Help! Late night Cafes in Calgary?

[bmarsh]

Hello Chowpeople.

I'm a grad student who just moved to Calgary from Montreal and my entire study scheme has been severely upset by the lack of establishments featuring wired-caffeine-study-geeks-at-2am (ie: my people).

Are there any coffee shops anywhere in the city that are open 24 hours, or at least until 11pm/12am-ish that have wireless access (preferably free) and lots of plug ins for my 'on-the-verge-of-crashing-battery-dead-for-two-years laptop?

I'm looking for something downtown or within 3-4 stops from the University on the C-train, but anything anywhere that comes close to the above description would be wonderful.

Your help would be greatly appreciated and will probably help me graduate!
Thanks a bunch.

[summersupper]

*Bump*

Waves Coffee is open until midnight every night I think. Is that it for late-night in Calgary?

Waves 12am
Beano 12am - no wifi.
Kawa 11pm weeknights, 2am Fri & Sat
Roasterie 12am - no seating?!

Phil & Sebastian - 9pm
Higher Grounds - 11pm, midnight weekends

Everything else closes around 4 or 5pm, which is just PITIFUL! Am I missing any??!

[sharonanne]

Someone mentioned Weeds so I looked up the hours though I'm not a big fan.

1903 20 Ave NW

Hours:
Mon-Fri 7 am - 10 pm

Sat 8 am - 9 pm

Sun 8 am - 6 pm

[23skidoo]

Purple Perk - 10pm Sun-Wed.
11pm Thu-Sat.

I miss Bad Ass Coffee on 17th. Open 24 hours, serving alcohol 10am-2am. Separate glass-enclosed smoking section. I would meet the weirdest people there. Unfortunately, it's a Tim Hortons now.

[23skidoo]

Adding Links

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Purple Perk Coffee Market
2212 4 St SW, Calgary, AB T2S 1W9, CA

Kawa Espresso Bar
1333 8 St SW, Calgary, AB T2R 1M6, CA

Waves Coffee House
30 Springborough Blvd SW, Calgary, AB T3H 0N7, CA

Waves Coffee House
1019 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2T 0A5, CA

Caffè Beano
1613 9 St SW, Calgary, AB T2T 0H1, CA

Higher Ground
1126 Kensington Rd NW, Calgary, AB T2N 3P3, CA

The Roasterie
314 10 St NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1V8, CA

[23skidoo]

A few more.

Caffe Crema: 10pm Mon-Fri
9pm Sat
7pm Sun

Chiasso: 9pm Mon-Sat
7pm Sun

-----
Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters
2043 33 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2T, CA

Caffe Crema
2525 Bridlecrest Way SW, Calgary, AB T2Y 5J4, CA

Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters
6455 Macleod Trail SW, Calgary, AB T2H 0L1, CA

Chiasso Coffee Company
843 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2S 0B7, CA

[summersupper]

None of these are really late-night, though :(

The ideal would be someplace open PAST midnight!

By the way, the staff at Weeds like to arbitrarily close several hours early... depending on foot traffic, weather, barista mood. So not a very dependable option unless you like your coffee with a side of jackass.

[23skidoo]

If you don't mind the smoke, you could always go to a shisha bar. Lots of people there drinking coffee/tea and using their laptops.
La Brava, for example, is open until at least 1 AM, and 2:30 on Fri-Sat.

[summersupper]

Skidoo that is brilliant.

[ajy]

Not a coffee shop, but Oolong Tea House in Kensington is open until 11pm, Midnight Fri-Sat. I believe they have wifi as well.

[bmarsh]

I love this board! Thanks so much for all of the great ideas.
I will definitely check out coffeegeek.com.
Roasterie, Purple perk, Higher Ground and Oolong all sound perfect though.

And Denny's is a brilliant last resort that I never would have thought of. I wonder if they'd mind me studying there. Thanks danniek.

[occupant12]

Hi bmarsh--

Has Denny's worked out with wifi access?

I'm a grad student too, and have been going to the beano for nearly 20 years (no haven't been grad student for that long -- i'm a late starter). As you've probably discovered, no wifi at Beano and closes early now Sun-Mon-Tues. The coffee there is not always terrific, depending on who's at the bar, but I like its atmosphere -- have written literally hundreds of pages there over the years.

Purple Perk no longer offers wifi -- or at least had stopped last year when i went in there one nite. They also always don't stick to their hours. HG is OK -- but the coffee does suck. I like Weeds, they have free wifi. Coffee's variable. Roasterie's OK -- tho I don't think there's wifi there, and thecrown can be a little weird. And there's no decent place to sit if you need to work for a couple of hours at a stretch.

[John Manzo]

Kawa is open until 11 Thurs-Fri-Sat, free wi-fi, and the coffee is more than excellent.

[hungryungry]

ooh, i've heard of Kawa but i've never been there, is the coffee really that superior?

bmarsh
as a montreal ex-pat, I know exactly how you feel, eventually you get used to going to bed earlier... i guess...

[John Manzo]

Yep, but don't just take my word for it, check 'em out.

[hungryungry]

i will!
one day...

[23skidoo]

The Roasterie is open until midnight, and sees a lot of freaks, buskers and bike couriers. I like the coffee, but I'm sure someone here will have bad things to say about it. It's very close to Sunnyside station. Dunno about wifi, but it is in a dense neighbourhood (wink wink). 314 10th St. NW

Purple Perk is open until 10pm, and has free wifi. Much like the Planet coffee house that preceded it, you'll see lots of people on laptops there. It's not really close to the C-train, but you could walk from Erlton station. 2212 - 4th St. SW, http://www.purpleperk.com/

Weeds is open until 9 or 10pm. It's pretty close to Lions Park and Banff Trail stations. I like the coffee, but the usual disclaimer applies again. It used to be a student/alternative hangout, but it's more of a neighbourhood place now. BTW they have beer! Not sure about wifi. 1903 20th Ave NW.

Gerry's (formerly a Husky House), just south of downtown, is a diner, not a coffee shop, but it's open 24 hours. The coffee and food are both pretty bad, but I've never had the pizza Gerry's is "famous" for (heh). Probably no wifi. 5th St and 11th Ave SW.

[sleddog]

There is an internet cafe on 17th near Brava Bistro, not sure of hours but saw it the other day..

[danniek]

I dont know of any cafes that are open that late. The first thing that came to mind would be the Dennys (yes I know, not the best by any standard) by Motel Village. You could see if you can access any of the hotels free internet from there.

[John Manzo]

Beano's open until midnight. I have no idea if it has wi-fi. Not on the c-train though.

I think Higher Ground, which has horrible coffee unfortunately, is open most night until 11 and am fairly certain it has wi-fi. It's in Kensington so would definitely suit your requirements as to location.

Calgary does not have the huge reserve of unemployed that you have in Montreal. This makes it very difficult for most places to remain open 24 hours.

[AriaDream]

/agree with John... this is almost an impossible request to fill. I'm quite sure very few businesses in Calgary are open all night.

[John Manzo]

incidentally bmarsh your question might be better posed at the western canada forum at coffeegeek.com

then there are your fellow 25,000 students at U of C to ask, too...