can then be used to figure out where you would like to visit.

Deciding on a standard rating reference was difficult at first because my knowledge of the limits of a great and awful latte fluctuated over time. Eventually I decided a relative scale with a good, consistent reference point would be best; and the only place with the quality and consistency to give meaning to my system is JJ Bean. A local west-coast coffee roaster established in 1996, JJ Bean has locations all around Greater Vancouver and puts pride in their excellent training. They have long been my favourite cafe for their quality roasts as well as great selection of in-house bakes. This sentiment is shared by many individuals in the area, and I have had this same opinion shared to me by strangers without prompting. So, in my system a 0/10 represents a, essentially toxic, beverage with no resemblance of a latte and rancid taste, while a 10/10 represents the quality and consistency of a JJ Bean latte.

Of course, this means that there is no upper limit! A new roaster or expert barista can definitely break above 10, but not without a fight. In my experience so fat, only a few locations--such as Modus and Saunter--have placed in the same ranks as JJ Bean. Any place with a 10/10 ratings I trust to provide a wonderful taste and texture than holds while you enjoy the full beverage, as well as a cozy atmosphere.