Prototype Coffee Breaks the Mold with Second Vancouver Cafe

After five years of building a following at its original location, Prototype Coffee is offering a fresh iteration of its cafe experience in Vancouver, B.C.

The new Prototype bar is situated inside of the Please! Beverage Co. distillery complex in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Coffee activates the retail area during the day, then cocktails take over in the evening. 

While the brighter whites, natural wood tones and lively flower mural are hallmarks of the colorful Please! Beverage Co. brand, the angular structural elements and overall modern design of the space also harmoniously integrate with Prototype. The coffee company’s original roastery cafe was designed and built by the same architects and contractors.

“There’s a lot of design elements from the designer and architect that feel really compatible,” Prototype Coffee Founder Matt Johnson told Daily Coffee News. “I wouldn’t consider this type of arrangement in most situations, but just felt like the design really complements our other location — contrasts and complements.”

Both locations run brew bars with Mahlkönig EK43 grinders preparing beans for manual brews with Goat Story Gina brewers. Both pair under-counter Modbar espresso systems with Nuova Simonelli Mythos II grinders and Weber Workshops EG1 grinders.

Coffees to both Prototype bars come from a fleet of four 1-kilo-capacity Aillio Bullet roasters at the original location. 

At the new shop, racks of whole-bean vials keep six espresso shot doses and five single-cup pourover doses ready at all times for each of Prototype’s 15-20 roasted coffee offerings. 

Fashioned out of the plexiglass that once formed the original cafe’s COVID-era counter shields, the coffee racks are one of many representations of Prototype’s ingenuity within the space. 

“What drives me at Prototype is that I want to chase new ways of doing things,” Johnson said. “I don’t necessarily want to just do a cookie-cutter model, transplanting it here or there. I’m more interested in iterating, like what we’re doing at this new location. We’re trying something kind of unheard of on this espresso menu.”

Another COVID-era innovation by Prototype is the waffle donut, a popular confection originally created in-house when fresh baked goods from local suppliers were scarce. 

House-made donut batter is poured into a waffle iron, then iced and flavored with fresh fruit and other toppings. The current waffle donut offering is topped with grapefruit and raspberry icing, and garnished with grapefruit zest. 

“Sometimes we’ll do unusual things. We’ve had a lemon and pink peppercorn, which is kind of an unusual tasting experience,” said Johnson. “It’s a really good opportunity to try out different flavors seasonally, depending on what matches a flavor profile or what’s fresh.”

Johnson founded Prototype in early 2017 with a single Aillio Bullet machine. By 2019, the operation had grown to include three newer Bullet roasters, which helped supply the first cafe.

While the original 1,300-square-foot shop is referred to as Prototype’s “tasting room,” the relatively small seating area and high volume doesn’t always accommodate in-depth experiences. More of those are likely coming to the new shop, where 2,500 square feet of space accommodates 67 indoor seats, with more seating outside. 

With the new bar in place, Johnson said there may be some renewed attention on the growing roasting operation. 

“I can imagine pushing things in an innovative direction with roasting, with some of the new roasters that are coming out,” said Johnson. “I can imagine another iteration down the road. I also don’t want to innovate for the sake of innovation, either. I often feel like when there’s new technology that comes out, there’s a rush to jump on it and start using it right away. I feel like innovation has to be better than the previous; it can’t just be shinier.”

Prototype Coffee is located at 222 W 5th Ave. in Vancouver, BC. Tell DCN’s editors about your new coffee shop or roastery here.