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This was the scene Wednesday afternoon, on the North-West corner of 8th Avenue, and Cambie Street. Five women were handing out coffee samples out of the back of a hatchback to promote the Keurig single cup brewing system. They were doing it beside a Provincial government-run liquor store, but the coffee quintet was fishing here for the generally large crowds, from two nearby supermarkets, two nearby big box retailers, and West Broadway, just one block South.



Not to take away from the Keurig salesperson's great smile, but check out the background: You can see the front of the Whole Foods supermarket, with it's "Living wall," of sideways plants, which was a big deal when it was new in 2009. ► The checker-board Grumman van is one of the new generation of street food vendors which Vancouver has been encouraging (Vancouver's food truck finder ►). The one in the photo is selling Belgian waffles.

What about the coffee sample?

The Keurig single cups system combines the contents of little "K-cups" with pressurized boiling water. It's fast, costs less than 80 cents CAN per cup, and has everything to do with convenience, and absolutely nothing to do with real ground coffee. I didn't much like it, but dutifully drank the entire little cup.

That "Living Wall" is cool. Does it always work so well?

Unfortunately, no. My understanding is they are expensive, and difficult to maintain -- something about breaking the law of gravity -- Often they end up like this one at Davie and Howe in downtown Vancouver, or this one, at West Broadway, and Spruce, inexplicable tacked on to the alley entrance to the underground parking. Once upon a time, you saw something like this on a wall, and you scrapped it off. Now I think you get to write it off, and, as a developer, it may even earn you extra building height. Click any of the images to enlarge them.