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Cozy West Queen St. West Cafés (West of Spadina)?

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MetroMan

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I work from home (Trinity Bellwoods Park) and occasionally like to go to a café to break the isolation and have people around me. I stopped going to Starbucks since they discontinued their Tea Mistos so I'm on the hunt for a cozy café in the area to work from.

Tonight, I tried out Tequila Bookworm on Queen @ Portland. The atmosphere was just right but the drinks were anything but. I left a healthy tip because I may yet return, but I'm not sure I've found my new "office".

Can anybody recommend a cozy, laptop friendly café on West Queen St West between Spadina and Dufferin?
 
I went out for a walk and found a new café across the street from the park: White Squirrel. It looked it up when I got home and it looks like the perfect little place. It has a second floor with seating overlooking Trinity-Bellwoods park. I'll have to check it out tomorrow!
 
Hope you find something; I'll be looking for something similar in this area in the near future!
 
Since quitting Starbucks, I've been noticing so many quaint little cafés in the area. Nonetheless, I'm coming to terms that I'll be hard pressed to find a tea as good as the one I had crafted over months of trial and error at Starbucks for sure.

I did find a place in the area that serves incredible tea latte's: Niche on Queen just west of Bathurst. However, Niche is only open until 5pm and it's pretty tight in there so hanging around with my laptop for a few hours everyday -- even if I order a few drinks -- won't make the owner too happy, I think.
 
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Yeah, just stumbled upon Cloud in dob467's links (thanks!). It has a professional looking environment but I agree, it doesn't look cozy. It's 5 minutes walk for me so I might give them a try for when I need to meet clients or give presentations to bigger groups. I'm going to White Squirrel later today.
 
I'm typing this from White Squirrel. So far, the staff is very friendly -- as are the other customers -- and the tea is way better than my experience at Tequilla Bookworm. The atmosphere is bright and there aren't any upholstered seats so not as cozy as Tequilla but so far it's my favourite place.

... one exception though. I just realized that it closes @ 7pm, which is 23 minutes from now. Darn, that might not work considering I really only get active after 5pm, often starting work at 6ish. If that's not a problem for anybody else, I'd recommend this place. I might have to head over to Tequilla Bookworm after all. They were opened until 10pm last night.
 
Thanks for the update MetroMan; I look forward to checking these places out. It's not easy to find a decent cup of tea :)
 
Metroman, knowing you live so close to the Queen West strip, I'm shocked you haven't explored the many dozens of interesting indie cafes. The last time I bought anything at the Sanctuary sbux was when it just opened...nearly 10 years ago!

I take it you're not a coffee drinker. So what is a "good tea" to you? (Syrup-based tea at sbux isn't my definition of good tea.)
 
urbandreamer, I know... I'm slapping my forehead too. I've been saying forever that I'd like to discover a nice cozy coffee shop for years now and was finally forced to do so when S'bux discontinued their Tea Mistos.

Indeed, I don't make a habit of drinking coffee and I can't go to these coffee shops, order a water and sit there for hours with my laptop so I became interested in teas.

Over time, I tinkered with Starbucks' many teas and syrup options and finally came up with the perfect flavour for me: Sugar free Cinnemon Dolce Soy Awake Tea Misto became my drink and I've been having it for a few years now. It's so uniquely me, it could be used as a fingerprint (if you hear anybody order that, you've just met MetroMan :p). Yes... it's a long name: I've become so used to saying it that I just blurt it out in quick succession in fluent Starbuckish. Even then, if I'm not ordering it at any of my regular locations, odds are the barista needs me to repeat it a few times. That's what I loved about Starbucks. You pay a premium for your drink, but you can make the barista earn their money by ordering a highly customized drink.

I miss that already, but I'm sure if I find a nice local café and get to know the people there, I'll be able to walk in and order my specific drink.

I know you said you're not a fan of the syrups but I do like a little sweetness in my tea and the cinnamon adds that extra flavour. Given that Awake tea is a black tea, I've been trying Earl Grey Lattes at these coffee shops that I've been exploring. It's not quite the same but I liked the one I had at White Squirrel today.

Next up on my list are Quaff and Cloud.

Any recommendations from your indie café repertoire?
 
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I'm currently @ Quaff (checking back a few times to make sure I spelled that correctly! LOL!) and the atmosphere is great. I'm typing on about a 10º slant because all the tables at the front are sloping towards the entrance. The atmosphere is nice with a lot of natural light, a cool contemporary décor and nice unobtrusive background music. The high note: the teas are delicious. They have a nice selection of specialty teas. They close at 6pm though.

Between Quaff (checking spelling again... :p) and White Beaver I think I've found a nice daytime combo that I can interchange. If I want to work later at night, I'll hop over to Tequilla Bookworm and have a beer instead of their poor hot beverages.

I'm still open to more suggestions. I'll try out Cloud tomorrow and walk along Dundas to find a few more cafés.

P.S. I just realized I wrote White Beaver next to Quaff. It's White Squirrel. I was going to correct it but it's too funny a gaff to not share. LOL!
 
I've been to WS--coffee kinda blah, cute girls in there though :D And Quaff yeah good tea, good people watching. But knowing where you live, surely you've been to Tealish on Walnut? Review: http://asiancuisine.suite101.com/article.cfm/torontos_tealish http://www.tealish.com/

For a different kind of tea, check out that new el almacen yerba maté tea and coffee place on WQW near Dovercourt--very nice spot.

On Dundas, if you--like me--love listening to DJ music while having a coffee or tea, check out Peter's Communal Mule opposite Bellwood's park.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to check out Communal Mule tomorrow. I've been hanging out a lot @ White Squirrel. The tea's are ok and I like the bar space looking over the park... but it turns out, I might need a little more privacy (a wall behind me) because the photos I have to edit aren't exactly PG...
 
Quaff is one of my favourites too. Arepa is also really nice - bright, open space, terrific service, and the dulce de leche cookies make it worth the visit.
 
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