west77 Senior Member Joined: 18 Aug 2010 Posts: 43 Location: Calgary AB Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: WEGA 2 group Airy Grinder: Carimali M1, Nuova Simonelli... Vac Pot: Cory gasketless Drip: What's drip? Roaster: Fratello ;)
Posted Mon Jun 6, 2011, 3:24am Subject: Re: Looking for 24/7 Calgary Coffee Shop, w/ Wifi
I hate to have to agree with the above posts. Much like you, I am a night owl (4:00 and just getting ready for bed...) WiFi and coffee is going to be a hard order to fill. Part of the problem is that there are not enough of us night owls who want coffee at 3:00 in the morning. Also, our population is far too spread out to have such a shop as a practical solution.
Aside from McDonalds, I suppose there is always the Flying J, Blackfoot diner, the Roadking and a number of other truckstops who I would imagine will never run short on coffee (albeit poor quality) and I am pretty certain that there is WiFi (though you may have to pay a small fee.)
You could also just by yourself a 12V converter and plug your own machine into the cigarette lighter and park outside of a residence where they have not secured their wireless... (though you may have trouble explaining to the police why you are buzzed on caffeine parked outside of a house in the early hours of the morning.) Perhaps breaking into a coffee geeks place and borrowing their machine while they sleep as suggested above is a perfectly acceptable course of action?
If you do find any place that is worth looking at please post it here... I would love to know that there is some place with a good brew early in the morning.
unidonburi Senior Member Joined: 11 Oct 2005 Posts: 59 Location: Calgary Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Euro2000 Jr., Estro Profi Grinder: Cimbali Jr., MD40,... Vac Pot: French press/moka pot Roaster: Swissmar Bravi, Poppery I,...
Posted Thu Jun 16, 2011, 8:56pm Subject: Re: Looking for 24/7 Calgary Coffee Shop, w/ Wifi
It's not 24/7, but they are open until 11 M-Thurs and until 2 am on F/S. They have music in the evenings, so it may not always be a quite place to work. The coffee, however, is great and they have wireless. Kawa
Posted Sun Jun 19, 2011, 9:29am Subject: Re: Looking for 24/7 Calgary Coffee Shop, w/ Wifi
unidonburi Said:
It's not 24/7, but they are open until 11 M-Thurs and until 2 am on F/S. They have music in the evenings, so it may not always be a quite place to work. The coffee, however, is great and they have wireless. Kawa
Kawa is a great place and there is Wifi -- but they are not wifi or work friendly. (and that's a good thing). The reason you see people working at a Waves or a Starbucks is because having you sit there working is part of their business model (one that is failing in some markets). For independent cafes the burden on each seat to produce revenue is so high - especially if the shop is quality focused - that their business can fail from the accumulated weight of people sitting in seats and at tables working. It's not enough to just buy a coffee every hour or so. It is almost never the case that "good coffee" and "place to work" go hand in hand - because of the demands on a quality model for revenue usually trumps all.
To be fair to the Original Poster -- what they are looking for only exists in markets where rents are silly cheap - seating is overly plentiful - and operating costs are super low (ie, cheap coffee, cheap labour, cheap food costs etc). It's more of a fantasy situation in today's urban markets.
rmleloup Senior Member Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 7 Location: Calgary Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sun Jun 19, 2011, 12:01pm Subject: Re: Looking for 24/7 Calgary Coffee Shop, w/ Wifi
I'll check out Kawa, and see what they're all about, and I like the late night idea for the weekend, it'll definitely help me out. :)
I did an email to tim hortons, if they even serve "good" coffee, is still under debate anywhere. But regardless. They did reply with a list of address/#'s for all, 24/7 tims in calgary, with open restaurant area's. :)
I can 100% guarantee that you will not be able to, or be welcome to, work at Kawa on a weekend evening -- it's not that kind of place. It is a hot-spot for music and dance and celebration with people turned away at the door because they are too full (a very European style of coffee/beer/wine bar). It's a fantastic place to have coffee beer or wine, and mix with some amazing people (the ethnic mix alone of the clientele is amazing - it rivals Vancouver in that respect). The owners are really good friends of mine (and clients) but their place is not the kind of place for you to do your late night studying -- especially on weekends.
Timmy's really would be your best bet in therms of hassle free corporate anonymity -- next would be a place like waves that caters to 24 hour wifi work-space crowds.... but otherwise what you are looking for doesn't really exist in Calgary.
Posted Sun Jun 19, 2011, 8:26pm Subject: Re: Looking for 24/7 Calgary Coffee Shop, w/ Wifi
The last time I was at Kawa late at night on a weekend was just before Christmas this past year. Packed to the rafters with fantastic people, loud music, and lots of great beer. Les and Ottilia are terrific hosts. It would be akin to studying at Milk Tiger... not advisable.
I'll be blunt: That sort of thing doesn't exist much of anywhere in the world, let alone in Calgary.
Most coffee shops have a hard enough time attracting quality staff during regular business hours. Forget about getting a quality barista pulling a graveyard shift.
I'll sell you a grinder and a good home brewing setup though if you want. So will Phil & Sebastian or Fratello.
Actually, this sort of thing is alive and well in downtown Montreal! :) Which is how I ended up on this forum ... looking for the same thing in Calgary, to which I moved back just over 18 months ago, and sorely missing my late-night coffee sessions :( ... Timmy's is NOT the same thing! (no plugins EVER! ... coast to coast).
Within a 2 block radius of my apartment in Montreal, there were 2 x 24/7 coffee shops as "spec'd" by the original poster. Both were Second Cup until about 2 years ago, when the one at the end of my block went private; still 24/7 and free wi-fi, with plugins and "good enough for 3 in the morning" coffee :) Mind you, my apartment was for all intents and purposes "on the campus" of Concordia University and that 2 block radius contained 11 other coffee shops of one description or the other (as well as I can recall). I would have thought that something similar may have existed here in the U of C / SAIT area.
And as any late night coffee owl will tell you, making and enjoying it at home is not the same thing! :)
rmleloup Senior Member Joined: 22 May 2011 Posts: 7 Location: Calgary Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Sep 17, 2011, 6:52am Subject: Re: Looking for 24/7 Calgary Coffee Shop, w/ Wifi
2ninerniner2 Said:
Actually, this sort of thing is alive and well in downtown Montreal! :) Which is how I ended up on this forum ... looking for the same thing in Calgary, to which I moved back just over 18 months ago, and sorely missing my late-night coffee sessions :( ... Timmy's is NOT the same thing! (no plugins EVER! ... coast to coast).
Within a 2 block radius of my apartment in Montreal, there were 2 x 24/7 coffee shops as "spec'd" by the original poster. Both were Second Cup until about 2 years ago, when the one at the end of my block went private; still 24/7 and free wi-fi, with plugins and "good enough for 3 in the morning" coffee :) Mind you, my apartment was for all intents and purposes "on the campus" of Concordia University and that 2 block radius contained 11 other coffee shops of one description or the other (as well as I can recall). I would have thought that something similar may have existed here in the U of C / SAIT area.
And as any late night coffee owl will tell you, making and enjoying it at home is not the same thing! :)
That's what I'm looking for, even if its a busy place or not, doesn't matter to me, i'm add/adhd off and on, other days i'm quite focused. But for me to "work" or "study" etc, basically I need distractions...
Example... mid afternoon, went into starbucks/chapters. Had coffee, setup my work laptop, personal laptop, macbook I converted to linux, ipad as well (for music). Multi surfed, etc... And completed my work faster then I would have solo'd. And there were alot of mom's wth kids...
Basically if there's an on or off campus location in any of the universities/colleges of calgary, i'm more then happy to check them out. Even if it means going to airdrie, okotoks, lethbridge, etc... (Within a 1hr driving radius around cgy).
Thanks for the research guys, i'll rekindle my google search.
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