Vintage Caffeine the latest coffee shop in Hillhurst
Calgary has its Barley Belt, a collection of craft breweries in the city’s southeast. Perhaps it’s time to declare a similar coffee circuit.
Quietly and quite recently, four coffee shops have opened along a few blocks of 19th Street in the northwest neighbourhood of Hillhurst. Here’s a brief description of each.
I invariably take my coffee black, typically an Americano/Canadiano. But in the interests of research, I’m willing to add some white liquid to the mix.
At vegan Vintage Caffeine, (101 19 Street NW) that means the dairy-free “milk” is instead oat, soy or almond. I’m not ready to switch to white, but my oat milk cappuccino (Fratello beans) tastes pretty darn good, paired with a house-made chipotle empanada.
Vintage has gone vegan
Now here’s a true partnership. The aptly named Pocket Coffee (317 19 Street SW) is owned by attached Dairy Lane Café, with roasted beans from Fratello and baked treats from superb Butter Block. Be bold and tackle a French toast latte and double-baked apple croissant on the sidewalk patio.
Pocket Coffee
Crave Cupcakes has expanded its mini empire with a new Hillhurst bakery that includes an attached coffee shop, CeCe’s Coffee (114 18 A Street). Order a Monogram-based java with a fresh-baked cupcake or savoury cheddar scone.
Here’s a handful of additional good Calgary coffee stops, primarily in kiosks and other small spaces. Most offer excellent Butter Block pastries.
Cafe du Parc North Glenmore Park 7305 Crowchild Trail SW
If you’re strolling or cycling the verdant pathways of North Glenmore Park, pause at this kiosk for a fine jolt of java and a croissant from celebrated Butter Block.
A community gathering place for young families, yoga classes or just a good coffee and a famous Glamorgan Bakery cheese bun. Check out the fresh produce and micro-baked bagels at Apple Lady market next door.
Social Grounds an Oakridge community gathering place
Okay, this incongruous place is just west of Calgary. But if you’re close to Springbank Airport, it’s worth dropping in to new Adola Cafe, an elegant, high-ceilinged space serving Ethiopian coffee, with calming classical music in the background.
Don’t be surprized to see folks arriving at Velet on two wheels. That’s because this funky, edge-of-downtown coffee spot is also a bicycle/ski repair and tune-up shop. Owner Hakan Kayabasi does it all: ski/bike technician, expert barista and purveyor of fresh-baked Turkish treats.
Semantics, on the edge of downtown, 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.
Gravity is a cozy, 13-year-old coffeeshop that welcomes residents and visitors to vibrant Inglewood. Come for fresh-roasted beans and a berry yogurt bowl. Stay for the unparalleled live music.
Canela is a destination for vegans seeking a different take on baked treats, like cinnamon rolls or gussied-up croissants. The casually elegant space, which includes a cozy café, is perfect for a mid-morning sweet treat and a latte.
Rosso is a Calgary coffee juggernaut, hitting it out of the park with this flagship cafe in the historic Dominion Bridge Building in Ramsay. Watch award-winning baristas pull shots while you munch on a fabulous, toasted and buttered cheese bun (recipe from the owner’s mother).
Want to seriously up your coffee game? Just pop by Eight Ounce 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.
It’s not hard to spot Baya Rica Café, near the western entrance to the Bridgeland community. Just look for the bright yellow house with a long metal smokestack. The latter is attached to an in-house stove roasting beans from an affiliated Costa Rican farm. A cappuccino goes well with a Mexican wedding cookie.
Baya Rica’s bright yellow cafe and coffee roaster
Mari Bakeshop Bridgeland 103 Saint Matthews Square NE
The good espresso-based drinks are mainly a pretext for loading up on arguably the finest baked treats in Calgary—from airy croissants to slices of roll cake. A warning: This place gets crazy busy on summer weekends.
Hidden in a Tuxedo industrial park, the dimly lit Congress is nonetheless a new community gathering spot for small-batch-roasted coffee, art shows and live music. Combine a pecan tart with a “pay what you feel” drip coffee.
The Roasterie Neighbourhood: Sunnyside 314 10 Street NW
Amazingly, I was around when The Roasterie opened 40 years ago in this little Kensington shop. Not much has changed over the years, including the owners and an onsite, gas-powered roaster. Try the cold brew to stay or bottled to go.
This nearby café is even older (established 1982), focusing on organic, ethically sourced beans. Try a “Hi Test” mix of espresso and brewed coffee, along with an in-house baked pastry or a breakfast burrito.
Now here’s a true partnership. The aptly named Pocket Coffee is owned by attached Dairy Lane Café, with roasted beans from Fratello and baked treats from superb Butter Block. Be bold and tackle a French toast latte and double-baked apple croissant on the sidewalk patio.
Described as a bohemian hangout, Weeds often attracts folks actually reading books and writing with pen and pencil. Soak in the relaxed scene while sipping a 49th Parallel coffee and munching on a sausage roll.
Fenyk is named for the community-minded fennec fox, having recently burrowed in next to the Northland Village Mall. The Rosso-roasted coffee goes well with a breakfast omelette hand pie.
With a name like this, I gotta try a made-to-order sandwich alongside my caffeine fix. My choice is a substantial Californian ($16.50)—a piling of turkey, chicken and bacon—chased by a macchiato, made from Fratello beans (it also serves locally blended Grounded Teas). Alenn is a newish café tucked in a Varsity Estates strip mall off busy Crowchild Trail.
Alenn marries sandwiches and coffee
Minuet Cafe Charleswood 1161C Northmount Drive
Minuet is a calming space, focusing on house-baked cakes, tarts and a half-dozen types of mini quiches, including my fine, warmed up cheddar and broccoli.
While it shares the name of the fat-infused coffee craze, Bullet Coffee House shows the staying power of a 25-year-old neighbourhood café. It treats loyal customers to warm, over-the-top oat muffins and bullet coffee featuring coconut milk, cinnamon, cocoa and honey.
Whether you’re coming off a nearby Nose Hill park walk or meeting friends, this cozy café has for three decades been a popular place for a coffee, baked treat or panini. An early Friday lunch is advised to snag a bountiful bowl of New England clam chowder before they run out.
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.
Okay, this incongruous place is just west of Calgary. But if you’re close to Springbank Airport, it’s worth dropping in to new Adola Cafe, an elegant, high-ceilinged space serving Ethiopian coffee, with calming classical music in the background.
Adola Cafe is elegant coffeehouse near the Springbank Airport
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
A butter croissant and a sweet scone at fabulous Calgary pastry baker Butter Block
I came for a simple butter croissant. I left with so much more.
Butter Block & Co. makes arguably Calgary’s finest butter croissant, albeit with stiff competition from the likes of Manuel Latruwe, Black Sheep and Yann Haute Patisserie. Butter Block certainly delivered, for me, on all that a winning croissant promises: requisite multiple layers of butter-dripping, crispy yet pillowy pastry.
Yet I couldn’t stop at a single croissant, given the creative diversity that beckoned from Butter Block Café’s display case. I tacked on to my plate a lovely, crumbly sweet scone but could only wistfully gaze at the pain au chocolate, an unusual sesame croissant and the pastel de natas (Portuguese custard tarts), which I once swooned over in Lisbon. Future visits are certain.
The display case kept being replenished with fresh, innovative pastries
What knocked Butter Block out of the park for me was a holy grail quest finally answered—an exceptional bakery paired with an excellent coffee shop. Sometimes you get one but rarely both.
Yet in this cozy midtown Calgary café, everyone else was sipping on lovingly produced pour-over coffees. So of course, I added this to my tab and was rewarded with a smooth, earthy brew. It turns out, Butter Block has worked with David Kim in a Calgary roastery called Paradigm Spark.
The pour-over coffee bar. Soon to disappear?
Is all this too good to be true? Perhaps. Paradigm Spark is leaving the location December 31 in search of its own space, with Butter Block stepping in to fill the coffee void. We’ll see how it goes. But before I left, I made sure to snag a bag of Melody beans roasted less than a week ago.
I snagged some fresh-roasted beans while I could
Butter Block was established in 2017 by Karen Kong, a graduate of SAIT’s Baking and Pastry Arts program. The bakery is across the hall from the café, in the historic Devenish building, and it’s where you can pick up frozen croissants, to be baked at home. That’s because the best croissant is one just pulled from the oven.
Marathon Mouth 