Koffi

Address: 1441 Haultain Street
Phone: (250) 298-7878
Price: ~$3 for an Africano
Notes: Not my favourite place for coffee, but nice decor!

Initially, I didn't give Koffi much of a chance mostly because of the location but it seems to be thriving despite it all. Koffi exists in the weirdness that is Haultain Corners. For those of you who don't know it, it's a weird group of businesses on Haultain between Shelbourne and Fernwood. Aside from Koffi, there is a video store that closes and opens every other week it seems, not one but two corner stores (one that is so sketchy and only open like three hours a day four days a week it must be a front for drugs or counterfeit cigarettes or something...) and I think a laundromat although that might be gone along with the furniture store and countless other businesses.



Service
March 8, 2011
The service was so fast today that my coffee was ready before my phone had even loaded up Gowalla to check-in. Ok, so I'm still waiting on my iPhone4 and stuck with my painfully slow 3G but still their turn-around time was fast enough to make a Starbucks executive drool.

Food
March 8, 2011
I'm puzzled by the choice of coffee brand. Although ReSIProcate brands itself as being this eco-friendly, giving back, organic organization they're still essentially a big business. We live in a city with a handful of fantastic local roasters all doing things to be eco-friendly and organic and give back. The problem is it seems like you just can't get the same quality of roast when you're looking at such wide distribution and production, and ReSIProcate points out front and centre on its own website that they are the largest Roaster in the Western part of Canada.

I guess what surprises me is that the place doesn't look like that's the direction they would take. The decor is all mid-century modern, Reg Barber has pictures of the baristas with him and his tamps. The attention to detail is just all there except for the most important part...

It's not that it's bad coffee, it's just that it's not knock your socks off, light streaming down from the heavens as the clouds part coffee... and when it's only a few blocks to get some coffee from the Cornerstone Cafe which serves a Discovery blend I just can't help but opt for them if I have the choice.