JJ Bean Coffee Roasters

Great place! Basic selection of brewed drinks with a simple menu to select from. Alongside with its perfect location makes it an ideal spot for residents and anyone in the area.
It’s also known for its great ambience, good looking clientele. So check it out folks. It’s on top of my list of recommended spots in Gastown, not to mention it is in a historic location too, ‘The Woodwards’.

Anyone who knows anything about coffee and/​or drinks it black agrees that JJ Bean makes the WORST coffee. Anyone who says it’s good must put a ton of cream and sugar in it. Roasted to a burned perfection. Snobby baristas at all their locations. Terrible coffee.

The coffee is pretty good here and the muffins and wraps are delicious but it’s kind of annoying that they only have one power outlet. I like to work on my laptop and it is really inconvenient when I need some charge and the one space is taken. That being said its a great place, the staff are friendly and its a big space that is clean and well laid out.

Basic chain store that made a reasonable London Fog tea. Customer service was decent and there was some selection of pastries. Lots of seating for me to work on my arts and crafts.

Finally a quality cup of coffee customized to whatever ridiculous expectation I have at the time without all the bullshit. In and out the staff here are efficient, and awesome to say the least.

My favourite coffee and location! LOVE the Espresso JJ. I frequent this location before work in the mornings, and it’s usually pretty busy. Yes, it takes a bit of time to make your drink, but it’s so worth the wait. To make things even better, the staff here are always super nice.

When we lived at the woodwards this was our go to coffee shop every morning. I love the vibe in here. The teas are amazing, And my fiancé loves the coffee here

5 stars people? Really? You love the coffee but you wait 20 minutes to get it? This place is run by a bunch of dopey hipsters who, when you’re about to order your coffee, have to wait until their done talking about their «totally rad weekend». No one is impressed by «how drunk and coked out Jimmy got last night and tried on all Kate’s clothing and makeup and how funny it was and you all high fived and then collectively fell into a huge pile then made blanket forts and talked about each other’s deepest darkest secrets» OKAY?
The only good thing here are the muffins and americanos. But guess what? JJ Bean is a chain and you can find the same thing at every other JJ Bean and you don’t have to to wait 45 minutes to get them.
Service is soooo slow, the staff lack service skills and will probably work there for the rest of their lives.
Your welcome JJ Bean.

Bought an Americano for only $ 2.95 (small).
Was able to use the clean restroom in the café, and there’s FREE wi-​fi! :)
Staff are a bit snooty but friendly.

I love the W building… its basketball court, its location, and its tallness. And it has a great café in JJ Bean. Delicious dark roast coffee. This was my go to spot for a quick lunch in the neighbourhood. They have a great grilled cheese sandwich/​salad combo. Staff are always friendly, courteous, and efficient. Way to go, guys!

What to say about JJ Bean? If you want reliably good, non-​fancy coffee, this is the place for you. No fussy flavour-​crazy coffees here, just good beans, well-​prepared espresso, and knowledgeable staff. They have a small selection of baked goods and sandwiches, but nothing stands out as amaaaaazing, other than the delightful raspberry crisp (which tends to sell out quickly). I will say that no one makes a mocha like JJ does.
This location is my «local» shop — and also my neighbourhood shop as it’s literally RIGHT underneath my apartment. The staff are always very friendly and there are usually cute boys wearing adorable kitten aprons. Love it.

When you’re having a major «I need food AND coffee» type of evening, the friendly faces at JJ Bean in the W building are just the solution. I was running some errands, and stopped in for a latte (delicious) and the last raspberry oatmeal muffin of the day (still moist and fresh at 6 pm). The staff were super sweet and really made the experience.

JJ Bean Coffee Roasters truly make the best tasting decaf latte in all of Vancouver. I am totally addicted. Try it and see, it’s the only decaf that doesn’t taste like decaf!

Seriously JJ’s is my favorite place for coffee! Soooo good and always taste the same… except for once. a couple of years ago…
If your there at its hot out check out the Mocha-​Shiver O_​O Looooooove it!
Also Service I find at all the locations to be really good. They normally have a really good sense of humor and always want you to be happy. Makes me feel great.

I came here with a few colleagues; I got a hot cocoa, colleague one got an Americano, colleagues two and three got coffees.
The two coffees were ready right away. The two speciality drinks took a few minutes (but longer than we expected). Colleague one and I each had a couple sips of our drinks and threw them in the garbage. It was honest to god the worst cocoa I’ve ever had – worse than some powdered crap you get at a continental breakfast. Also it was HEINOUSLY expensive: $ 6 for about 4 oz (the same for the Americano).
One of my other two colleagues ended up throwing her coffee in the garbage about half-​way thru.
I’m offended at how awful my drink was. I’m pretty sure none of us will be back.

I love JJ Bean’s Chocolate Chip Vegan Zucchini muffins. they are absolutely addictive.
The coffee is tasty as well, but I drink decaf and vegan milk options so it’s a little more complicated for me to order drinks successfully here. They only have soy as a milk alternative, and I’m a almond milk drinker personally. The staff is always friendly, and the venue is always busy.

The problem with every other coffee places is that they’re all more expensive than starbucks. the best thing about every other coffee place is that the staff are usually cool and unique (as is the case with this place), they make a much better effort to get to know you if you go regularly (just like this place), the food is usually better, and the atmosphere is a lot less samey.
So check out JJ Bean at the Woodwards building. It’s cool. The staff are cool. And they have grilled cheese AND PBJ sandwiches. HOW CAN YOU GO WRONG?

I like JJ because it’s better tasting than Starbucks, and it’s not Blenz (I’m boycotting Blenz… but that’s another story).
This location is kind of nestled away amongst various buildings. The inside of this JJ is super cool. What can I say? I like wood. Every time I’ve come here, I wanted to sit and enjoy my latte inside but there’s never any room to sit! That’s probably for the best though, cause it gets me walking! I don’t mind that they don’t have wifi because I have 6gb on my data plan… and I hate when wifi things pop up and you have to accept before your iPhone becomes functional again.
I never had a particularly good barista experience here, but I can always set customer service aside in exchange for a perfect drink (I don’t care much for chit chat anyway). Oh, and the cups themselves are pretty stellar.
As far as coffee chains go, this one is my favourite in Vancouver!

JJ bean
You lose two stars these days for not having wireless. And a few other things.
Seriously? This thing again? A big coffee chain without wireless? Even quaint, mom and pop coffee shops know that it’s economically smart to have a wireless router. Even if it’s slow but we can check our email.
JJ Bean likes to attract the kind of crowd I like to call the «Not Starbucks» crowd. BUT they will charge the same as Starbucks and offer less in many areas.
However there are area’s where they excel:
1. Coffee is as good or better. BUT their idea of medium looks to be Starbucks version of small give or take an ounce. So for the same price of a Starbucks coffee, you are getting less. The quality is as good or better. But that’s personal preference.
2. Food: Really good! In fact definitely better than Starbucks with a lot more variety. I highly recommend the Jalapeño and cheese muffin if you are a fan of spicy. Although get ready to rip off the bottom paper around the muffin. TO THE STAFF: please add more grease or butter or whatever you add so it’s easier to peel the paper off of the muffins.
3. Ambiance: The creator definitely had a wood fetish. There are planks hanging from the ceiling and on the walls. You’ll most likely be sitting on wood or steel chairs. So if you need some «support» this isn’t the place to go. I like the seating myself. But I’d love a few leather couches also. The music at JJ Bean tends to always be good. Or it’s music I personally love. It’s a soft rock and old rock feel to it. But some JJ Bean’s play other genre’s. Expect somewhat lively but noninvasive.
4. Staff: Generally good. JJ Bean seems to love hiring the relaxed, bought my clothes from Value Village type of staff. Now I’m not judging. I shop there too. It’s just, you won’t get the corporate trained, automatically smile at you staff member when you walk up to the counter. Depending on their mood, they’ll be happy or not. But the huge loop-​rings in their ears are entertaining. Or the wool cap they wear while being indoors. Actually, you know what? I’m not going to make fun of the hat. At least I know their won’t be any hair in my muffin.
5. Cost: It’s the same as Starbucks. I feel they win in some area’s but don’t even enter the race in others (wireless).
Conclusion:
These days there are some basic necessities to a coffee shop. JJ Bean meets most of them. But if you want to be really competitive, you have to, I repeat have to, do as good and better than the infamous Starbucks chain or other coffee chains of your level. Whatever your belief behind wireless Internet is, you are wrong. You actually lose customers permanently because part of the appeal to going to a coffee shop, is bringing my laptop with me so I can write reviews about you while I’m in it ;). But you are also alienating University students, other writers, business people who need quick one-​on-​one meetings and… okay well just about everyone who uses the Internet.
So you have two options:
1. Give the people wireless. Because until you don’t, you are losing and have lost customers. We’re talking hundreds and thousands here. Let’s say you’ve lost 1,000 customers total. Small number? Each one buys at least a coffee and muffin. That’s close to $ 5. So you are losing $ 5,000 a day in revenue. That’s $ 140,000.00 a month in theory. Even if it’s half that number it’s still a huge gain. Soooo, just get wireless.
2. Put a wireless sign outside your coffee shop with a line through it. That way you don’t stiff people by making them think the place is wireless and then they get angry at the plain t-​shirt staff because the customer just spent $ 5.
These are your choices. Your move JJ Bean.

It’s a JJ, what do you expect?
I’ll tell you what I expect: a decent cup of coffee, relatively nice baristas (just give them a chance — you’ll see), the taunting smell of freshly baked goods (zero gluten free options, which is probably a blessing). Also, as an aside, what does it mean that I wanted to hashtag that last sentence? No matter — it’s a no-​wifi zone meaning that it makes for a good spot to go when the distraction of the world wide web isn’t there to weave you into its sticky spell.
Like I said, it’s a JJ, what do you expect?