Don't limit yourself to the coffee at Starbucks or Blenz — take a peek at Vancouver’s cafe gentrification first hand. Here are some establishments that will make you re-evaluate the term “pretentious hipster.”
Nelson the Seagull
This place is huge, filled with seemingly used furniture and the coffee is great. Lunch consists of a variety of soups, salads and sandwiches that you can watch them make at the back if you get bored with your notes and textbooks. Fun fact, if you go there often enough, they might let you join their Broken Hearts Repair Club and give you a drawer mailbox next to their counter for friends and strangers to leave you behind messages.
Location:
315 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC, V6A 0A7
Opening hours:
Weekdays — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Weekends — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Revolver
If Nelson is a traditional hipster cafe, Revolver is the 21st century equivalent. Considered by many to be one of the best places for coffee in Vancouver, this award-winning coffeehouse has a selection of coffee beans from across North America and you can get shots of three kinds for coffee tasting purposes. Connected next door is Archive by Revolver, where there’s more seats and a coffee brewing equipment “museum” along the wall. Some books and merchandise related to coffee brewing are also available for purchase.
Location:
325 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC, V6B 1H7
Opening hours:
Weekdays — 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday — 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday — Closed
Kafka’s
Smaller than Nelson but bigger than Revolver, this one isn’t as hectic as the other two. Most people actually come here to get stuff done rather than for the actual coffee — even though there coffee isn’t that bad. Local artists frequently exhibit and sell their work here, so you might see something different on the walls every time you visit — take a piece of the cafe home if you like it so much.
Location:
2525 Main St, Vancouver, BC, V5T 3E5
Opening hours:
Monday-Thursday — 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday — 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Weekends — 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Lost + Found Cafe
Dark and slightly mysterious, this place is a bit like a batcave. It’s huge, feels old and you just know that the type of people who go here are the kind who climb mountains and scuba dive for fun. There’s always a movie being projected on the back wall and they sure have a lot of things related to the wonders of the world. There are National Geographic magazines scattered everywhere, a small globe and pictures of rural areas. There are also beanbags if you want to chill or proper tables if you want to look down on those sitting on the beanbags.
Location:
33 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC, V6B 1G4
Opening hours:
Weekdays — 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Weekends — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Le Marche St. George
Out of all the cafes here, this is probably the one you won’t go to due to location alone. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere and — unless you live in the neighbourhood — can be a bit of a hassle to get to. It’s a quirky French-themed cafe that doubles as a small grocery store where you can get overpriced organic food, personal grooming and household items. The space itself is pretty cosy with wooden furnishings everywhere. They serve one thing the rest of the cafes on this list don’t and it's their variety of authentic crepes.
Location:
4393 St George St, Vancouver, BC, V5V 4A3
Opening hours:
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday
Matchsticks Coffee Roasters
A few of the cafes above actually get some of their coffee from Matchsticks as they have a wide selection of coffee beans from all around the world, each with their own distinctive taste. While it’s a bit loud due to its popularity, the wide-open space and mysterious sense of neo-modernism makes this a chill place to be. Like Nelson, they also make their pastries in-house. They also serve alcohol, so you can get drunk and energized at the same time.
Location:
213 East Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 0B1
Opening hours:
7 a.m. to 9 p.m. everyday
There are tons of other cafes with cool names you can check out, but these six should get you started with cafe hopping over the summer and also let you become snobbish about what kind of coffee you consume before exams.
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