John Neate, Jr. may have founded JJ Bean Coffee Roasters in 1996, but his family鈥檚 relationship with coffee extends all the way back to the first half of the 20th century.
Beginning in 1945, Neate鈥檚 grandfather and father operated a Vancouver-based wholesale roasting company called Neate鈥檚 Coffee. In 1979, Neate joined the business and remained there until 1990, when the family sold Neate鈥檚 Coffee to Nestle.
Neate worked for Nestle for six years before deciding to re-establish the Neate family in the local coffee landscape, this time as JJ Bean Coffee Roasters (the 鈥淛J鈥� stands for John Jr.).
Back when Neate launched JJ Bean, the 麻豆传媒映画coffee scene was dominated by Seattle-based juggernaut Starbucks.
鈥淓verybody talked about Starbucks, and Starbucks became the one that I wanted to be better than,鈥� Neate recalls in a recent phone interview.
Judging by the response of Westender readers 鈥� who named JJ Bean their favourite place for coffee in the city 鈥� Neate met, and then exceeded, his original goal.
JJ Bean operates 20 stores in Vancouver; in the last 18 months, it has opened four locations in Toronto, with another slated to open in 2018.
Earlier this year, it opened its biggest store to date at UBC, and 鈥渋t鈥檚 being received really well,鈥� Neate says.
But if there鈥檚 a foundation for JJ Bean鈥檚 success, it鈥檚 the coffee bean. Ground zero for quality control is the company鈥檚 roasting location on Powell Street.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always taken the approach that each coffee needs to be taken to its own different roast level,鈥� says Neate. 鈥淲e have very defining lines as to how coffee should be roasted, and we want coffee for the world. We want people who drink dark roast to be able to drink JJ Bean, as well as people who want single-origin coffee and people who want lighter roast.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to do the best in each category.鈥�
They also make freshness a priority. 鈥淐offee, once it鈥檚 roasted, has about 14 days before it releases carbon dioxide, so if coffee isn鈥檛 consumed within that window, it鈥檚 never fresh,鈥� Neate says.
The company roasts beans five days a week via three different roasters 鈥� a five-kilogram, a 12-kg and a 22-kg 鈥� that enable them to 鈥渄o the batch sizes to get coffee fresh,鈥� says Neate.
But it鈥檚 not just beans that have established JJ Bean as a key player in the 麻豆传媒映画coffee scene. It鈥檚 also the food items.
鈥淪tarbucks鈥� weakness has always been food, because it鈥檚 always been third-party. So, doing our own food was very expensive and hard to make competitive, but we knew that it would be a defining thing for the consumer,鈥� Neate says, noting that every JJ Bean location has double ovens, and bakers who start at 5:30 a.m. 鈥� and then there's the fact that each location has its own unique look and flair.
鈥淧eople rail against big companies: 鈥楾hey鈥檙e cookie cutter, every store looks the same.鈥� And so we鈥檝e really spent a lot of time and money trying to make every one of our stores look different, and fitting the neighborhood that they belong in,鈥� Neate explains.
鈥淚 go to caf茅s all over the world, and 麻豆传媒映画is definitely one of the best in terms of the standards that are up there,鈥� he adds.
鈥淐offee here is such a great source of pride. 麻豆传媒映画caf茅s are the leaders in the country by far.鈥�
JJ Bean
Various locations
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Gold 鈥� Best Coffee Shop
