Coffee & Treats in Toronto

The Green Grind marries eco-friendliness to enticing coffee and tea selections through its sustainable practices and by offering fair-trade-certified and organic brews. Java junkies can satisfy crippling caffeine addictions with a large cup of locally roasted coffee ($2.20), a large espresso ($2.50), or a single-shot cappuccino ($3.20), and sensitive-tongued taste fiends can coolly sip on a Kombucha Wonder Drink ($3.50). Sail seas of tea from a pot ($3.75) of loose-leaf such as Earl Grey or blueberry rooibos, or sidle up to a glass of iced tea ($2.50), made fresh daily and available in a fruity peach, blueberry, or lemon flavour. Lattes, mochachinos, steamers, and hot chocolates are also available for drinking or dipping celery stalks into.

What began as a single store with a single recipe in 1983 has since expanded to coat tongues across Canada with its handcrafted, always-fresh repertoire of premium ice cream. The aroma of freshly baked waffle cones roams freely throughout each Marble Slab Creamery location, luring customers counterside to watch staff members blend nuts, fruits, and candies into a variety of ice-cream flavours atop a frozen slab. Ultra-fresh ingredients, including dairy products from local farms, vanilla from Madagascar, and fine European chocolates with up-to-date passports join forces to infuse each bite with an extra punch of sweetness. In addition to standard cones, Marble Slab Creamery's daily-made ice cream can also be savoured in the form of ice-cream cakes, milkshakes, and floats, and low-fat yogourts offer a lighter, equally delicious alternative.

Seated at round, white-topped café tables, customers alternate sips of premium espresso with bites of crunchy, freshly baked macaroons. A popular specialty, the macaroons exemplify the level of craftsmanship that goes into each pastry sold at Bo&Bon, a bakery conceived as a bridge between a neighbourhood coffee shop and a gourmet pastry kitchen.

Bo&Bon’s streamlined interior evokes an upscale, European-style elegance that reappears in the bakers’ presentation of their various cakes, meringues, and other treats. Helmed by a professional pastry chef, the bakery’s skilled confectioners painstakingly craft treats that range from custom wedding cakes to small chocolates. Their commitment to all-natural, kosher pareve, and lactose-free ingredients extends to all corners of their menu, and they uniformly eschew artificial colourings and decorative machine bolts.

When planning her wedding, Krystalynn didn’t linger on her dress or bouquet. For the Small Bear Treats owner, the most important decision was choosing the wedding cake. With Small Bear Treats, Krystalynn strives to match the ingenuity and artistry of wedding-cake decorators on a miniature scale with cake pops. Krystalynn can personalize each chocolate-covered confection with sprinkles and ribbons—she has even gone so far as to transform a batch of cake pops into party favors, stenciling a thank-you note onto each glossy orb. Though appearance is crucial, Krystalynn doesn’t forget about the ingredients: she crafts every pop from scratch and can also make gluten-free treats. “I wouldn’t give someone something that I wouldn’t serve myself,” she says.

Named one of the best cheese shops in the city by blogTO, Cheese Emporium curates cheeses from at least a dozen different countries, celebrating the unique cheese-making character and tradition found in each locale. French and Italian cheeses dominate the dairy cases in the shop, whose selection Toronto Life describes as “defiantly European.” Pungent and creamy Delice de Bourgogne fills a cheese plate alongside one of three Roqueforts, and Italian offerings such as Sardinian goat cheese and buffalo mozzarella mingle with swiss gruyere. More local cheeses stroll over from other provinces and the USA, including a 12-year Quebec white cheddar and a smoky Oregon blue. Toronto Life also describes an “extensive olive bar” from which customers can harvest a wide variety of googly eyes for the sandwiches at their next business lunch.

Since 2001, pastry chef and founder Steve Wemyss has manned the mixers at Patisserie Monaco, supplying artfully crafted wholesale pastries to clients throughout Canada. Today, approximately 100 team members join him in the operation to ensure the finest in craftsmanship, ingredients, food safety, and timely transportation. Their array of professional desserts includes black forest cakes, cookies, petite french fruit tarts, and elegant strawberry cheesecake squares. The company walks on the savoury side with their twists and flatbreads—including a basil pizza twist—and hors d’oeuvres such as jerk-chicken firecrackers, which despite all logic, can be safely eaten at gas stations.