The city is abuzz with cafés to suit every javaphile’s taste. 

Whether you like your morning jolt topped with artistically frothed milk, or the science behind the brewing is what really gets you into high gear, the perfect cup is waiting. Here’s where to find it.

Indie aficionado

For you, coffee is a deeply personal experience. You want to know who’s making your coffee and the provenance of the beans.

Get your fix at:

  • Chinatown’s Dark Horse Espresso Bar, which serves signature house blends named after storied racehorses!

  • Corktown’s Tandem, where co-owners Eugene Fung and Michie Yamamoto work the bar themselves, brewing from a rotating roster of local roasters, including Pig Iron, Cut Coffee and Detour.

  • Etobicoke’s Black Goat, where sweets are baked in-house to accompany the fair trade, organic beans roasted nearby.

Avid ‘grammer

Your friends — and your Instagram followers — know you as the expert of the #coffeegram. With taste and good looks, your coffee has to have it all.

Get your fix at:

  • Old Town’s Versus Coffee, a millennial mainstay for its rainbow-coloured latte art and perf natural lighting.
  • Bloordale Village’s Filosophy Pastry and Espresso Bar, which offers freshly baked pies and pastries to accompany your coffee. This cozy atmosphere is the perfect setting for your next insta-worthy picture! 
  • Summerhill Station’s Nutbar has a superfood-focused menu, but it’s the colourfully branded cups that have ’grammers scrambling.

Sleepy parent

Single estate, artisanal…what? For you, coffee has become a lifeline more than a lifestyle. Bring on the rocket fuel, stat! (And room to navigate the stroller, please.)

Get your fix at:

  • Old Town’s Neo Coffee Bar for its roomy, stroller-friendly interior perfect for new-parent meet-ups.
  • West Queen’s Cafe Neon, which has a variety of coffee and tea options that can be paired with one of its globally inspired brunch options.

Global locavarian

You love it when global and local meet. And that’s a multicultural sweet spot that Toronto excels at, especially where coffee is involved.

Get your fix at:

  • West Queen West’s Bu’na, where the Ethiopian coffee-brewing ceremony includes roasting fresh beans.
  • Kensington Market’s Fika Cafe, a Swede spot in this multicultural foodie enclave.
  • Uptown’s de Mello Palheta Coffee Roasters, which sources from farmers across the globe, offering new roasts by the season. A supplier to many local cafés.

Tech geek

For you, life is about innovation. Coffee’s been around for over a millennium, but for you, nothing is tastier than the thrill of the new.

Get your fix at:

  • Pilot Coffee Roasters (multiple locations), where coffee is cold-brewed, transferred to a keg and served on tap with a blast of nitrogen to produce a frothy head at two of its locations: Te Aro and The Tasting Bar.
  • Riverside’s Boxcar Social, where “flash” cold-brew involves blasting hot coffee over ice and then serving it up on tap.