Multi-Roaster Cafes in Toronto

Talk about your favorite cafes, local barista events, or plan your own get-together.
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Spitz.me
Posts: 1960
Joined: 14 years ago

#1: Post by Spitz.me »

I'm hoping to curate a list of cafes/shops that are offering multi-roaster selection of coffees from outside of Canada. We have such a slew of great local roasters (Propellor, Pilot and Pig Iron) now that it's become extremely difficult to find anything outside of that selection. I would love to be able to try lots of different roasters without going the 'online route.' Someone on here may know of a place I've never heard of!

I just happened to find out about Coffee Lab at St. George and Bloor here in Toronto. The shop has only been around for about eight months. Not only does the owner/barista, Joshua pull a great shot, but his cafe is unique in that it is a multi-roaster cafe that isn't just a combination of Canadian/local offerings. Suffice it to say that I was very happy to find out he wasn't just roasting and serving his own coffee. It's also interesting/cool that he is playing off the whole 'lab' concept and serves the espresso in little beaker-style cups and he doses his filter selection in test tubes.

Coffee Lab's current selection includes 3-4 roasters with at least one espresso roast/blends of each. The selection includes Parlor Coffee, Matchstick YVR and Tim Wendelboe.

I know Boxcar Social also offers a multi-roaster selection and Manic fits the profile I'm speaking of to some degree since they offer Intelligentsia coffee. Do you know of any other cafes that import interesting international coffees regularly?
LMWDP #670

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canuckcoffeeguy
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#2: Post by canuckcoffeeguy »

Great idea, Tony. And thanks for the tip about Coffee Lab. I didn't know about it, but work in the area. So I'll definitely check it out.

Try Neo Coffee Bar in the Front and King area. They carry international roasters. I was there a few months back and they had Five Elephant at the time. They rotate other international offerings.
http://www.neocoffeebar.com


EDIT: I should give credit to 'chrisbodnarphoto' below for making me aware of Neo Coffee Bar. Didn't know about it until he tipped me off!

chrisbodnarphoto
Posts: 457
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#3: Post by chrisbodnarphoto »

I love seeing folks from Toronto appear here! :)

Not international, but a new shop in the Distillery (Avro or something along those lines - can't recall the name) uses Phil + Sebastian as their standard.

Good Neighbour in the Junction also uses Black Cat, but it's their only espresso offering.

+1 to Neo and Boxcar Social. I haven't encountered any other shop using rotating blends, but I'll definitely be sure to check out Coffee Lab - I've been dying to try some Wimbledoe and I'm thrilled to hear that it's available locally, at least for the time being!

More of a local roaster, but Reunion Island's cafe spot always has a rotation of really interesting choices. For example, the current espresso offering is the same Costa Rican but offered in either a red honey processing or white honey processing. A little while ago they had the same beans with slightly different roast times (15 or 30 seconds, something along those lines) with fairly drastic differences in taste profile in each. They seem to dig experimentation there, which I like.

EDIT :: if any Toronto folks are down for an espresso crawl definitely let me know! I've already gotten together with canuckcoffeeguy at Boxcar a few months back!

Pino
Posts: 117
Joined: 19 years ago

#4: Post by Pino »

Hi Chris, looks like Hale coffee is not far. see: halecoffee.com I've been a regular at Boxcar (Queen east) weekends since they opened. TeAro as well. Have not been to Pilot roasters fora while but the unique atmosphere of being in the roasting facility, the beautiful bar and the careful preparation is is well worth the visit.