Ottawa’s Best Cafés And Coffeeshops

Café Moralais one of the oldest independent coffee houses in this part of Ottawa. Under the watchful eye of owner Miriam Rangel it has become a firm local favorite thanks to its cozy atmosphere and vivid Latin-inspired decor, food and drinks. In addition to the coffee, which comes from a roaster in Picton, customers can indulge in specialties such as Mayan Hot Chocolate or Dulce de Leche coffee and sample a selection of freshly baked goods, soups and savory lunch foods.

With one branch in Little Italy and another on Bank Street, Morning Owl has been supplying Ottawans in the know with organic coffee since 2009. Owner Jordan O’Leary draws on his family’s roots in Italy’s Abruzzo region to inspire his menu. The organic, direct-trade coffee comes from Equator Roasters in Almonte, Ontario and the sandwich bread is specially selected from a local artisan bakery. A range of coffee beverages are offered, including Nutella lattes and the intriguingly named ‘Shot in the Dark’.

A café with a difference, socially conscious Happy Goat Coffee Companyis a ‘niche artisan roaster’ who source their beans directly from small farmers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The resulting coffee is not only ethical and ecologically friendly but also fresh and distinctive in taste. The café itself, located in a converted warehouse in Ottawa’s Little Italy, has a relaxed bohemian ambiance and owner Henry Assad often hosts parties and social events there. Happy Goat supply their coffee to many local cafes and sell raw beans and specialty coffees on their website.

With a coffee bar in town and a bean roastery in the Ottawa Valley, Equator Coffee Roasters have been sourcing and serving direct-trade organic coffee since 1998. Founder Craig was an early adherent of the Fair Trade Certification movement and wanted to ‘equate’ the benefits of the coffee trade for developing country suppliers with those in the North, hence the company name. The Almonte bar features a space for art displays and a quality control ‘Cupping Lab’ where customers can get brewing and coffee quality tutorials. Organic teas, light lunches and chocolate products are also available in addition to a wide variety of drip coffees and espresso-based drinks. The company also have a coffee bar in Westboro, Ottawa.

With its retro 1950s decor and playful, offbeat vibe, complete with board games, live music, literary events and a bookshelf which patrons can peruse at their leisure; Raw Sugar is a firm favorite among local artists and the wider community, fulfilling owner Nadia Kharyati’s original goal to create a vibrant community hub. Located in the Chinatown District, the cafe menu features baked goods, soups, sandwiches, tabbouleh/hummus pitta wraps and stuffed vine leaves in addition to organic, fair-trade coffee and tea. Light alcoholic beverages such as organic craft beer and cider are also available.

With a rotation of different roasts and bean types changing on a weekly basis, at The Ministry of Coffee variety is the spice of caffeine. This centrally located cafe also features indulgences such as Mocha and Nutella lattes and the innovative ‘Nitrogen cold brew’, an unctuously creamy iced coffee in addition to teas and snack foods. This ‘ministry’ comes complete with its own propaganda department, offering courses such as Latte Art and Aeropress coffee making to educate the masses about the finer points of a cuppa.

Sometimes it’s good to stop and smell the flowers, other times you need to wake up and smell the coffee. At blumenstudio, Ottawa’s unique artistic floral boutique and cafe, you can do both at once, enjoying some of the best local espressos, lattes and caffe americanos in a dreamy, relaxed floral milieu. They use locally roasted Rufino beans and also sell pastries and baked goods. It remains an artisan florist first and foremost with space for about a dozen customers and also has some outdoor seating among the plants.

A micro-roastery and coffeehouse founded in 2002, Francesco’s Coffee Companyproduces batches of fresh-roasted coffee every 17 minutes and continues to innovate in the field of coffee roasting with regards to both quality and freshness. They have highly knowledgeable, enthusiastic coffeehouse staff and supply both retail and wholesale artisan coffees, including organic artisan coffees such as Mexican French Roast and Peruvian Viennese Roast and various teas.