The customer asked for a shot of Baileys in his coffee.

Sohail “Zee” Zaidi didn’t hear the request correctly, and placed a bay leaf in the customer’s cup.

It sounds like the beginnings of a deadpan joke from the late, great Norm Macdonald, but it’s a true story. It was 25 years ago, and Zaidi had just purchased the Remedy coffee shop on 109 Street, near the University of Alberta Campus. But he didn’t know much about the business, or serving coffee in general. Before coming to Edmonton, Zaidi had hopped the globe in search of his fortune. From his native Pakistan he travelled to Thailand, Singapore, Poland, Germany and then the United States. He drove a cab in New York City for more than a decade. But then he met a woman from Edmonton, fell in love, and the globetrotter made his final, pe

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