by Mary Bailey and Curtis Comeau Photography

Part Three: The Roasteries | Part One: The Independents

The OG of Edmonton’s Coffee Culture

LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING: Bar Italia

Bar Italia (which was next door to the Italian Centre Shop on 95 street) opened in 1970 as a place for men to gather, play cards, drink coffee.

“We took over in 1975,” says Domenico Longo, better known as Mimmo to his fans. “At the beginning it was Italian men drinking coffee, playing cards and watching sports. There were no women allowed before we took it over. We served Barzula coffee. (A Calabrian couple moved to Toronto and started Barzula in 1960 when they couldn’t get a good cup of coffee.)

“In 1997 I gave it up (after three heart attacks)” says Mimmo. “I made friendships with a lot of people, rich man, poor man, Mark Messier and all those guys. I raised my family; I’m very happy.”

What do I remember about Mimmo? How kind he was then (and still is).

The space was absorbed into the Italian Centre expansion, who now have coffee shops (called Spinelli’s Bar Italia) in all their locations, each one a community hub. The coffee is Kimbo, from Naples. The espresso is fast and consistent and it’s always hard to find a seat. (Though you can stand at the counter at 95 Street, like Italians have always done).

There is a wide variety of style within Italian coffee culture, from 1€ coffee at the market in Florence to elegant waiters in white jackets. If ACE Coffee is Brunello Cucinelli (embodying refined Italian crafstmanship), Spinelli’s Bar Italia is Calzedonia, (socks; ubiquitous, comfy and necessary).

Why start with Bar Italia? There is a throughline from Bar Italia’s quintessentially old-school Italian bar to the vibrant modern coffee culture we have now. The line goes through Michael Ould and Java Jive, lingers at Zenari’s where so many people were introduced to the morning espresso, and continues to Joe Parrottino’s initial foray into coffee at Hub Mall’s Bar Teca, followed by Leva Café in 2003.

There is a fork in the road at Poul Mark’s Transcend (more on Transcend in Coffee Story: Part Three), the start of the west coast Third Wave coffee movement in Edmonton. Then, three coffee shops opened downtown: Credo, followed by Lock Stock and Coffee Bureau, bringing coffee culture to the core.

This wasn’t diner coffee, this was the real thing.

ACE COFFEE ROASTERS

Joe Parrotino, ACE Coffee

Joe Parrottino is considered the grandaddy of coffee in Edmonton (“some people say the godfather,” says Joe). He started a sandwich shop in the Hub Mall, called Bar Teca, where he perfected the grilled panini (“four inches by eight inches, conducive for students on the go”).

There was a restaurant in Edmonton Centre for awhile. Then in 1996, Joe started a coffee equipment business, Caffe Tech, in a former IGA on a street corner in Garneau. If you wanted to buy a high-end machine for home or bar, Joe was your guy. He was also the Canadian importer for Danesi. From that came Leva, a gorgeous modern café with Italian marble tables, a great menu and of course, really good coffee, next door to Caffe Tech. Soon after, deciding coffee importation was not the future and wanting to roast coffee and build a brand, Joe started ACE Coffee Roasters.

It’s fascinating to talk with Joe about coffee and his lifelong quest for the perfect roast. It’s similar to talking with a winemaker—single varietal or a blend? His issue with most Third Wave coffee is that it’s under-roasted. “The tradition and cultural roots of Italian coffee is to not over-roast the blend, but to develop it so the coffee can express itself,” says Joe. “Coffee needs heat to open up, which creates balance on the palate, not too much of one flavour profile or another  and a good mouth feel. That’s why we use the target motif on the label, hitting the target by mastering the blend and the roast.”

While Joe was busy with Caffe Tech, Leva, and a business importing Italian bar module units (installed at Bar Bricco, Huang Long, Uccellino and various other spots) he held off on expansion. Then, after moving the roasting to Ritchie in 2016, he built the bar around it—it’s now one of the coolest places to have a cup of coffee. Joe and partner Simon Woodall opened a coffee bar at the Bountiful Farmers’ Market in 2018, and just this year at Manulife. “We were looking there back in 2017. This took twice as long and was twice as expensive, but we are happy with it.”

Now Simon takes care of the day-to-day and Joe spends most of his time on development and expansion of the brand. “We are looking at Calgary locations, and on the production side, we have new coffee products coming soon.”

That street corner in Garneau? It’s now home to an ACE coffee shop and Sepp’s, the immensely popular New York-style pizza offering first introduced at Leva Café.

COFFEE BUREAU

Peter West and Cris Sgobbi Tassinari, Coffee Bureau

“I got a job with Joe, working the coffee stand at the Agricom,” says Peter West, Coffee Bureau. “It was crazy busy, just a crush of people. Then I worked at Caffe Tech. We have a close relationship with Joe and use ACE coffee. Joe taught me a lot about coffee machines and what makes good coffee.

“My coffee story is a roundabout one. It wasn’t until I moved to Toronto to go to school that I was immersed in an urban coffee culture. During that time in my life there was a lot of change—I met my wife (Cristiane) in New York, fell in love, went to Brazil (where she’s from); went to school in Toronto to become an urban planner. I ended up getting a job at a coffee shop in Leslieville, one of the first Third Wave coffee shops in North America. It was vibrant and eclectic, in this up-and-coming neighbourhood, also insanely busy. It taught me that a good coffee shop was good energy.”

I ask Peter to explain what Third Wave actually means: “First wave? Diner coffee. Second wave Starbucks, corporate chains. Third Wave coffee: getting rid of older models, lighter roasts, single origin, better fermentation methods and careful methodology.

“Coffee Bureau is kind of a gentle hybrid of both worlds: traditional flavour profile meets contemporary café practices. Traditional is more the Italian-style coffee bar—lively, engaging, gentle, not beating people over the head with hipness. Third Wave can have a pretentious side. We want to give people what they want, which is a terrific cup of coffee.”

The original Coffee Bureau is a tiny spot on Jasper Avenue—welcoming, great tunes, excellent cup of coffee, always some conversation, often with people waiting for their cup. There is nowhere to sit, really, but it still feels like a friendly urban space. The vibe at the new shop in the Mercury Building is the same—friendly, energetic, easy—even though the room is probably three times the size with lots of seating.

“We had been raring to go for a second location. When my father-in-law, an emotional Italian-Brazilian and a very good businessman, saw our immediate success  with Jasper Avenue, he said; ‘you guys are going to have to grow or someone’s going to eat your lunch.’

Peter West at work.

“We were planning on going into West Block in 2018, but then we got pregnant and we didn’t want two babies at the same time. It took longer than we like, but we love Mercury Block and the neighbourhood. It’s a piece of vibrant urbanism, it feels effervescent. And it  aligns with who we are—a corner coffee shop in a pleasant city.

What’s popular at Coffee Buueau? “We are a little allergic to trends. Matcha? At first, we wouldn’t touch it, but then we found a great supplier out of Australia. Now we have iced matchas.” Pour over? “We don’t do pour overs, we feel it’s too hard to make a consistent product. If people want a good pour over, we send them to Stopgap. Caleb worked at Coffee Bureau and his pour over is excellent.

But our drip is dialed in.”

CREDO COFFEE

Geoff Linden stocks up at Credo

Geoff and Joanne Linden opened Credo in 2009, one of the first, if not the first, Third Wave coffee shop downtown. “We now work with Detour Coffee roasters out of Hamilton. We had started with Intelligentsia (Chicago) and Stumptown (Portland ) but then we got caught in the first Trump threat of tariffs. There was turmoil until we found Detour. They worked with us on roast profiles we are proud to serve, and sourcing. They are rock solid.”

Credo’s menu is concise—espresso, pour over and brewed coffee. “We brew a rotating single origin and a house blend regular coffee, we still use Jacek (who used to be our neighbour here on 104 Street) for mochas and hot chocolate and we sell their bonbon collections too. We make our own syrups. Iced coffee is huge, and we make seasonal features. A popular one right now is the Spring Fling, an iced matcha drink.

“We did try growing, we had the shop on 124 Street,  but we realized our limits. We discovered we really had captured lightning in a bottle with our original location on 104 Street and maybe it couldn’t be done again. But Enbridge is a great location—the area, the landlord, the clientele. And we have one great crew there.”

I ask Geoff what it’s like to run a family business. “Joanne is a full-time teacher but supports the business and all our kids have worked here at one time or another. We have people who have been with us for quite a few years. We never seem to have anyone leave or quit—these kids are our family. I don’t know how we attract these great people—there is good energy in the café; I’m happy to let others have their personality.

“It’s been a great time in our lives, but obviously it has become more challenging. There was a lot of energy downtown when we opened, but now it has its struggles. Access to downtown frustrates a lot of people—those construction barricades don’t seem to ever come down. I’m glad we had the first years under our belts to know what it felt like, and very happy to keep going to bring that all back. We’re trying to do our part to contribute something.

“We consider ourselves downtown people. It’s where we spend our nights out. I find myself at 104 Street a lot, it just seems right.”

Spinelli’s Bar Italia, Italian Centre Shops

• 10878 95 Street
• 5028 104a Street
• 17010 90 Avenue
• 8005 Emerald Drive, Sherwood Park

ACE Coffee Roasters

• Garneau: 11053 86 Avenue
• West Ritchie: 10055 80 Avenue
• Manulife Place: 230, 10180 101 Street
• Bountiful Farmers’ Market: 3696 97 Street

Coffee Bureau

• 10505 Jasper Avenue
• The Mercury Block: 12316 102 Avenue

Credo

• 10134 104 Street
• Enbridge Centre, 10162 100a Street