Mountain Bean Coffee Company
Address: 2001 Henderson Highway
Phone Number: none
Website: mountainbean.com
Neighbourhood: North Winnipeg, just south of Perimeter
Canmore—a mountain town just east of Banff—was my home for a couple of years in the late 90s.
Sitting in the shadow of the Three Sisters mountains in the Bow River Valley, Canmore is the quintessential mountain town. Log cabin cafés, coffee shops and restaurants dot the outdoor lover's paradise.
Winnipeg may not have the views, but Mountain Bean Coffee Company in the city's far north, transports customers to that cozy, log cabin life in the woods.
Sure the café and coffee shop is located in a north Henderson Highway strip mall. But as soon as you cross the threshold it feels like a mountain escape.
Heavy wood tables and chairs with inset carved bear paws on the back populate the large space. Sunlight streams through two walls of windows. High-top bars with seating face the windows.
Comfy leather chairs and a stone fireplace complete the mountain café experience. Customers are encouraged to linger over their coffees and cappuccinos. The coffee shop serves all manner of specialty coffees. Try the Summit Coffee, a cinnamon-laced latte that hits the right sweet and slightly spicy notes.
Lunch includes a host of straight up deli sandwiches, pizza buns and pizzas, which are heated on a sandwich press and toaster oven. Muffins, slices, brownies and cookies are also for the taking.
A personal-size, four-slice mushroom pizza was loaded with mozzarella and loads of sliced mushrooms. A canopy of melted mozzarella topped this thick-cut 'za.
A chocolate oat bar—made by Cocoabeans Bakeshop, a gluten-free bakery in St. Boniface—was a highlight. Semi-sweet chocolate crowned a dense and moist square of lightly sweetened raw oats.
Mountain Bean stocks pastries, which for the most part, are made out-of-house. That said, the sweets are carefully selected and don't disappoint.
Mountain Bean customers are a mix of business types, seniors, at-home parents with kids in tow and low-key ladies who lunch.
Bring a book, read a paper, savour a coffee and let the mountain-cabin setting sink in.
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