The 29 Best Coffee Shops in Canada

This is a neighborhood bakery-cafe on a leafy corner of Limoilou, the kind of place where a black garlic scone layered with turnip greens counts as a perfectly normal thing to buy. The pastry counter leans vegan-friendly and a little experimental, and the lunch specials rotate. There are high chairs for the small people and tiny tables for the grown-up ones, who can drift into the late-afternoon soup and salad deal with a glass of something sparkling.

The original Yonge Street location is a cozy cave of a cafe where De Mello first started roasting, before the brand grew into a multi-city operation run by two Korean-born, Melbourne-educated brothers who came to Toronto and decided the coffee scene needed fixing. It's a specialty coffee shop serving the company's own blends, single origins, and seasonal drinks, with pastries alongside. Small enough to feel like a neighborhood secret, even if that ship has long since sailed.

A turquoise bay-and-gable house in Kensington Market, Fika is a Nordic-inspired coffee shop where the owner roasts his own beans in the back room on a machine he describes as "a toy." The cardamom cinnamon buns and Dala horse ginger snaps are the kind of baking that makes you linger, and the hygge aesthetic earns its name without trying too hard.

A Mavam undercounter espresso machine anchors the bar while bicycle mechanics work the wings, which tells you everything about this coffee bar and bike shop tucked into The Well. Beans rotate through a roster of Canadian roasters, snacks arrive by cargo bike from the original Little Portugal location, and the whole setup manages to take both coffee and two-wheeled transport with equal, unironic seriousness.

A floor-to-ceiling latte art mural greets you at this homey coffee shop near Emily Carr, where students and profs tend to stake out a corner and stay awhile. The loft upstairs has a long counter built for exactly that. Single-origin beans, espresso with a chocolate-leaning sweetness, and a chocolate chip cookie that earns its reputation round out the picture.

The wood-and-rose-petal structure here bloomed from the minds at Perkins & Will, which tells you something about the coffee shop before you've ordered anything. This is a specialty cafe that takes its sourcing seriously, roasting beans from farms the team has visited across Central and South America and India. Pour-overs and lattes arrive at the table. Croissants from Dope Bakehouse change with the season. On sunny days, the brick plaza fills up fast.

The building itself stops people mid-pedal: a wood-based rose-petal structure designed by Perkins & Will, sitting next to Emily Carr University in False Creek Flats. This coffee shop roasts beans sourced from farms across Central America, South America, and India, with pour-overs and lattes brought to your table. On sunny days, the brick plaza fills with art students who clearly have better taste in coffee shops than the rest of us.

The coffee shop that bloomed from an architecture firm's rose-petal vision sits beside Emily Carr University, which tells you something about the crowd. Inside, birch plywood and a fabric fin installation dropping from the ceiling give it the feel of a gallery that also pulls excellent espresso. Beans are sourced from farms the team has visited in person, and pour-overs and lattes are brought to your table. The paved plaza out front fills up fast on sunny days.

Baristas here share tasting notes from their own in-house brewing, not whatever the bag says, before your cup even arrives. This sleek coffee shop sits below grade in Arthur Erickson's Waterfall Building, just outside Granville Island, with concrete floors, light-wood benches, and a single pop of royal blue holding the room together. The featured beans rotate through roasters from Edmonton to Amsterdam, and the Tokyo loose-leaf teas are worth your attention too.

Spun copper pendant lights hang above the coffee bar, and behind it sits the roastery with a Joper roaster imported from Portugal. This bright, airy coffee shop on Oak Street is one of several Pallet locations around Vancouver, each with its own personality. The high ceilings, exposed wood trusses, and a wall of plants set a mood that's industrial but welcoming. Fresh pastries round out the single-origin espresso program nicely.

Spun copper pendants hang above the coffee bar at this Railtown roastery cafe, with a 60-kilogram Joper roaster from Portugal visible behind it. Pallet has several Vancouver locations, but this one is the source, and the bright, plant-lined room draws a neighborhood mix of loft dwellers and laptop workers in equal measure. The single-origin long black is the move, and the raspberry lemon loaf makes a solid case for staying longer than planned.

Spun copper pendant lights hang above the coffee bar, and behind it sits the roastery with its Portuguese-built drum roaster, which does a lot to explain the smell when you walk in. This is a bright, airy coffee shop with high ceilings, exposed wood trusses, and enough varied seating that you can have a real conversation or quietly work through your afternoon. Fresh pastries round things out when you need something to eat.

Copper pendant lights hang over the coffee bar, and the roastery sits right behind it, so you watch the whole operation while you order. Pallet is a bright, roomy coffee shop with high ceilings, exposed trusses, and enough varied seating that you can actually stay a while. The pastry case runs to things like raspberry lemon loaf. A long black with single-origin espresso is the move if you can't decide.

Copper pendant lights hang above the bar, and behind it sits a Portuguese roaster the size of a small car. Pallet is a bright, airy coffee shop on Kingsway, part of a roaster group with several Vancouver outposts. The beans lean Ethiopian and Colombian, a long black with single-origin espresso is the move, and fresh pastries cover the basics. The open industrial room with high wood-truss ceilings fills easily with laptop workers and actual conversations alike.

Copper pendant lights hang above the espresso bar, and behind it sits a roaster big enough to make a point. Pallet is a coffee shop with several Vancouver locations; this one on Melville draws the laptop crowd and the lingerers alike into a high-ceilinged industrial room softened by trailing plants and blown-glass lights. Single-origin long blacks are the move, and the raspberry lemon loaf holds its own.

The entrance is buried inside a concrete-and-rust cylinder on a busy street, which sets the tone: this coffee shop rewards the curious. Inside, moss-covered walls and mirror angles that suggest stalactites make it feel like a very good cave. The team roasts in small batches on four compact roasters behind the bar and tailors drink recommendations to your flavor preferences, so let them lead. Waffle donuts rotate through glazes like pistachio spice.

The entrance is half-hidden behind a concrete and rusted metal cylinder on a busy stretch of East Hastings, which keeps the right people curious and everyone else moving. Inside, this coffee shop goes full cave: moss walls, dark wood, angular mirrors doing their best stalactite impression. Four small in-house roasters mean tight batches and serious room to experiment, and the staff will ask your flavor preferences before they recommend anything.

The pain au chocolat in the glass case is close enough to the queue that resisting it becomes someone else's problem. This Yaletown coffee shop splits its identity evenly between serious cafe and in-house bakery, with pour-overs from Canadian roasters and bread baked on the premises. Wood beams, marble tables, and brass-rod geometry on the walls give it a look that earns its following of counter-sitters who never quite leave.

The sign above the door reads "Non-conforming since 1992," which sets expectations correctly for this dark, low-key coffee bar on Commercial Drive. Regulars settle in at the community table or claim a two-top for an hour of work, while foot traffic drifts over from Grandview Park across the street. The beans come from Milano Coffee, roasted to the original Conca d'Oro blend. The art on the walls depicts the neighborhood; so does the room itself.

A takeout window tucked into a North End grocery store, Espresso 46 is easy to miss and hard to forget. The owner moved from Italy with a mission: proper espresso culture, full stop, no filter coffee in sight. The house roastery supplies everything on the menu, and in summer the parking lot becomes a patio where locals caffeinate after their grocery run, which is convenient given the shared lease.

The coffee here comes from Espresso 46, roasted a few miles away, which sets the tone for a cafe that keeps things local and unfussy. Ramblers is a full-service neighborhood cafe in downtown Halifax where the chess-and-latte crowd mixes with the croque monsieur lunch people without anyone seeming to mind. It started as a pop-up inside a cider bar and outlasted its landlord, which says something about the following it built.