Some of the places on this list might already sound familiar to you. You might have already tasted some of their delicious, eye-popping caffeine-induced beverages, perhaps over a chat with friends, or alone as you take the moment to people watch. But in case you haven’t, here are the most beautiful and best coffee shops in Vancouver that must enter your “caffeinated” bucket list for 2021.
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Best Coffee Shops In Vancouver
1. Revolver
This place is like a coffee planet on its own, where they always meticulously prepare their coffee offer. Here you’ll get to drink some of the most authentic coffee in Gastown, downtown Vancouver. They use only the best roasts, mostly from around North America. But the coffee you’ll order this week may not be available as you return the next week or next month – which adds to the excitement.
Like an open lab for coffee, at Revolver they consistently test new coffee flavours and not every flavour that’s devised ends up on the menu after the testing. They also use a variety of brewing machines to alter the new flavours.
2. Milano Coffee Roaster
Milano is a must-check, family-owned coffee shop in Vancouver. It has been present on the coffee scene since the 1980s, and as the name also hints, they are bringing on an Italian coffee culture in the city.
This coffee shop is Vancouver’s only espresso tasting bar, where they always readily have some eight different espresso samples to try. Each of their espresso uses over ten varieties of 100% premium Arabica coffee beans, so it’s really unique blends. You don’t want to miss La Futura, which is heavenly 10-blend espresso with toffee, spice, and florals. Equally enticing: their pour-over, Turk Island drip, French press blends, and Iced latte that is served in a big mason jar. If you are a chocoholic, you’ll gulp down their killer raspberry mocha pretty fast.
3. Iktsuarpok Coffee Stand
Is it a coffee shop or is it a coffee window? Perhaps a coffee stand? Who the hell cares, it’s incredible! This has to be one of the most talked-about coffee shops of 2019. With its small window facing the street to serve people from and no other public access areas. It’s a unique spin on a coffee shop in a city where rents are high and space is at a premium.
4. Wiston
From the genius crew that bought you KOFFIE, comes Lower Lonsdale’s latest lovely land of lattes and lungos!
Winston looks tiny from the outside but it’s a monster venue when you get in. With vaulted ceilings and a kick-ass mezzanine level, there’s loads of seating to perch your coffee-loving cheeks. And on the subject of coffee, the drinks are always delicious. They’re a multi-roaster, so the lineup of beans is always changing. Their food game is next level, with several brunch options and periodic late-night fancy pants dining events.
5. Rocanini Coffee Roasters
Rocanini has earned little media hype and just a modest Instagram following, but Vancouver’s coffee cognoscenti spread the roaster’s virtues like zealous missionaries. Its four cozy cafés serve a seasonally changing variety of single-origin beans from Africa, Asia, and the Americas, which are roasted in the back of its Mount Pleasant location. Being a smaller roaster allows Rocanini to produce limited batches of rare treasures, like the hallowed and usually unobtainable Panamanian Geisha (a type of coffee that originated in Ethiopia but has since been popularized in Panama) that recently appeared on its menus.
6. Timbertrain Coffee Roasters
Timbertrain draws harried crowds of tourists and office workers to its tall, narrow, Gastown café which is decked out like a modernist 1920s-inspired railway car. Pour-overs from its ‘slow bar’ are worth waiting for and lingering over. Its African brews burst with vibrant fruit flavors, while its South American offerings envelope tastebuds with rich nuttiness. Timbertrain roasts its beans and bakes cookies and other treats at its depot near Commercial Drive.
7. Matchstick
Matchstick opened its roastery and the first of its shops in 2012, growing into an acclaimed mini-empire with five bright open spaces that bustle with creative workers and young parents. It also supplies discerning cafés and restaurants in the area (including Revolver, listed above) with its flavorful, yet unfussy single-origin coffees, and with rustic baked goods like its naturally leavened country bread. Matchstick makes all its products with deliberate care. They are best enjoyed in a comfortable seat with time to savor them. This is one of the best coffee shops in Vancouver you should not miss.
