Here’s a deal that’s better than happy hour. Free.
Every time I pick up fresh-roasted coffee beans at Q.lab,in Calgary’s Beltline, they give me a free coffee—in my case a meticulously crafted, two-cup pour over, normally costing about $6.50.
A. fabulous, free pour over
I usually order two pounds of their Chronicle beans, which at $40 is quite reasonable for this high quality.
So, great beans and best coffee in Calgary, at $6.50 off. What’s not to like?
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.
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
After railing last week about unhealthy restaurant breakfasts, I wondered what food and drink “vices” would be the toughest for me to give up.
Coffee jumpstarts my every morning
Number one, with a bullet, is coffee. A super-sized, super intense black coffee, produced with an Aeropress, jumpstarts my every morning, usually while I’m perusing the online news. Green tea would never be a replacement. And, it turns out, coffee is pretty good for you.
Number two is a tall can of beer, specifically a hoppy India Pale Ale, especially towards the end of a hot summer’s afternoon and most enjoyably shared on a patio with good friends. But I’ve discovered I can go several weeks without a brew. Just don’t see myself ever giving it up entirely.
The cure for whatever ales me
There’s nothing like a health scare to motivate a change in dietary habits. I used to polish off two or three bowls of ice cream in a single sitting, no problem. But when I was diagnosed with type two diabetes, I almost immediately dumped that binging habit. Haven’t had more than a few tastes of ice cream in the 20-plus years since. Same with desserts, chocolate, anything sweet. Don’t miss them.
Could you give up ice cream?
Enough about me. What would be the hardest “unhealthy” things for you to give up? A venti caramel macchiato? A pint of lager? A bottle of red? Two fingers of single malt? Dark chocolate? Eggs benedict?
Or artery-clogging eggs benedict?
Poutine? A Double Whopper? BBQ potato chips? THC gummies? Pepperoni sticks? A can of Pepsi? Peach pie with a scoop of vanilla? A stack of pancakes, dusted in icing sugar and swimming in butter and maple syrup?
Or a slab of mile-high pie?
Or maybe you have no intention of giving up these simple pleasures.
Bean Brokers is a cozy coffee shop in Olds, Alberta
Here’s a clever way to find a good, substantial lunch in Calgary for less than $10. Get out of Calgary!
Okay, it’s illogical. But the math works when we gather, for a cousins’ reunion, in Olds, an agricultural town of 9,000 an hour’s drive north of Calgary off the QE 2.
It’s kind of hard to read the metal menu board at Bean Brokers, a cozy coffee shop where we meet. But I’m nonetheless rubbing my eyes in disbelief at the prices.
These days, I’m used to paying $12 and up for a decent sandwich in Calgary. Here, I’m only being charged $8 for a substantial grilled turkey panini with pesto. A first-rate breakfast sandwich is about the same price. And the big mugs of coffee are good, too.
A fine turkey panini for only $8
In fact, we’re having such a good time, it’s hard to get the 10 of us out the door. But off we must go for an early-season tour of the extensive botanic gardens and wetlands at Olds College.
The college opened in 1913 and offers extensive agricultural and horticultural education. One of its programs is learning how to make craft beer. How good is that? The good news is there’s a retail store, where imbibing members of the public can mix and match from about half a dozen styles of beer.
Stocking up on student-crafted brews at Olds College Brewery
Finally, the college has a national meat training centre, with again a retail store where you can buy fine, reasonably priced steaks, roasts and sausages.
And retail meats
Did I mention, Olds is only an hour north of Calgary?
Marathon Mouth 