Café review: Original Coffee

The new space occupied by Original Coffee is a dramatic change from its previous incarnation. The cafe went from shabby chic, to a modern-industrial-vintage look. The most impressive interior feature is its dramatic floor to ceiling black chalkboard wall, which prominently displays Original Coffee’s lengthy beverage menu and highlights its bold, new, red logo. Tables are decorated with potted plants and flowers, giving the interior a cosy, neighbourhood vibe. I have frequented Original Coffee a handful of times in the past and thankfully, this time I snagged the last table (there are only two tables) next to a group of business people who seemed deep in discussion. I nestled into my wooden seat adjacent to the large street-facing window while I excitedly waited to begin my taste-test.

I ordered a mint (loose leaf!) tea and an Americano from the café’s extensive coffee and tea list, as well as a slice of coconut bundt cake and a pistachio cookie. First off, their homemade baked goods are absolutely delicious. The coconut bundt cake was moist, flavourful, and spongy, with just the right amount of crumble. The pistachio cookie tasted like a shortbread-biscotti hybrid (not too dry, not too hard) and was equally as good as the cake. In addition to the sweets I sampled, there were also cookies jars full of peanut butter and pecan cookies and a platter of brownies on offer. Original Coffee had some of the freshest-tasting baked goods that I’ve had in the city.

This café has an unmistakable focus on serving high quality coffee beans and brews. Original Coffee serves espresso and filter coffee as well as fair trade and non fair trade coffee beans for home consumption in 100, 250, and 500 gram bags. In addition to coffee, they also offer six types of loose leaf tea, along with hot chocolate and water. The Americano coffee, which I got to-go, was aromatic and had a mild, nutty flavour. Surprisingly, it tasted more like filter coffee than an espresso-based drink. Similar to other Mama Coffee establishments, Original Coffee sells a variety of porcelain mugs, coffee grinders, v60s (for brewing coffee using the pour-over method) and coffee pots, including some impressive-looking Turkish coffee pots made of copper.