This East Vancouver cafe made coffee from berries it harvested on site

Many Vancouver coffee shops claim to brew the freshest cups of joe but one eastside cafe might have them all beat.

Over the past few years, Laughing Bean Coffee has grownand harvestedcoffee berries from a plant that growsin the corner of theshop.

This week, the berrieswere roasted and staff finally got to taste thehyper-local brew.

"It's the best coffee I've ever had," said Wayne Bertrand, co-owner of Laughing Bean.

The coffee was roasted atJJ Bean, Laughing Bean's supplier and business partner.

Staff gathered at the JJ Bean cafe on Main Street and 14th Avenue on Wednesday for the tasting,with samplers saying the flavour profile contained hints of cinnamon, popcornand wood.

"We've never tasted coffee that was grown in Canada before. It's one of a kindfor us," saidGrady Buhler, coffee quality leader at JJ Bean.

"It's not specialty coffee by any means, but it doesn't have any taints or faults," said Buhler.

Coffee is not typically grown in Canada, as the plants require consistent heat. But Bertrand says he was able to grow the coffee by meticulously caring for the plant and drying the berries as he harvested each batch.

New life for a neglected plant

The plant was gifted to the coffee shop on East Hastings Streetby a customer when it first opened 19 years ago.

"For quite a few years it just sat there in the corner with me not taking care of it, looking kind of sick," said Bertrand.

In 2015, Bertrand decided it was time to start taking care of the plant. He re-potted it, gave it better soiland began to water and prune it regularly.

"Boy, it loved that.It just shot up," said Bertrand.

In 2018, Bertrand left for the winter for a temporary job at Big White ski resort. When he got back in the spring, he was shocked to findthe plant had "a burst of beautiful white flowers."

He did not think it was possible that a coffee plant could flower in Canada.

After a few months, theflowers grew into coffee berries, properly known as cherries. Once they ripened and turned red, they were ready for harvesting.

"I squished [the beans] out of the cherries, put them on a plateand let them dry," said Bertrand.

It tooktwo crops over two yearsto get a pound of beans, with theharvestyielding about eight cups of coffee and a jar of beans left over for future batches.

That means that coffee growing won't be a commercial activity for Laughing Bean.ButBertrand says he wants to continue harvesting and trydifferent processes.