It’s increasingly hard to find a good coffee and pastry in Calgary for less than $10. So, here’s an outstanding pairing for only $5.
Of course, there’s a wee caveat or two. As in buy one, get one free (Can I just get the free one?) And you have to hit two places. But it’s still a hell of a deal.
Who doesn’t love a free coffee?
We start at Butter Block, in the Beltline’s Devenish Building, to pick up a superb croissant, muffin or tart for about $5. We then wander, a stone’s throw away, to Q.lab, arguably the best coffee shop in Calgary. Q.lab doesn’t serve food, but they let you bring your own, hence the stop at Butter Block.
Q.lab coffee in Calgary’s Beltline
Here’s the caveat. You need to buy a pound or more of their excellent Chronicle-roasted beans, which you probably need to purchase anyway, and for only about $20 a pound.
The good news is that having bought said beans, you get a free coffee. Which can be a fine espreso-based drink or, my preference, a lovingly prepared pour-over coffee (from your choice of more than a dozen bean types).
A perfect pour over
So here’s the math. About $5 for the pastry and zero for the coffee drink, which would normally cost upwards of $6 if you didn’t buy any beans.
After visiting some 40 Calgary coffeehouses over a couple of months, it’s time to pick my top 10—from the best java and neighbourhood hangouts to the quirkiest.
1.Q.lab (105, 206 11 Avenue SW) is all about the coffee. Order a pour over and you’re asked to choose from eight bean varieties roasted by parent company Chronicle. Once the coffee arrives in a little glass beaker, you’re asked to wait two more minutes to let the flavours bloom. And there’s no food, offered, though you can bring in a baked treat from Butter Block across the street.
Q.lab is my number one Calgary coffeehouse
2. Sought X Found (916 Centre Street North) is arguably the best combination roaster and coffee shop in Calgary. It’s well worth visiting the brick-walled café for a hand-brewed drip coffee and a pastry from the celebrated Butter Block. Even the milk for its drinks comes from an organic farm.
Sought X Found is an excellent, cool coffeehouse and roaster
3. Sierra Cafe (39, 6439 Crowchild Trail SW) is my idea of a neighbourhood coffeehouse, with folks from the southwest community of Lakeview congregating in this narrow space to chat over good coffee and scones. Other great neighbourhood hangouts: Friends Cafe in Edgemont and Higher Grounds in Hillhurst.
Sierra Cafe is everything a neighbourhood coffee shop should be
4. Rosso Coffee Roaster’s flagship cafe (15, 803 24 Avenue SE) is in a historic Ramsay building, with an expansive patio. Watch award-winning baristas pull shots while you munch on a fabulous, toasted and buttered cheese bun (recipe from the owner’s mother).
Rosso Coffee Roaster’s flagship cafe is in an historic Ramsay building
5. The Roasterie (314, 10 Street NW) It’s dimly lit and cramped, the chugging coffee roaster rubbing shoulders with patrons at a handful of small tables. No matter. This longtime Sunnyside fixture produces the best dark-roast coffee in Calgary, the rich flavour of my not-drowned-in-hot-water Americano lingering on the tongue. Bonus points for a dedication to cold-brew coffee, to stay or go.
The Roasterie has been producing fine coffee for four decades
6. Want to seriously up your coffee game? Just pop by Eight Ounce Coffee (2040, 2600 Portland Street SE), in an industrial district,and peruse hundreds of roasted beans, from as far away as Florence, or perhaps invest in a $5,200 espresso machine. Or sample a much cheaper flight of coffees.
Eight Ounce Coffee offers roasted beans from around the world
7.Mob Squad Cafe (150 9 Avenue SW) is certainly unique. It involves taking a 21-floor elevator ride to a lofty coffeehouse perch overlooking the office towers of downtown Calgary.
Mob Squad Cafe sits 21 floors up in downtown Calgary
8. Semantics Cafe (1010 1 Street SE) is perhaps the artsiest coffee shop in Calgary. Beneath its impossibly high ceiling are local art, a drum kit, old vinyl records and books. Bonus points for the fresh Butter Block pastries and Chronicle-roasted beans.
Semantics Cafe fits all the local arts under a high-high ceiling
9. During the day, Qamaria Yemeni Coffee (1441 17 Avenue SW) operates as a typical Beltline coffeeshop, albeit with a Middle East-leaning pastry and drink menu. It really comes alive late at night as a lively Muslim gathering spot, especially during fast-ending Ramadan.
10.Velet (105, 206 11 Avenue SE) is Calgary’s quirkiest cafe—a bike/ski repair and tuneup shop, on the edge of downtown, that also serves excellent coffee and treats. Oh, and the entrance is from a back alley.
Velet is a back-alley bike and ski shop that also serves fine coffee
Devil’s Head Coffee has a wee coffee bar in front and roasting gear in the back
Devil’s Head Coffee had me (a former mountaineer) as soon as I walked in the door of their little Calgary roastery and saw photos of owners Chris and Tanis climbing rock and ice routes in the Ghost Valley.
But then they checked all the boxes of what I’m looking for in a roaster. First and foremost is the excellent quality of the coffee, featuring a dozen single-origin and custom-blended beans from farms and co-ops around the world. Those beans are small-batch roasted several days a week.
And Devil’s Head does what every coffee roaster should do but usually doesn’t: print the roast date right on the bags. That way you know the coffee is fresh.
The sign of freshness: the roasting date right on the package
So far, I’ve been to the roastery and little coffee bar only twice; they’re located way down in industrial southeast Calgary. No matter. They regularly deliver to every part of the city, and it’s free if your order is $40 or more.
Several times, I’ve ordered in the morning and had a parcel on my doorstep that afternoon. Beat that Amazon!
Devil’s Head Coffee Bay 5, 5700 Barlow Trail SE, Calgary Monday to Thursday 9 am-5 pm, Friday 9 am-4 pm. Closed weekends. 403-561-8274
Marathon Mouth 