The coffee community in Vancouver were in for a treat on Saturday, March 28th, 2015 as the BC AeroPress Competition was held at Elysian Coffee. 



The BC AeroPress trophy is a beauty! It is made entirely out of LEGO. George Giannakos, partner and general manager of Revolver Coffee, built the trophy in twelve hours using just under 1000 pieces!

Some competitors were busy practicing their recipes in another room prior the competition.


While others were just chilling on sacks of coffee beans.

Here's a cute guide to what aeropressing is! Basically,  the AeroPress is a device for making coffee. Coffee is made by steeping the grinds then forcing it through a filter by pressing the plunger through the tube of the aeropress.

Starting off, head judge Mike Stumpf, from Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, said a few words about the competition.

Judges consisted of Lauren Thu from Bump n Grind, Aaron Braun from Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, and George Giannakos from Revolver Coffee.


Some competitors picked out the best beans to use.




Judges slurp the coffee ensuring it spread over the tongue and hits all the receptors to get all the flavours of the coffee. Some of the things they judge on are: sweetness, clarity, body, and flavour.

It was quite a turn out! The room was packed at the end of the competition!

Here were the two last cups!
Third place winner was Josh Linklater, an independent.

Second place winner was Erik Parkin of Culprit Coffee.

And the first place winner was Michael Ratcliffe an independent from the very first round!
 
Congrats to all the winners!

On Saturday, March 28th, Fresh St. Market in West Vancouver held its annual chili cook-off benefiting the JGL Foundation for Cerebral Palsy. Six teams: West Van VPD, Fresh St. Market, Lekker, Village Taphouse, Grimm's, and 7 Seas, competed for bragging rights for the best chili. For only $5, attendees got to taste all six chilis and vote for their favourite one. I love coming to these events at Fresh St. Market. It is very well organized and goes to benefit a good cause!




The Fresh Street Market team working hard to serve their chili to the hungry crowd!


Fresh St. Market made a pork and bacon chili with a side of corn bread. The chili had a little heat, tasted great, and the corn bread was so delicious! I could have went back for seconds!


Between each station was a palate cleansing station with bread from Terra Breads!

 Grimm's turkey chili.

Lekker's chili had beef, bacon, and chocolate in it!

They also served it with a side of nachos.


The 7 Seas team!

 Their's was quite delicious as well. It had ground beef, molasses, and chocolate in it. Plus it was topped with cheese and crunchy pork rinds! YUM!


Village Taphouse made theirs with a lot of beef: ground beef, beef sirlion, beef broth. Very meaty.



The West Vancouver Police had pineapple and ketchup in theirs so it was very sweet. It tasted good but missed that heat I thought a chili should have.

A bottle of water is needed if you are going to eat chili! Thankfully Fresh St. Market thought ahead and included one in the price of the ticket.


In addition to chili, there was coffee, and other samples around to try in the store.

There was also chocolate dipped banana pops for sale!

 Chilled banana covered in chocolate and dipped in sprinkles! Double yum!



The winner of the Chili Cook-Off was announced after I had left and it was 7 Seas! It must have been those pork rinds that cinched it for them. ;P

Taste of Spring is a tasting event at Whole Foods Market that happens every once in a while. You purchase a $10 passport, the proceeds of which are donated to the Whole Planet Foundation, and load up your plate from stations around the store.You can also get a take-out container and bring the foods you couldn't finish home with you. And believe me, you won't be able to finish!


There are tons of stations around the store. I went to the Cambie St. location towards the end of the event so two of the vendors already had left. There were still plenty to visit though!

The largest sampling was from the prepared foods section.

They were serving dishes from their Easter menu: Sweet Potato Tzimmez, Asparagus with Julienned Vegetables and a beef brisket but they had run out so I got the substitute pork loin. I really liked the sweet potato and the vegetables but the pork was a bit dry for my taste.

Making my way through the store, there were lots of stations in the bakery section. Lots of breads, desserts, healthy granola and granola snacks to try. Most of these were bit sized samples but some stations had multiple flavours or types so you get full pretty quickly!






Uprising Breads give a half of a hot-cross bun to each person!










Pretty fun little food event. Whole Foods Market usually hosts similar events throughout the year so if you missed this one, you'll have other chances!