Exploring Cafes in Victoria

There is a growing coffee scene in Victoria which is full of an exciting array of independent cafes to explore.

During my most recent visit earlier in the fall, I visited a few new and not so new cafes catching up with friends in the coffee industry along the way.

Calum Kidd took me to visit Saint Cecilia, a recent newcomer to the city centrally located in the downtown area. This beautiful cafe features a coffee bar with a minimal selection of coffee based drinks. They are a multi-roaster cafe supporting local area coffee roasters as well as some international coffee roasters. The shop also features a selection of clothing making this a one stop spot for java and fashion.

I first enjoyed an Espresso with milk which is similar to a Cortado made with Be Still Cody coffee.

Calum Kidd

Then Calum took me through a coffee cupping of sorts, tasting local Sooke based roaster Be Still Cody along with a Sweden based roaster.

Saint Cecilia

535 Yates Street, Victoria

Instagram @saintceciliavictoria

2% Jazz Coffee

Tristan Bacon works as the General Manager at 2% Jazz Coffee which operates a couple of locations and coffee roastery in the city. Although I visited both of their locations, it was at their Douglas location where we enjoyed some coffees. Started off with an espresso shot featuring a single origin Nicaragua coffee followed by a couple shots of their 2% Jazz house espresso; followed by an Iced Americano using the same Nicaraguan coffee.

2% Jazz Coffee

1701 Douglas Street, Victoria

Instagram @2percentjazz

After the visit with Tristan at the cafe he works at we ventured to another cafe nearby to try something different. A mutual favourite for us both was Hey Happy where they feature a selection of coffee roasters beans, some from the Vancouver and Victoria areas and others from International roasters.

Here I had a Luna Ethiopian Cortado with cashew milk made with Vancouver’s Luna Coffee.

Hey Happy Coffee

122-560 Johnson Street, Victoria

Instagram @heyhappycoffee

One of my favourite Vancouver based cafes opened on Government street in Victoria last year, I had been here on a previous visit and had a chance to visit again. Here I had an Iced Americano with their Butter Master Reserve Espresso made with their own Milano Coffee.

Milano Coffee

817 Government St, Victoria

Instagram @MilanoRoasters

The city is full of amazing cafes, in addition to the ones I have featured here, keep a look out for ones that you may find along the way.

By: Richard Wolak

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