Now with five cafe locations across the city, Myriade is the standard bearer for specialty coffee in Montreal, and one of the most influential cafe brands in all of Canada. They’ve served 49th Parallel of Vancouver since 2008, and regularly feature roasters from across North America including Ritual Coffee (San Francisco), Onyx Coffee (Arkansas), and Monogram Coffee (Calgary). You can’t go wrong with an espresso here, and cappuccinos are especially good.

The outdoor setting of Caffe In Gamba says it all: wicker chairs, benches with looping brasswork, and locals lounging away the hours over espresso allongé. There’s an old cliche about Montreal that says “it feels like you’re in Europe” and Caffe In Gamba captures this feeling better than any other cafe in the city. The coffee itself is outstanding, featuring roasters including Traffic, Structure, and Intelligentsia.

Dispatch started life as a mobile coffee bar, and today their two coffee bars (plus service inside McGill University’s Engineering Building) are among the city’s finest. The company’s Avenue Duluth location is, in a word, stunning: elevated seating overlooking a sleek, modern coffee counter, offset by huge bay windows looking out onto the street. Dispatch roasts its own coffee in-house and offers a range of espresso and filter drinks.

Structure is a micro-roaster, whose launch in 2019 was the cause of much buzz and excitement in Montreal. The vast space is bright with white furniture and there’s a central island which eases the flow of customers. The espresso machine is a three-group Sanremo Opera Revolution, and the staff has everything to meet the request of any coffee lover. There is a large selection of pastries and light bites baked by Automne Boulangerie and Dave Plant.

Long-established as one of Montreal’s finest roasters, Saint-Henri’s sprawling headquarters and coffee bar complex occupies a square block in Mile End. Here you’ll find 60 cafe seats and a glimpse into the brand’s roasting operations in the form of a “coffee laboratory” unlike anything else in the city. There’s state of the art coffee gear behind the bar, and the opportunity to try coffees across Saint-Henri’s range of offerings. This place feels very modern, and very Montreal.

Located near McGill University, and open since 2011, Pikolo has left a major footprint in the Montreal coffee culture. With its industrial look, mezzanine and modern feel, the place is filled with a mix of students and workers drawn by incredible coffee. The centerpiece is a custom wood-paneled espresso machine imported from Holland. An espresso here is a quintessential Montreal coffee experience.

A pronounced Japanese influence can be found at this charming Mile End bar, courtesy of co-founder Yuko Toda. It’s open only on weekends and sports an eclectic, industrial interior design. Come for the coffee, stay for the onigiri lunch, and relish the fact that you’ve discovered a coffee bar much-loved by locals and coffee professionals, and rarely explored by tourists. A true gem.