Vancouver’s Top 10 Coffee Bars

Matchstick Coffee

Just a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Seattle, Vancouver is arguably Canada’s most enlightened coffee city. This according to Mark Prince, the Vancouver-based creator of CofffeeGeek.com, who recently shared his personal top 10 coffee bars in the city with the Vancouver Sun. 

Here’s more from Prince, who told the Sun that transparency regarding origin is one of the aspects of Vancouver’s retail coffee scene that is lagging behind some great American coffee cities:

“Vancouver is undeniably the best coffee city in Canada for quality, variety and range of cafe styles, though Victoria, on a per capita basis, gives us a run for our money,” says Prince. “But we still lag quite a bit behind Seattle and especially Portland, which I consider to be the greatest coffee city in the world at the moment. Where we lag is in something like what Matchstick Coffee is trying to introduce – the small scale roaster-retailer, a cafe that roasts on their premises. We do have several roaster retailers but most I would not consider to be in the upper echelon of specialty coffee. A big aspect of specialty coffee is transparency about the source of the coffee used and roasted and very few will tell you the origin beyond the country or huge region. Saying you have a Ethiopia Yirgacheffe is like saying Canada, British Columbia wine.”

Following is Prince’s Top 10. For descriptions of each coffee bar, read the original Sun story:

Matchstick Coffee, 639 East 15th Ave.

Revolver Coffee, 325 Cambie St.

49th Parallel Cafe, 2902 Main St.

Elysian Coffee, 590 West Broadway and 1778 West Fifth Ave.

Bump ‘n Grind Coffee, 916 Commercial Dr.

Kafka’s Coffee and Tea, 2525 Main St.

Caffe Cittadela, 2310 Ash St.

Prado Cafe, 1938 Commercial Dr.

JJ Bean Coffee, 3010 Main St.

Innocent Coffee, 1340 Fourth Ave.