Wouldn’t you know it: In B.C., the gourmet coffee craze has spread to the country side.

by Simone Keiran

Published Harrowsmith Country Life
Almanac/Trends Feature, August 2008
editor, Tom Cruickshank
art director, Pierre Durand
Photographer, Steve Ogle [Nelson]

Say you’re new to the Slocan Valley in the British Columbia interior and you want a spot to meet the locals, hear the latest news or learn what the latest petition says about politics in the area. Don’t look for the old-fashioned roadside diner or pub. These days, chances are the best place to go is a nearby coffee stand, where customers and baristas alike will serve up all the gossip along with your latte.


A relatively new phenomena in the countryside, roadside coffee stands are a B.C. original, just like the gourmet coffee craze itself. In Vancouver, they’re hip and happening. Out in the boonies, however, they are the antithesis of urban chic.


The Slocan Valley in the Kootenays isn’t the only rural B.C. locale where coffee stands are thriving. Indeed, these independent java houses are fast becoming a rural phenomenon.

These java stands vary in size from tiny one-room shacks to makeshift huts with a galley kitchen and barely enough seating for two to four tables. Sometimes, there’s an herb garden out back. And even though they pride themselves on individuality, all of them share certain attributes: a good visible spot along the highway, a pull-off for parking, and a sliding window like in those drive-thru burger joints. Invariably, a bohemian, why-hurry atmosphere prevails and you can bet your Canadiano—that’s a dark roast espresso topped with brewed coffee—that the place is graced by a cutesy name: something like Cowpuccinos, The Beanery or Pony Espresso.

Hungry? There’s plenty to eat. Many roadside coffee stands also offer savoury take-out, and not that vacuum-packed convenience-store junk. The fare is fresh, local, imaginative and tasty. Sleep is for Sissies, a landmark near Winlaw, prides itself on helpings of organic veggies and soups made from scratch. Next to the local swimming hole along the Slocan River, Pony Espresso fills the demand for ice cream, but still manages a brisk trade in cappuccinos, no matter how blistering the heat.

By now, you’ve probably figured out that the typical rural coffee stand is fiercely independent. No Starbucks here. Indeed, these are local entrepreneurs catering to a local clientele. Even the beans are local, or at least, locally roasted: There are several roasting companies in the area, so profits circulate in the area. And for sourcing the beans themselves, the rural roasters often promote fair trade organic beans so coffee-lovers can toss back their cuppas with a clear conscience.

It’s a long way from the chic espresso bars on Robson Street, but the Slocan Valley can serve up coffee every bit as mellow as it is in trendy Vancouver.

Business is booming; some stands stay open all winter. Sleep is for Sissies had to expand—nowadays, you might call it a diner. But no one is worried that their favourite haunts will go corporate. That would be unthinkable. Slocan Valley coffee drinkers like their coffee stands just the way they are. And there are so many of them now that, even in the boondocks, good java is never far from reach.

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