It might be difficult to fathom a place in Koreatown that can offer an elevated coffee experience likes ones you would find in Gastown and Kitsilano. But tucked away in a corner of a multi-level Korean plaza is Standing Egg Coffee that is likely to satisfy coffee aficionados. After seeing some Instagram posts about them (including affogatos and 3D coffee art), my friend and I decided to pay them a visit.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. This food and drinks were not complimentary. I did not receive any compensation or incentive to share about my experience. The coffee shop did not know that I am a blogger.
Sophisticated and Moody
Walking into Standing Egg Coffee, I immediately took notice of the sophisticated yet moody interior. The shop has practically no natural light coming through, but I like how their design still sets a cozy environment with the overhanging industrial lights and warm, earthy tones.
The main focus of the room seems to be the shelving unit in the middle featuring a display of coffee brewing equipment. On top of the unit are several pallet boxes lined up two rows.
They also have set up a hanging rack of loyalty cards arranged alphabetically. It seems like a practical idea so that customers won’t need to carry an extra card on them.
On the side walls, an eye-catching display of several cold brew coffee drippers.
What We Tried
Standing Egg Coffee uses coffee beans by Calgary’s Phil & Sebastian and serves pastries by Chez Christophe. One of the things that my friend and I were looking forward to at Standing Egg Coffee were the 3D coffee art. They had advertised their 3D foam bear coffee art a few times on their social media. When we placed the order, the barista told us that it could only be created for the cappuccino. We were fine with that but then the barista said that they normally don’t do 3D coffee art during peak times as it takes too long to create it. I was a little taken back by it considering how much they advertised the 3D coffee art on their social media. Furthermore, they did not note that it was to be offered during non-peak times only. After letting her know that we had come from Downtown Vancouver, she begrudgingly decided to make it for us. When we got our cappucino with the 3D foam bear, it certainly was less impressive than the ones they advertised. The one we got was considerably less foamy. It was still cute but disappointing.
We also had a matcha affogato which had vanilla ice cream in a glass and then matcha green tea on the side. Pouring the matcha green tea over vanilla ice cream created a dessert with a rich, creamy taste but also slightly bitter.
The Chez Christophe pastries that we had were the Sweet Potato Cake and the Tea Tart. The cake had sweet potato chunks and whipped cream layers in a sponge cake. The tart had tea anglaise, blueberry confit, English breakfast ganache in a sweet crust. Both were okay and were more sweet than pastries I have had from Thomas Haas. The cake was light and fluffy with appropriately sized potato chunks. The blueberry confit could be less sweet and the crust was a little hard to cut through.
Overall Impression of Standing Egg Coffee
I was disappointed with how much less impressive the 3D foam bear was than the ones they presented on their social media. The pastries by Chez Christophe that we tried were sweeter than I expected. Service at Standing Egg Coffee could be friendlier. Rating: 3/5
Facebook: @standingeggcoffee