Annex Coffee suggestions

[Milofsky]

Hi,
Looking for ambience and good (cheap) food for a drop in of old friends... any suggestions?
M

[myriam5555]

Manic Coffee at College and Bathurst has the best coffee in the city, in my opinion, but their food offerings are minimal. We buy intelligentsia coffee from them to brew at home; their offerings tend to change every other week.

[froglegs]

How about Aroma on Bloor?

[westannexnews]

Bloor Street is a bit of a corporate coffee desert.

The places to go for great indie coffee and food in the Annex are Ezra's Pound and Frangipane on Dupont, and on Bathurst near Dupont, Java Mama, Rapido, Madelines (oooh, have the cherry pie) and, a little further south and just one building east of Bathurst on Follis, Scoop and Bean - a great little spot that serves espresso-based drinks, ice cream, and crepes.

All these places are just a short walk from corporate coffee ground zero at Bloor and Albany, and are so well worth the walk. On Bathurst near Dupont in particular, a transformation is taking place. There are galleries and fashion and decor stores popping up around the vintage icons of the neighbourhood like Vesta Lunch and Apollo 11 Restaurant.

[AzulH]

I second all of the above;
And Faema has a great open space on the corner of Christie and Dupont and there are a couple of unexplored new places in Korea town, just West of Bathurst on Bloor.

And futher afield, try this thread...http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/588816

-----
Faema Cafe
672 Dupont St, Toronto, ON M6G1Z6, CA

[currycue]

Was just in the area looking for same and Aroma was packed to the gills and I personally hate the coffee at Green Beanery. It was worth the walk down Bathurst to College and Manic Coffee. Extremely good coffee there and I think they're open until 7-8 on most nights.

[acd123]

Definitely Aroma at Bloor/Albany.

[eatereater123]

If you're closer to Bloor, there's Aroma Coffee which is on Bloor near Brunswick. Excellent coffee and good food.

[jennjen18]

+1

[pescatarian]

Aroma is good for atmosphere and if you're in the area, and they have good hours, but their espresso doesn't compare IMO to the independent coffee houses in the city.

[pescatarian]

Totally should go to Ezra's Pound at Dupont and Spadina.

-----
Ezra's Pound
238 Dupont St, Toronto, ON M5R1V7, CA

[Pincus]

What time do they turn the coffee off? I went there early evening one time and was told there was no coffee available. I had a nice glass of port and some fine cheese, but it was a bit surprising.

[pescatarian]

I haven't been recently, but I find most of the coffee houses I go to close pretty early. But then again if they were serving port and cheese, not sure why they wouldn't still be serving coffee.

[Pincus]

Yeah. It was a bit of an odd situation. I guess maybe they were trying to preserve coffee freshness or some such.