Recently I connected up with Matthew McNeilly who is the mind behind Canada Coffee Maps. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I won his Instagram contest for two free maps & a mystery bag of coffee from one of the roasters listed on the map.
While I understand there are some great digital solutions to finding out about a coffee shop in a particular city & neighbourhood, there is still something to be said about holding something in your hand (other than your cell phone.) It’s probably why I still purchase books and refuse to own an e-reader.
Recently Canada Coffee Maps released their very first product, a detailed coffee guide to Vancouver coffee shops. No surprise that the epicentre of Canadian Coffee would be the first map printed. After getting my hands on one I had the chance to look it over and it really does look and feel great.
I reached out to Matthew to learn a bit more about the background of where he came up with this idea. He had this to say “I was living in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the last year and a half and had a job as a barista at the specialty coffee shop called General Merchants. On the retail shelf I saw a brochure looking thing titled “NI Coffee Map”, I bought one. After looking through it and visiting almost all the shops on the map I couldn’t believe nothing like this existed in Canada for locals and tourists. I had always loved the world of print and graphic design and I thought I would give this project a go, Canada Coffee Maps was born shortly after.”
Matthew explains a bit further on his Etsy page why he designed these: “As I travel all over the world I am always in search of good coffee and beautiful cafes. While online reviews and instagram sometimes help to find a few cafes, I knew I was always missing a local favourite or two. I decided to create a bunch of tangible “maps/guides” of coffee scenes in Canadian cities so that locals and traveler’s can find and learn more about the coffee in their city.”
I am told that the plan is to print more maps for more Canadian cities in the coming months. I am particularly excited to get my hands on the Calgary map! Matthew also mentioned to me that he and his wife (currently a model in Vancouver) plan to open a coffee roasting and mobile coffee business in 2020… so stay tuned for a trifecta of awesomeness!
If you are looking to get your hands on one, you can do so from their Etsy web-shop. Maps are $10 each and includes free shipping in Canada.
If you’re wondering what coffee I ended up receiving, it was a bag of Phantom Espresso from Moving Coffee (who, yes, are on the map!) Needless to say I was pretty stoked since I hadn’t had the chance up to this point to try this sought-after coffee roaster. Nice choice Matthew!
Stay Caffeinated,
Tyler
commonly coffee 