SF Bay Area
Film.Theater.Arts
Food.Wine
Gadgets.Tech
Loreto Baja Sur
SSC Wine Guide
Wine Blog
Recipes
WineTube TV
What's Happening
Foodie Center: Recipes SSC On Location: SF Chefs SJ Jazz Fest Taste Tomato 01SJ Biennial Theater: ReviewsGuide Trending: Amazon Kindle 3
cozy hugs in winter
01.04.10

Bridgehead Coffee: Full-bodied lattes worth the flight to Ottawa

While in Ottawa last week, we dropped by a Bridgehead coffeehouse in Westboro for some hot lattes after our workout at GoodLife Fitness. Bridgehead Coffee is exclusive to the Ottawa area and specializes in 100% fairly traded and organic coffees and teas.

It was originally founded by two United Church ministers and two social activists in Toronto who were concerned about the fate of small-scale coffee farmers in Nicaragua facing challenges of unfair terms of intermediaries and a U.S. trade embargo. In its 30 year history it has expanded to different product lines and then finally returned to its coffee roots in Ottawa.

I do love the concept of supporting fairly traded and organic coffee, however, one sip of their lattes and, frankly, all I could think about was how good it was.

The latte was hot, rich and full-bodied…surprising since I had ordered it with skim/non-fat milk. The espresso notes in the latte were earthy and had a sweetness of dark chocolate. Paired with the triple berry muffin ($1.50) and it was like a wonderful warm hug on a cold winter’s day. The muffin, unlike some other coffee houses, was moist and really let the natural sweetness of the berries shine. No sickly, sweet lump of dough here!

bridgehead-cafe-ottawa-canada-20

I also tried the Moroccan Chicken Sandwich with Red Pepper Jelly ($5.25) which was a very creative combination and savory. It reminded me of some of the sandwiches I had at Pret a Manger in London.
bridgehead-cafe-ottawa-canada-12

The atmosphere was also relaxed and made you feel welcomed. It did help that they had free wifi which we could jump on with my iPhone and Clint’s Droid.

bridgehead-cafe-ottawa-canada-13 bridgehead-cafe-ottawa-canada-3 bridgehead-cafe-ottawa-canada-16 bridgehead-cafe-ottawa-canada-7

A short visit to Bridgehead it was, however, the memory of that latte still lingers. It was superb. According to their website, the coffee does get shipped from Nicaragua to California and then transported via train to Ottawa.

Perhaps one day, they would decide to toss a couple bags of it off the ship into a Bridgehead location in California?

Loni is a self-professed foodie, adventure travel seeker and aspiring artist. It's been said her laugh can be heard from San Jose all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. She's been known to dance and spin across Napa and the Baja. The former Ms. Global Petite runner-up is host of WineTube TV, SSC Presents and The Artist Diaries. In a former life she was simply: "sushiweakness." More »
Connect: Twitter

View Comments »

  • Jim Stechyson says:

    Great review Loni!

    BH is my favorite in Ottawa – Best Espresso I’ve found!

    I hope Peter tried the 2 shot Americano and Granola cookie – great combo 8-))

    Good to see you and Clint over Christmas.

    Jim

    • Thanks Jim for the BH recommendation as well. Seems to be a crowd favorite in Ottawa.

      As for the Americano suggestion though..isn’t it just a watered-down espresso? Have not been crazy about this style of coffee.

      I saw the Granola cookies, they looked so sinfully decadent.

  • M. Paradi says:

    I went to BH sevral times with my girl friend. They are very expensive. Their coffee is too strong more than Second cup, I had stomache after drink their coffee. The only good thing is free internet.

Have a thought, question or opinion? Feel free to share it with a comment below.

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

This site is Gravatar-enabled. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.

blog comments powered by Disqus
SSC - ALL THINGS WEST COAST
Social: Facebook | Twitter
Mobile: SSC iPhone app
Press/requests/events: press@starksilvercreek.com