One of the things that defines Paris and many European cities is their café culture. I recently read a piece about the seven iconic cafes of Paris which made me wonder, “Does Calgary have an iconic café?” Maybe more than one?

Link: 7 Iconic Cafes You Need To Visit In Paris

While Calgary’s café culture might not be as famous as those in European and some other North American cities, our city is home to a vibrant and diverse café/coffee culture. In fact, Calgary hosted Canada’s Special Coffee Association’s National Barista Championships in May 2023. And guess what, local Ben Put co-owner of Monogram Coffee won the National Barista Championship for the sixth time.

Today, almost every Calgary inner-city neighbourhood has its own independent café.

One of my favourite Calgary cafes is Higher Ground in Kensington Village where you can grab a window seat enjoy the street ballet below you. Higher Ground is very bohemian, I once met with one of Calgary’s best known authors Aritha van Herk at this cafe.

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Criteria

What makes a café iconic? Is it age? Someone famous who used to or currently hangs out there? Is it the coffee? Food? Design? Atmosphere? Location? Maybe some or all the above!

For this blog, I decided to focus on some of Calgary’s older coffee houses with a unique sense of place.

Higher Ground

Kensington’s Higher Ground, is the city’s oldest café opening in 1982, which is very young in European terms. Perhaps its claim to fame is it defeated Starbucks which opened their first Calgary café next to it in 1996 but closed its doors in 2019. While a new Deville Coffee now occupies the former Starbucks space, Higher Ground continues to thrive.

Location: 1126 Kensington Rd NW

The Roasterie

Also, in Kensington (Yes, Kensington Village is where Calgary’s coffee culture started) is The Roasterie, which opened in 1985. It offers a selection of coffee beans from around the world that are roasted in-house. The café is a bit like a museum with its hundreds of fun coffee artifact on display. Located next to the 10th Street pocket plaza that is populated by a cast of characters throughout the day makes for some great people watching.

Location: 314 10th St. NW

Café Beano

On the other side of downtown is Café Beano which opened in 1990 and is open 365 days of a year just in case Santa Claus needs a coffee. It is the favourite hang-out spot for many Calgary artists from all genres. The sidewalk outside is an extension of the café with several benches occupied year-round with people engaged in serious conversations.

Location: 1613 9th St. SW

I love how the cafe vibe spills out onto the street at Cafe Beano even in the winter. Cafe Beano used to be the favourite hangout spot of Calgary playwright Eugene Stickland in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Cadence COffee

Located along Bowness’s mid-century Main Street with its diagonal street parking is Cadence Coffee. It is hard to miss its bright red awning and street benches. Inside it is more like a diner than a cafe, but serves up a good cup of java and sweets. If you are there on a weekend don’t be surprised if there are a lot of cyclists hanging out as it popular with Calgary’s cyclist community, perhaps because of the Tour de Bowness Race and Street Festival every August.

Location: 6407 Bowness Road NW

Weeds Café

Located in the funky Capitol Hill Village, Weeds Café has a definite bohemian college vibe with its mis-matched eclectic collection of wooden tables and chairs with well used patinas. Perhaps this is not surprising given lots of students from University of Calgary, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Alberta University of the Arts live in the area. There is also funky local art on the wall; this is definitely not your sleek contemporary designer café.

Location: 1903 20th Ave NW

Bell’s Café

Bell’s Cafe is another off-the-beaten path café, located near but not in the heart of Marda Loop Village. Like Weeds, it has a bohemian atmosphere which is enhanced by the fact it is also quaint bookstore.

Location: 1515 34 Ave SW

Luke’s Drug Mart Café

Family owned since 1951, Luke’s Drug Mart has evolved into a smash-up of drug store meets post office, meets general store meets café. The café component currently serves up Bows & Arrows coffee, a small family roasterie from Victoria B.C., was added about 20 years ago. (Side Note: Luke’s is also famous for its soft ice cream, one of Calgary’s most famous foodies who shall remain unnamed) raves about their key lime and vanilla ice cream.)

112 4th ST. NE

Angel’s Cafe

Angel’s Cafe has perhaps the prettiest location on the north bank of the Bow River with direct access from the popular Bow River pathway at the entrance to the Edworthy Park pedestrian bridge. It is the perfect spot for enjoying a coffee and doing some people watching year-round.

Location: 4105 Montgomery View NW

Café Rosso Ramsay

Café Rosso is the new kid on the grinder opening in 2007 in Ramsay’s funky circa 1920s Dominion Bridge (old foundry) industrial site. Like The Roasterie, it roasts its own coffee beans which are ethically sourced from small farmers around the world.

Location: 803 24 Ave SE Maybe Not Iconic But Worth A Visit

Calgary Heritage Roasting Company

Located in the historic CC Snowden Building (built in phases from 1911 to 1914), Calgary Heritage Roasting Company combines the smells of coffee with history.

Location: 2020 11th St. SE.

Sought x Found Coffee Roasters

It not only serves an excellent cup of coffee (and tea) but offers front row window seats for people watching along Centre Street North.

Location 916 Centre St. N

Pocket Café

Pocket Café is Calgary’s smallest café with just two tables and a couple of window seats. It not only provides a quaint place to sit, but also provides coffee for the patrons of Dairy Lane Café next door, which is Calgary’s oldest restaurant building - opened in the 1950s as the Milk Bar. Pocket Café also serves old fashioned milkshakes.

Location: 317 19th St NW

Fringe Coffee

Located along Montgomery’s main street, Fringe Coffee’s claim to fame is its unique seating which includes swings suspended from the ceiling for some tables. The coffee is good too!

Location: 4628 Bowness Rd NW

Good Trade Co.

Good Trade started as a pop-up at the Crossroads Farmers Market before opening its flagship café in Kensington Village. Its location in a flatiron building offers front row seats for people watching in the plaza across the street. It is unique in that it sources all its coffee from Colombia.

Location: 1154 Kensington Crescent NW

Kawa Espresso Bar

Kawa is Polish for coffee, a tribute to owners Les and Ottilia’s love of the traditions of their homeland. While I am not an espresso drinker, but I am told by those who are that Kawa serves up one of the best espressos in the city. It also offers an eclectic live music program.

1333 8th St. SW

Congress Café

Congress Café is another new kid on the block opening in the spring of 2023. Located in an industrial/warehouse district, it has a coffeehouse vibe, hosting art exhibitions and an ambitious music program. Owner Johanna Schwartz hopes the café to be an incubator for the local arts and music scene.

Location: 215 36th Ave NE

Café Gravity

Café Gravity’s Inglewood location is a popular hangout spot for artists living in the Inglewood and Ramsay neighbourhoods and is part of Calgary’s budding Music Mile.

Location: 909 10th St SE

But There Is More

Calgary is also home to several contemporary, Calgary-based, cafe chains, some with award winning baristas – Analog, Phil and Sebastian, Monogram and Good Earth Coffeehouse. Alforno Bakery and Café is the best spot to grab a coffee before wandering the Bow River Promenade in Eau Claire. Vendome is a fun off-the-beaten path cafe in Sunnyside just east of Kensington Village.

Iconic cafés need good equipment.

When Vince Izzo arrived in Calgary from Pietramelara, Italy in 1968, a good espresso was difficult to find here. There were only a handful of commercial espresso machines in restaurants around Calgary. Today his Cappuccino King offers a wide range of the latest in coffee equipment to the city’s cafes.

A decade later, Mr. Cappuccino began as a direct importer of specialty restaurant and coffee equipment. Owner Walter Cattoni (Head Bean) started with a small clientele list, selling mainly to local restaurants and cafes, who shared his passion for traditional, quality Italian food and coffee. As espresso coffees became more mainstream in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Walter and his wife Yvonne started to expand their variety of specialty coffee equipment brands imported directly from Italy to meet Calgarians demand for a good cup of coffee.

Eight Ounce Coffee (EOC) was started in 2011 by Wes and Jen Farnell, to provide Calgary cafes with the best specialty coffee gear and equipment needed to make some of the best coffee in the world.

Today, EOC is the biggest specialty coffee equipment distributer in Canada, selling to almost three thousand cafes, roasters, hotels, kitchen and lifestyle stores across North America. The huge warehousing facility handles more than 3,000 different products, most of which are exclusive to Eight Ounce in Canada and some areas of the U.S.

Last Word

So, there you have it, a good starting point for exploring Calgary’s café culture. It is one of the city’s best hidden gems. Happy slurping!

Calgary: Does our city have an iconic cafe?