Red Rocket Coffee

I was wandering around the Church/Wellesley neighbourhood today and noticed that I new cafe will be opening shortly in the Tridel VERVE condo (Wood and Wellesley).

This is location #2 for these guys as they have a shop over on Queen St East.

Sounds like it will be a cool little place, I only wish they were locating on Church St. proper because there are no indie cafes in that area (except Bull Dog which is south of Carlton).

http://www.redrocketcoffee.com/

Cafe Mania on Yonge

Cafe Mania @ 605 Yonge Street opened last fall and I have been meaning to get to it since.

Overall impression: really good.

We were impressed with the decor and the americanos were delicious. The staff was friendly and pleasant even though it was after 10pm as well. I must say I really like what they have done with the space - it feels very modern and chic - classy. They have table service which was nice.

Another great alternative to the chains - check this one out!

Soy in my coffee?

I am a strong believer in drinking coffee black so that it's possible to gauge the quality and taste profile of the blend. But, obviously many people add things to their coffee or order this concoction called a 'double-double' so their coffee resembles more of a mix drink.

Sometimes we can get impatient and don't want to wait for our black coffee to cool down to a drinkable temperature. Many times this has happened to me and I add milk to my coffee simply for the purpose of getting my much needed caffeine hit faster!

Well, last week I discovered a great (and less expensive) lactose free alternative to cream/half and half.... Silk for Coffee! I got the French Vanilla flavour, but it's also available in 'Regular'. This is a great product, it's very creamy and yummy! I have added regular soy milk to my coffee before and it really doesn't do my drink any justice. Haha this sounds like a paid plug for Silk, but seriously I just like this stuff, so go BUY it now!

Bull Dog Coffee

A great thing about living in a city is that many people run on coffee, so here in Toronto we have no shortage of cafes. Each neighbourhood seems to have their collection of great independently operated shops and of course all of the chains try to get in as well. The Church/Wellesley village where I call home is in dire need of some fresh, new cafes.

Thankfully, one indy has held on, even when the area's Letieri recently closed up. Back in 2007, Bull Dog Coffee (Granby/Church Sts) was made over when it was featured on the food network's Restaurant Makeover program. It's a quant (crammed) cafe, that is absolutely devoted to the coffee. Typically, the place is jammed with people, though the patio offers some great additional seating. This place has won countless awards for its employees' participation in latte art competitions and the last time I was in I noticed a framed recognition certificate from KRUPS on the wall - not too shabby!

The house specialty is the the Bull Dog drink - it's like a latte, with a twist. I don't know what the twist is, but I like the mystery behind it. This place creates the real cafe experience to me, check it out sometime!