Merchants of Green Coffee (2 Matilda St)

This place strikes me as being off the beaten path, but looks are deceiving. Upon entering the store I see burlap bags of raw coffee beans and hardly any food for sale - it's obvious the focus is strictly on the java here. The whole place smells of the lively richness of fresh roasted beans - I'm in heaven!

Double espresso (short):

Appearance
Served in Italian demi tasse. Dark syrupy with marbled creama.

Aroma
Carrying the shots to my table the intoxicating rich aroma tickles my nose. Pretty balanced warm spicy/sweet with light earthiness.

Taste
Very balanced and satisfying shots that again have a slight earthiness to them. Zero bitterness, and a nice smooth mouthfeel with a hint of roasty goodness right at the finish. This is high quality stuff - everything is balanced and there's a lot of rich dark chocolate flavour.

I think this is the day of awesome coffee as this one is excellent too and just a bit better than the last one. I can't find a flaw with it actually - superb!

5/5

Well, roasting their own beans and therefore keeping a tight grip on quality control really pay off here.

This place has a solid focus on the quality if their coffee and they do it really well. I definitely recommend it.

F'Coffee (641 Queen St E)

Right next to the Carroll St streetcar stop, sits F'Coffee in a quaint strip of shops. The staff are cheery and the atmosphere is very chilled. I really like the decor which is white walls with vintage advertisement posters for companies such as Canadian Pacific and the now defunct TWA.

Double espresso (short):

Appearance
Not served in demi tasse cup, instead in a unique campy floral design cup, with oval saucer. I like.


Aroma
Sweet floral bouquet, with deep rich milk chocolate notes. Slightly spicy, like nutmeg/cloves.


Taste
Bright and punchy at the front of my tongue. Very smooth texture, like creamy milk chocolate. Only slightly lingers on the back of the tongue with a whisper of roastiness. Overall a very easy drinking espresso, with no harshness to speak of. Even as I take my sweet time finishing it, the espresso shots retain nearly all of their flavour, I have no idea how they achieve this as it's atypical of the roast.

4.8/5

This is the highest score so far, I really enjoyed this one and I love how the rich decadent flavour lasts until the final sip - amazing!

The One in the Only Cafe (644 Danforth Ave)

It was a treat to return to this cafe which is located a few doors down from the apartment I first lived in when I moved to Toronto 3 years ago - shout out to the Paradise Bar & Grill, which I had the *cough* pleasure of living over top of! This cafe opened shortly before I moved, so I am happy to see they are still buzzing with business.

The intriguing thing about the place is how it feels like it's been there for decades. Intelligensia Coffee is the supplier for these guys. They add cinnamon to the ground coffee before it's brewed - nice touch, and it's noticeable in the espresso...

Double espresso:

Appearance
Dark, golden caramel creama

Aroma
Bright, spicy - dominated by the cinnamon

Taste
Again, bright and crisp - very punchy/robust at the start. Has a distinctively clean finish, no lingering flavour on the palate.

3.5/5

With nice local art on display along with live music events, this place is a true local gem.

Te Aro Roasted (983 Queen St E)

This one is also in Leslieville - wow, this area is a real hotbed of cafe activity. 

The staff here are really friendly and they offered me a shot glass of sparkling water to go with my espresso - what a nice touch.

Appearance
Black and syrupy, with dark creama

Aroma
Intoxicating dark chocolate and roasty goodness 

Taste
Starts out with a surprising sweet punch at the front of the tongue, then heads into a caramel/ brown sugar bouquet that's slightly spicy. It finishes on a lingering dark chocolate note - wow, what a profile of flavours!  

5/5

The decor is really modern and calming. I noticed a poster on the door that says every Friday they have customer coffee cuppings. This is a pretty unique idea and it helps to build the romance associated with the whole coffee experience.

Red Rocket Coffee (1402 Queen St E)

My first thoughts upon entering the original Red Rocket cafe in Leslieville is that there is a boat load more character at this shop compared to the newest location at the Verve condo (Wellesley st e). Guess it's true when they say its's difficult to copy an original.

Double espresso:

Appearance
Very dark brew, light caramel creama

Aroma
Intoxicatingly sweet and roasty warm 

Taste
Full body smooth, very smooth, luxuriously spicy. Lingers for a moment at the back of the tonque and then leaves palate feeling cleansed. Solid espresso flavour that is well balanced. 

4.5/5

The staff are friendly and we chatted briefly about the passport - they cheer me on with reassurance that I can take down the remaining 10 cafes before the end of the month - I can do it! 

The guy at the cash just completed his card here - wow! Coincidence?

10 left to go...

Ground Level Cafe (1496 Queen St W)

The staff here are very friendly and chatty - this is nice. Half the treat of going to a cafe is the service and this is where the Indy cafes really out shine the corporate cafes. I appreciate this attention to detail.

Double espresso:

Appearance
Medium dark, very foamy creama,  watery

Aroma
Roasty, sweet- caramel

Taste
The medium body aroma carries over to the flavour, there aren't any lingering flavours or much depth to the taste profile here. It's not offensive, it's just too light for what I expect of a full bodied espresso. For some reason they have no demitasse cups to serve their espresso in.

Unfortunately the cafe lacks a real espresso machine, they are making due with a home espresso machine - how they could keep up with a rush of orders is beyond me. The taste profile just isn't there, there's no comparison to the variety of flavour you get from freshly pulled shots.

They aren't fresh grinding their beans here either and this is a big pet peeve with me. It's just not the same!

2.5/5

All things considered, there's a lot of room for improvement with the coffee here. They just aren't taking espresso as seriously as the other participating cafes on the Indie Coffee Passport.

However, they are doing a great job with their customer service, but I'm here for the brew!

The Mascot (1267 Queen St W)

This place is right in the heart if the West Queen West arts scene. The decor is really unique - lots of neat historical relics from Toronto's past decorate the place. The furniture appears to all be salvaged from various places - I'm sitting on a child's classroom chair and I notice others sitting in old movie theatre chairs and desks similar to mine. I like how spacious this place is, most cafes are cramped. The Barrista was friendly and nice. I like the random old store signs in here - one is for Biltmore Hats apparently 'the Royal hat of Canada' at one time. There are lots of reading materials in the form of magazines (Utne and The Economist to name a few) - they are all for purchase.

Double Espresso:

Appearance
Calico mixture of creama and rich coffee, syrupy

Aroma
Roasty sweet with extensive floral bouquet

Taste
Well balanced! Not over powering  in any flavour - definitely an enjoyable sipping espresso. The dynamic floral and roasty flavours come through and compliment eachother really well. Leaves the palate clean on the finish, yet is full bodied.

5/5

I really enjoyed the experience here - it's refreshing and special, I would recommend this place to my friends.