Prototype exists “to source, roast, and serve the best coffees we can find.” At its micro-roastery in Vancouver it roasts highly traceable coffees bought through importers who pay what the coffee is really worth and keep long-term relationships with farmers and exporters.

The roasting is built around a roasting bar in the same room where the coffee is brewed. In the Strathcona Roastery and Tasting Room, every coffee for the bar, retail and wholesale is roasted on four small Aillio Bullet R1 roasters right behind the counter. The small batches let Prototype carry a wide selection without the waste that comes with bigger ones, while four roasters together still turn out a lot of coffee quickly and give close control over each profile. Each profile is built to show a coffee’s origin flavours while maximising sweetness and balance, which for most coffees means a medium-light roast. The brew bar always has more than 15 coffees, with several options for espresso. Bottled ready-to-drink coffee and tea drinks are made by the baristas here and sold only in the tasting room and for local delivery.

The second location, the Mount Pleasant Tasting Room, sits permanently inside Please! Beverage Co. It is a large room with plenty of seating and natural light, set up so that all 15 to 20 coffees are available all the time on both the espresso bar and the pour-over bar, singly or as a flight. A weekday lunch menu of hot sandwiches, salads and snacks is a collaboration with Please! Beverage Co.

Prototype’s waffle donuts, on the Mount Pleasant menu all day, are made from scratch to taste like a cake donut but cooked on the bar in a waffle iron, in seasonal flavours with fresh local ingredients.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Prototype Coffee