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.
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.
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.
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