Coffee...

     When I was an adolescent roaming the mean streets of mid-seventies Port Moody, we used to spend hours hanging out in the Port Arms Hotel coffee shop, taking up booth space, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee. A cup of coffee was a dime and the refills were free. It was around this time coffee made the huge leap to a quarter a cup and I can remember thinking,"Nobody is going to pay that much for a cup of coffee." It seemed outrageous.  

      After graduating high school I moved to Penticton and took a job in a mobile home factory. The Sands, The Elite, and The Do-Nut King restaurants supported local coffee culture, the latter being the most popular. It wasn't unusual some nights to swill ten cups of coffee and suck back just as many smokes ( free refills, I don't know how they made any money). I think the first restaurant chain in town, even before Mcdonalds, was Tim Hortons. People in Penticton loved their coffee.

         When I moved to North Vancouver in 1987, there were three places to get a cup of coffee in my neighbourhood, Macs Milk, 7-11, and Harmony Do-nuts (classics). Today within a few blocks of home there are seven Starbucks, three Tim Hortons (one with an insanely busy drive-thru), three Bean Around The World stores, a Delaneys, a Java Hut, Bread Garden,Blenz, Roastmastirs, Brazza, Raincity Coffee Co., a Waves Internet Cafe, and an assortment of restaurants and gas stations where coffee can be purchased. 

        I don't know if it's a reflection of a rising population or maybe people drink less booze now(doubtful). That just seems like a disproportionate number of coffee shops, but none are going out of business. Six dollar lattes probably help and there obviously aren't any more free refills.

        I like coffee, I no longer like 'going for coffee'. Due to recent spending disciplines the morning coffee and biscuit 'out' is not in the budget. I bought two tins of MJB for five dollars and make it myself, and it tastes just fine.