I think they were testing the security system or something. Either way, when the high pitched shriek announced itself, a quick announcement from owner Rob that everything’s fine was all it took to keep it business as usual for everyone in the midst of purchasing or enjoying their coffee at Hava Java just moments ago.

Are you a caffiend like me?

Between the traffic-jamming lineups at the Tim Hortons drive-thrus and the myriad locally owned cafés concentrated in the downtown core, there’s no denying St. John’s has a bit of a crush on the coffee bean.

We’re like a little Italy, sure, knocking back coffees, cappuccinos, and mocha frappuccinos with whipped cream on top on a day-and-nightly basis. But apart from our poor, shot nerves, is there anything to be concerned about here?

Not surprisingly, it seems that the more syllables one of these bevvies has, the more calories it contains (and, sadly, the less caffeine).

David McCandless, of the Information is Beautiful blog, has put together a handy chart plotting just about every caffeinated drink and snack you could conceive between their calorie and caffeine content.

Here’s a sample:

The full chart goes much higher in calories than this, and details which type of 30 minute exercise will be needed to burn those calories away.

I’m not one to count calories, or anything for that matter, but a chart like this helps put my café choices into some semblance of perspective — at least beyond the usual “I want. Gimme. Yum.”

It’s Camp Day at Tim Horton’s. Go get yourself a hot dog and help send a kid to camp.

But maybe think about getting your coffee elsewhere.

Welcome to our seventh installment of Café Days @ Signal!

After spending some time talking to Jeff LeDrew about coffee, I’ve come to the logical conclusion that the stuff is in his blood — literally.

LeDrew is the owner and founder of Jumping Bean Coffee. Apart from actually growing and harvesting their own beans, Jumping Bean are in the business of everything coffee can be and do.

In their defence, the climate in Newfoundland is nowhere near suitable for growing coffee, but as LeDrew proudly explains, it’s the perfect weather for drinking the stuff.

The Jumping Bean café is situated at 47 Harvey Road, right across the street from Tim Hortons — a seemingly bold move. But as much as he enjoys seeing the occasional Tim’s drinker wander in out of curiosity and leave a new customer for life, LeDrew knows that he and Horton are in two different markets.

And the café is really just a branch on the Jumping Bean tree. It’s roots are in roasting.

Jumping Bean is a major supplier of freshly roasted gourmet coffee in Newfoundland. Along with doing custom blends for many local restaurants and cafés, they also have their own brand of coffees available in grocery stores such as Belbins and Sobeys. Eventually, LeDrew sees Jumping Bean supplying the coffee they roast throughout Canada.

Having never received any formal training of any kind, LeDrew is something of a self-taught coffee virtuoso. The East Coast Roast was Jumping Bean’s first official blend, a discovery LeDrew arrived at after much experimentation and diligence. He’s since expanded his repertoire considerably, but the East Coast Roast is the one that got the Jumping Bean, well, jumping, and so remains his favorite.

Important as coffee roasting and supplying is to the Jumping Bean business, LeDrew says that having the café helps keep things grounded. Afterall, the enjoyment of drinking a great cup of coffee is what got him on this path in the first place.

Along with a wide selection of Jumping Bean coffee brewed fresh at the café every day, there’s also the full line of espresso beverages to choose from like lattes and cappuccinos. Considering they not only roast the stuff themselves but are also one of Newfoundland’s major suppliers and servicers of both commercial and home espresso machines, I think it’s safe to say they know their espresso inside and out.

There’s even an old fashioned Italian espresso machine out front called an Elektra Belle Epoque that looks like a steampunk rendition of R2D2. Though presently in a state of disrepair, Ledrew is looking forward to having it up and running again (as soon as he can spare some time to get in there and start tinkering with it).

Despite being neighbours who both serve coffee, there’s no doubt Tim Hortons and Jumping Bean are two peas in two totally separate pods, so neither is much of a threat to either’s business.

Even so, I’d say it’s more likely Jumping Bean will end up converting the odd Tim’s drinker over the years than the other way around.

Jumping Bean are open:

Weekdays 7:30am – 5:00pm

Weekends 10:00am – 5:00pm

Welcome to our sixth installment of Café Days @ Signal!

When Auntie Crae’s first opened its doors in 1977, coffee in St. John’s had none of the almost universal cachet it enjoys here today. There wasn’t a Tim Hortons on every corner, cappuccinos and lattes were all but unheard of, and the only coffee you could buy to brew at home had a major brand name on it.

Coffee outside the supermarket was something of a specialty item back then. Auntie Crae’s was (and still is) in the specialty foods business, so specialty coffee has been with them from the start.

Their coffee came pre-roasted from Montreal for over a decade until one day Janet Kelly, founder of Auntie Crae’s, decided it was time to take a more hands on approach. Kelly did her research, ordered her equipment, even sent a member of her staff to California for training, and in 1990 Auntie Crae’s started roasting their own coffee.

At first they were working with six or seven different types of beans from different parts of the world. Once they got the hang of roasting with those they started to experiment with blending, creating original coffees of their own design. They now offer as many as 20 different types of coffee bean and a variety of unique blends, the most popular of which is their Broad Cove Blend.

Auntie Crae’s also does designer blends, made to order and exclusive to those who request it. So the coffee you drink at Fisher’s Loft in Port Rexton is a coffee you won’t find anywhere else because it’s made especially for them.

At the Auntie Crae’s coffee bar they offer drip coffee and espresso beverages, as well as their very own iced coffee, which is a blend of crushed ice, strong brewed coffee, and your choice of mix. They have a commercial mix that will give you a beverage similar to that offered at Tim Hortons today, or you can have your choice of separate ingredients like milk, cream and sugar to make the drink your own.

You can take your coffee to go or sit down with it in the Fishhook Neyle’s Common Room, where Kelly says people are welcome to come and relax in whether they’ve got a bev or bite from Auntie Crae’s, something they brought themselves, or nothing but a desire to have a seat and maybe read the paper or chat with a friend.

On Tuesdays Neyle’s plays host to a group of musicians who play traditional Newfoundland and Irish tunes — for their lunch, no less. They’ve been doing so for years and it often draws an enthusiastic crowd, some of whom even join in from time to time.

Just now as I was taking photos for this piece, a member of the Auntie Crae’s staff asked me what this story was about. I gave her the rundown on this series and its intention to offer Tim’s drinkers a look at the local coffee alternatives.

She told me that before she started working here, all she ever drank was Tim’s. But since her first cup of Auntie Crae’s coffee she’s never gone back.

Auntie Crae’s are open:

Tuesday to Saturday 8:00am – 7:00pm

Welcome to our fifth installment of Café Days @ Signal!

So let’s state the obvious here: Hooked Up isn’t like most of the cafés in this town. Their main business isn’t coffee, it’s internet and gaming. They’ve got an impressive fleet of computer systems all tricked out to play the latest batch of mind bending, eye twitching games, an array of consoles jacked into beefy HD screens, and a fat pipe with burly security for all your online needs.

But what should also be obvious by the time you finish reading this is that coffee at Hooked Up is in no way an afterthought found somewhere down the line on the mandatory refreshments list for gamers. Far from it.

“I like good coffee and I like good coffee.”

That’s Hooked Up internet and gaming café owner Ross Barney talking. And no, he’s not repeating himself.

Barney is particular about the beans he brews in his café. They have to smell right, brew right, taste right. But they also have to be produced right, which for Barney means buying only fair trade.

Barney’s spent a lot of time in coffee producing countries serving as a United Nations Peace Keeper and an IT specialist with Geekcorps. He’s seen first hand the difference fair trade practices can make for coffee producers.

Before opening his doors in December of 2007, Barney settled on a fair trade coffee supplier, locally owned and operated Executive Coffee. He then spent the next several months experimenting with different fair trade beans until settling on both the light and dark roasts he presently serves.

Like a true coffee drinker, Barney knows to brew his light roast in the morning, then switch to dark later in the day. As mentioned here before, light roasts give you that pre-noon jolt you’re after, while dark roasts are more of a keep-you-going brew.

Typically there’s only one or the other on, but Barney says if you walk in craving whichever’s not, he’ll glady brew it up for you.

It’s not altogether unseen, Barney says, for a gamer to enter the café and settle in for a session with a Tim’s cup in their hand. As time rolls on they usually wind up needing a second jolt, and when they try the coffee Hooked Up’s serving it can be something of an awakening for them — and I’m not just referring to the effects of the caffeine.

But you don’t have to be a gamer to level up your coffee drinking experience. Barney says many people in the area just pop in to grab a cup on the go. The nearest coffee place from Hooked Up, located at 206 Duckworth Street, is the Tim Hortons on the corner of Duckworth and Prescott.

Maybe the next time you’re lined up outside the Tim’s there you’ll consider the one minute journey east and hook yourself up with a coffee that’s certainly worth crossing the street for.

Hooked Up are open:

Monday to Thursday 12:00pm – 10:00pm

Friday and Saturday 12:00pm – 12:00am

Sundays 4:00pm – 12:00am

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t show you the inside of Hooked Up’s bathroom, featuring an ongoing photo essay by owner Ross Barney.

[photos by Chad Young]

I’ve had to put our series on local cafés on hold this week due to illness. A throat infection has hijacked my ability to speak and swallow, and I need those powers for interviewing café owners and drinking their coffees.

We will resume Café Days @ Signal next week. In the meantime, be sure to have a look at last week’s series here, here, here and here!

As a side note, I’d like to leave you with the following:

This grinning gob is but one of a whole collection of happy, smiling faces printed on the latest batch of Hava Java’s take away cups. The result of some sort of shipping error, apparently. Kind of makes you wonder where they were headed in the first place.

And yes, that’s the inside of a microwave in need of a cleaning. And yes, I microwave my coffee — the trick is to set the power to medium high so it doesn’t burn your buds.

So… how close are you to collecting the whole set?

We’ll be back Monday for the continuation of Café Days @ Signal. In the meantime, here’s a look back at the first four cafés we’ve covered:

Hava Java has a real neighborhood café feel with friendly, familiar staff and plenty of regulars.

Coffee & Company are as knowledgeable about their coffee as they are welcoming to newcomers.

Coffee Matters are a fine dining experience in a coffee cup, and have three locations to serve you from.

Folly are as much funky late-night eatery as they are chilled out café with an emphasis on espresso Italian style.

Welcome to our fourth installment of Café Days @ Signal!

Bates Hill, for such a tiny little street, manages to cram in a lot of goodness. Tucked between Duckworth Street and Queens Road, you’ve got a top notch Mexican restaurant, a whimsical children’s book store, and now Folly, the newest addition to the St. John’s late night eatery scene.

On top of serving funky, delicious pizzas, burgers and more, and an awe inspiring selection of beers (36 imports alone), spirits and wine, they’re also a full service café with a wide range of coffees available.

Folly’s coffee follows suit with Bates Hill and it’s good things come in small packages way. They do their coffee as the Italians do. This starts with coffee beans that are roasted in Canada by Italians in keeping with the Italian ways, and finishes with a drink that has the traditional ratio of espresso to milk.

If you’re used to drinking your cappuccino in a cup the size of a beer glass, they can gladly accommodate, but if you’d like to know what a real cappuccino experience can be, go with the Folly flow. Once you’ve experienced the true taste of espresso as balanced by just the right amount of milk, you won’t want to go back to the tall hot glass of beige most North American’s are accustomed to calling a cappuccino or latte.

For the Tim’s drinkers in the crowd, this might be a bit of a leap from what you’re used to. I have my doubts you’d regret it, but if you’d rather take a smaller first step, Folly does your standard drip coffee, too. Standard in that it’s drip coffee, not in it’s authenticity of Italian roasted taste.

As a late night eatery, Folly’s hours are a little outside the norm for most coffee drinkers. Currently they’re open from 6pm – 6am, though that’s going to change to noon – 6am as of June 21st. Still, if you’re a student, a late-shift worker, or simply just a night owl who always tends to see the sun rise from the opposite end of the waking day than most people, know you’ve got a great café available that fits with your schedule in Folly.

There’s free wi-fi, a stylin’ decor full of local art, a chilled vibe, and Mara, Folly’s owner, who is always on hand and knows how to take care of her customers. She’s all about people hanging out and says she’s happy to see people come down with a book or a laptop, order a coffee, settle in and stay as long as they like.

I’m pretty sure this gal never leaves.

It’s Friday evening as I type and Folly is filling up fast. Come 3am they’ll have a lineup going out the door. As far as late night eateries in St. John’s go, Folly’s boldly followed their own recipe and it’s turned out to be a hit. If you ask me, the secret ingredient in that recipe is their coffee — a secret there’s no shame in telling.

Folly are open:

Wednesday to Sunday 6pm – 6am (noon – 6am as of June 21st)