Union Pacific Coffee Company Sign, originally uploaded by andai.
Keep in mind when you read this, I was only able to sample a very small number of the coffeehouses and cafes in and around the Victoria BC area. I was only there for about two and a half days and that is really not much time to properly check out all the coffee places that Victoria offers. So take this post with a grain of salt and feel free to suggest places I should try out next time I am back in Victoria.
The first thing I noticed when driving/walking around Victoria BC is that the locals really do like their coffee. It seems like just about everywhere you look, there are folks walking along with their espresso drinks on hand or just lounging in some of the plentiful coffee shops you find all over the place… Some of these include the usual suspects in Canada, i.e. Starbucks, Tim Hortons and Blenz Coffee, but there were also tons of smaller independent coffee shops and cafes to try. Now I tend to stay away from the big boys and try to support the indie shops as much as possible. On this particular trip, I was able to sample coffees from the following places;
- Salt Spring Coffee Company
- Serious Coffee
- Murchies Tea & Coffee
- Dolce Vita Coffee Art
- Sounds Like Coffee
Out of the five above, my favorite was Salt Spring Coffee. The rest were decent but I didn’t feel that they were exceptional. But the one coffeehouse that I was really excited about but turned out to be not quite as expected was Dolce Vita Coffee Art. You can check out my posting describing my experience there.
Once thing that I really liked in most of the coffeehouses I checked out was that most of the baristas were really nice and friendly and certainly made you feel like you wanted to come back. I to be honest, I would go back to just about all of places I had checked out, in part to see how they are evolving and improving and on part because they make you feel welcome.
My conclusion about the Victoria BC coffee scene, based on the 2-3 days I spent there, is that they are certainly growing and evolving, becoming more vibrant. I think when you see a city that has that many independent coffee shops, it indicates that the locals are aspiring for better quality, charm and uniqueness that you just cannot get from the likes of Starbucks and Blendz.
After having chatted with the baristas at ‘Sounds like Coffee’ and some of the other places, I realize that these folks are serious about their coffee, their art and the culture and I can only conclude that they are going to really help drive Victoria BC into becoming a city known for having plenty of options for excellent coffee.
I am certainly looking forward to going back and check out some of the other shops I didn’t get to try this time round and any new one that will have popped up by then. I want to see how they stack up.