Toronto expat who now lives in Seattle chiming in..

Despite Starbucks being a Seattle company, no local would be caught dead drinking coffee at Starbucks- here the it’s all about supporting the thousands of small independent coffee shops, there’s a big anti-corporate sentiment (Seattle’s very left leaning), and general coffee snobbery in a city that loves coffee.

So even with all the hate on Starbucks, lots of people here agree that the Roastery is really fucking cool. They have lots of exotic coffees you can try, many different preparation methods (espresso machines, pour overs, French press, aero press, Chemex, and other less common ones that look like instruments from a mad scientist’s lab), you can watch the coffee being roasted in a small-scale roasting plant that adjoins the cafe and you can walk through, and the staff (both the baristas and the roasting staff) are super friendly and knowledgeable about all things coffee.

It’s like a crazy theme park of coffee, it’s awesome that you’re getting one in Toronto. It’s honestly not the kind of place that would take away business from your local coffee shops for an everyday morning cup of coffee or coffee espresso, it’s more of a tourist destination than anything else.