Few cities in North America stick out as singular, truly unique centers that are otherworldly. New Orleans and Oaxaca come to mind, but Quebec City is equally distinct. It is the capital of the province of Quebec, a French-speaking part of Canada that is recognized as a nation unto itself within the country, home to nine million. This is a special place with an old-world vibe that’s frozen in time. Squint while looking east down Sainte-Ursule Street, and you’re transported to France circa 1820. Post an Instagram story of that same view and have your online acquaintances ask, “How long are you in Europe for?”
Quebec City attracts tourists from all around the world; year in year out the local economy revolves around this tide of visitor dollars. Beyond the charm of historical buildings and cobblestone streets, the city’s food scene often lures out-of-towners in. No shock that old-school French influence is strong here, as local chefs leverage their heritage—combined with local ingredients—to stunning results. But there is also a growing class of progressive restaurants covering new school artisan-inspired styles, which reflects the evolving coffee scene.
Lucky for locals, a few established roasters have acted as bridges between old-school and new-school coffee, daring customers of all stripes to explore beyond the darker roasts and allongés of yesteryear. Design-focused shops with progressive coffee programs have cropped up all around town, along with new roasting projects. You could say that the scene has hit its stride in recent years, where tourists with high coffee expectations can have their needs met and, perhaps even exceeded.
If you can’t speak French it’s okay—the Quebecois locals are incredibly accommodating and polite, switching to English on demand—but maybe practice your coffee order on Duolingo before visiting. This guide serves to highlight the city’s diverse coffee scene, with roaster cafes, cafe-by-day/bar-by-night spots, multi-roaster shops, and even lifestyle-focussed spaces that make a mean flat white. Sprudge previously published a guide to the city way back in 2016; here we update the list as the scene has grown so much since then. Voila!
Café Olive
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Situated on Cartier Avenue in the Montcalm Arts district, Café Olive offers a distinctive coffee experience as a relatively new cafe in the city. Olive serves a modern and European charm, acting as an independent satellite cafe and partner of Denmark’s La Cabra, offering a simple yet well-executed coffee program. They focus on serving exceptional brews made with care (conveyor belt lattes won’t be found here) with La Cabra’s expressive and fruity, uber-light roasts. You can get a shakerato or espresso tonic if you feel like treating yourself, or a custom milk-based drink made exactly how you like it. Coffees are then served in gorgeous artisan ceramic cups, placed on wooden boards with spoons, for a refined experience. This is the epitome of a hole-in-the-wall with standing room only inside, giving it an authentic Euro vibe where customers chat with baristas while they nurse a spro. During warmer months there is seating on stools outside the shop, allowing for extending hangs while soaking up some sun with a furry friend in tow.
Many customers rave about their cardamom buns that pair well with a flat white but, much like their coffee program, their food focus is very minimalist. You can also ask for a V60 made to order, and for those seeking a non-coffee option, their citrus iced matcha is a popular choice. Owner Sami Boudaya and the team are always super friendly and accommodating, always with a smile. This is a real gem.
Faux Mouvement
Located in the heart of Quartier Petit Champlain (Old Quebec), Faux Mouvement presents a fun concept and one that is unique to our list of cafes. They fall into a hybrid lifestyle category, seamlessly blending a running store with a progressive coffee shop, which makes sense when you think about how many running club meetups begin or end with coffee.
While situated in a touristy area of town, its primary focus remains on catering to the needs and passions of runners. This is nothing new and the cross-pollination of lifestyles is symbiotic; making a runner out of a coffee drinker, or bringing a normie runner into the specialty coffee fold are wins. They host running meet-ups on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, in addition to selling a very impressive curation of high-end gear, from shoes to shorts to sunglasses.
The space is unique with exposed stone masonry, a polished cement bar with an attractive Modbar setup, suspended clothes racks, and a narrow shoe wall. Toronto’s Pilot Coffee Roasters provide roasts for the cafe, which end up in a very pared-down menu of only seven drinks. They cover the classics like espresso, cortados, and flat whites and will make V60 pour-overs, too. Seating is limited but with a large customer base of runners, maybe sitting for long periods isn’t the vibe they’re going for. If you’re into running and coffee, this is your spot.
Cantook
Cantook is something of a Quebec City coffee legend, with a storied history and deep influence. Owner Simon Fabi’s family has been in the coffee business since the ‘80s, with his involvement stretching back to 2005. Cantook in its modern iteration has existed since 2015 and acts as an ambassador of coffee for the city. The brand’s vibe is very plaid-flannel-in-a-log cabin and rustic, and it’s wholly authentic (Fabi is quite the outdoorsman himself).
The cafe is very cozy, perfect for an afternoon of leisurely reading with a piping hot Americano, with an old-school vibe behind the bar. You’ll see those clear bulk acrylic coffee bins on display, and yet you can still get a gently roasted, high-end Diego Bermudez thermal shock Castillo. As such, they bridge the gap between traditional normie customers and younger consumers with in-the-know, specialty tastes. In French, they are colloquially referred to as a “micro-torréfacteur” which translates to micro roaster, but they’re able to push their Giesen—which is on-site and in plain view in the cafe—to roast 16 different coffees at the time of publishing. Impressive for a micro roaster! If you catch Fabi at the shop he loves to chat. But you may find yourself sidelined by a steady stream of locals all trying to get his attention, too, as he holds court on the sidwalk. Cantook couldn’t be any further from snobby or pretentious; this is the real deal.
Mayflower
Owner Louis Roy-Couture has been at the forefront of progressive coffee in Quebec City for years now. Mayflower was an early adopter of zippy light roasts as an internationally-curated, multi-roaster cafe. Years past, they would stock Dublin’s 3FE, and Portland’s Heart, and others to the delight of locals who had previously been deprived of exotic coffees. After years of operating Mayflower as a multi-roaster, Roy-Couture and his team have shifted towards a vertically integrated operation, offering their in-house brand, Silex.
The roastery was soft-launched as a pandemic project in 2021, now operating in full swing. With Roy-Couture’s dedication to quality and love of progressive roasters, you can be sure that he is getting high on his own supply of blends and single origins. Coffee nerds are at home here with Mayflower and Silex as Roy-Couture makes a mean V60 pour-over, in addition to all of the classics like espressos and flat whites, pulled on a Slayer. A single group FETCO and matte black Mahlkönig EK43 is the engine that drives their filter program, with the menu rounded out by non-coffee classics like matcha, hot chocolate, chai’s, and London fogs. If you’re looking for a craft coffee experience, Mayflower is your space.
Café Saint-Henri
Saint-Henri is a chain of cafes that started in Montreal, named after the neighborhood in the southwestern corner of the city. They’ve been around for over a decade now, and their satellite location in Quebec City is particularly inspiring. The cafe is located at the far eastern end of Saint-Joseph Street, a busy cobblestone thoroughfare of shops and restaurants, popular with locals and tourists. This location made our original guide to the city in 2016 and remains one of the best cafes in town for many reasons. The space is warm, combining modern Japandi architectural cues with industrial-leaning polished cement floors and metal accents. There is a gorgeous gold-plated San Franciscan roaster on full display at the far end of the space (though it isn’t functional). Seating is communal with two massive long tables bisecting the space, along with wrap-around tables at the perimeter.
Here you’ll see a mix of students clicking and clacking on laptops and local business people during the off-season, with savvy tourists making the trek in summer. They have killer pastries with colorful hipster donuts and classic French viennoiserie on offer. The coffee menu is approachable with classics like batch brew, cortados, lattes, and caps. If you like to people-watch away an afternoon in a space that’s easy on the eyes, Saint-Henri is for you.
Le Philtre Café
This is new-ish cafe on the Quebec City scene, and a welcome addition to the expanding specialty market. Located in the Saint-Saveur neighborhood, with a black facade and large windows, it’s perhaps a bit hard to spot from a car, nestled between two residential buildings. Once inside, you’re greeted with an airy and open space of wicker and wood chairs and a wrap-around wood bar. The bar sits in the middle of the space, providing intuitive flow, and there are plenty of tables and seating for an extended visit.
Their coffee program is anchored by a two-group La Marzocco Linea and a single Nuova Simonelli Mythos grinder, where they’re crafting menu standards like allongés (modern versions, of course), spro, flat whites, maple lattes (this is Quebec, after all), and more. Local roaster Fantôme and Montreal’s Zab Coffee provide beans for the hoppers with rotating origins and a signature roast. The space has a wellness and lifestyle vibe gonig on, becoming apparent when you see Quebecois artisan ceramics, local jewelry, and tote bags for sale on the counter. The food program features a vegetarian menu of healthy wraps, smoothies, and chia pudding will fuel your workday. Le Philtre is comfy and laid back—the perfect pit stop during a busy day.
deTerroir
Located in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood, deTerroir operates as a small cafe and micro-roaster. Inside, patrons are greeted by high ceilings, bar-height tables, hand-stenciled illustrations on the walls, and a gorgeous ceramic-tiled bar. Menu items are consistent with most specialty cafes, including the staples like flat whites, Americanos, lattes, and even mochaccinos—remember those? Going beyond the basics, they also do affogatos and cold brews for peak summer treats. All of their milk comes from Phylum Farm, a renowned creamery and cheesemaker about 40 minutes from the city. If you’re not aware, Quebec has some of the best cheesemakers and dairy in North America, so if there’s a spot to indulge in a milky drink, it’s here.
The cafe opens super early at 6:30am on weekdays and could function as a decent workspace for a day though, with only stools as seating options, you’re probably better off to fuel up and keep it moving. “De terroir” translates from French to, simply, “of the terroir”—as such, they aim to highlight the unique flavors of each origin they work with. At the time of publishing, they have four roasts on their webshop, ranging from an earthy Burundi and Brazil to an expressive Bolivian, and EA decaf Colombian. Their transparently-sourced coffees are omniroast, offering customers flexibility. Don’t forget to try their signature “croffle” waffles, with homemade apple butter for maximum indulgence.
Maelstrom
Located in the Saint-Roch district (Lower Town), Maelstrom is quite versatile, functioning as a brunch restaurant, specialty cafe, cocktail bar, and event space. We like it so much, that we’ve decided to add it to our guide to the city again, almost 10 years after being featured in Sprudge’s first Quebec City foray. The atmosphere within Maelstrom is both cozy and unpretentious during the day, and relaxed and maybe even romantic at night with eye-squintingly low lighting. The cafe preserves the heritage building’s original style, oozing with charm: exposed-brick walls, an eclectic mix of mismatched vintage furniture, and hardwood floors all feel just right. Their coffee program is very simple, and espressos can be pulled long or short, which is inclusive for an older local crowd raised on allongés.
Hot beverages on offer include Americanos, cortados, flat whites, batch brew, caps, lattes, and macchiatos. Montreal’s Escape Coffee provides the beans with a rotation of blends and single-origin roasts. Maelstrom operates on a casual, first-come, first-served basis, with no reservations required for their brunch service. In the evenings, it transforms into a hip cocktail bar, serving carefully crafted cocktails, privately imported wines, and microbrewery beers. Maelstrom does food, coffee, drinks, and vibes exceptionally well. This is a must-visit.
Nektar Caféologue
Yet another cafe-roaster in our list, Nektar boasts three locations, and has emerged as a prominent name in the local coffee scene. Here we will highlight their Saint-Roch location, which has recently undergone an impressive renovation. This cafe is almost always packed, and the baristas keep the lines moving serving up all of the usual suspects: long or short espressos, cortados, caps, regular filter coffee, and “discovery” filter (more adventurous and fruit-forward brews) as well as “shots in the dark” for when the caffeine-to-liquid ratio is paramount.
The drinks menu is extensive—to say the least—with a total of 44 drinks. They straddle the eras of coffee by selling “frapped” beverages; if you want to time travel to 1995 and get a frapped latte, this is your place. Again, they try to be inclusive with the roasting; you could bring your boomer parents to the cafe and they would be at home with a more developed, darker roast, while younger customers can get that super light, Francy Castillo papaya bomb. They have 11 coffees for sale at the time of publishing that you may encounter in their portafilters and on the shelves. Food options are handled by Première Moisson who provides all of their pastries, including many classics like cheese croissants, date squares, and gooey brownies. Nektar has something for everyone.
Jon Dempsey is a coffee professional and freelance journalist based in Montreal. Read more Jon Dempsey for Sprudge.
