Pourquoi Pas Espresso Bar

Petit café très mignon de la rue Amherst. L’endroit est plutôt petit, mais il y a tout de même plusieurs places (fenêtre, comptoir, grande table). C’est à la fois occupé et tranquille, ce qui fait du Pourquoi Pas un endroit super pour étudier un peu, travailler ou aller prendre un café avec un ami. Le personnel est super sympathique!
On y trouve des sandwichs, des pâtisseries et bien entendu, du café. Il est d’ailleurs délicieux! Le Pourquoi Pas offre aussi les jus Dose et autres produits de l’extérieur. Arrêtez-​y si vous êtes dans le coin!

I went through the trouble of re-​activating my Unilocal account just to post a review and give this café a well deserved 5 stars. Their «house milk» as other have mentioned really drives their product home. If you’re in the area and you’re looking for a excellent coffee based drink, or even a small snack (muffin, cookie, brownie) do not skip on the occasion to pay them a visit. The staff is friendly, not to discount others but Tony and Emma are extremely friendly and will make you feel like family! Another thing I found surprising is the amount of work that is put into making the right coffee; they weigh out the grounds and then weigh the coffee once its poured so you know it’s consistently great. ¹⁰⁄₁₀ will drink their coffee again!

Definitely the best latte I’ve had in Montréal. The baristas have been very friendly each time I’ve visited and given suggestions on bean selection. The café itself is a little bare, but has some nice window-​seating and is clean and inviting. Coffee is pretty much the only option, but it’s good enough that that’s ok.

Le café est super bon! Le seul bémol c’est qu’il a vraiment pas beaucoup de place. Mais bon. J’ai adoré mon après midi là!

We ordered a mocha latte and a cappuccino both were perfectly prepared. The cappuccino seemed a little bit more like an espresso I know it’s not supposed to have much milk in it but this had a very small of milk in it. Yet it was so smooth and not acidic at all that it was very enjoyable. The mocha latte was perfect as well. Would definitely order both drinks again. They have a few tables inside with a different one right at the front window you do need to be careful so you don’t fall off and get hurt. We couldn’t get the Wi-​Fi to work but it looks like other people were if we were staying longer were. Would have asked for assistance but we weren’t staying that long.
Definitely recommend.

Le café est excellent, il change régulièrement donc on goûte à plein de saveur! Ici le lait végétal est roi, il y a plus d’une sorte, dont le lait maison fait à base de lait de coco. Il surprend la première fois, puis fini par tomber sur le coeur éventuellement. C’est très goûteux et riche. Au final, on vient ici pour le café, un espresso sans sucre c’est parfait! On compte près de 5 $ pour un café, seul bémol.

Location: Just off Ste. Catherine Est, in the Village. Street parking available [metered] and the closest subway stops are Berri and Beaudry [green].
The place: Very small with a communal table and bar-​type seating right in front of the window. Obviously I chose the window because I like to look at people look at me when they walk by. It’s a super casual atmosphere and there’s no pretentiousness of any kind. Also, I didn’t see any hipsters. I did stop in on a Tuesday afternoon so the place was quiet. I’m not sure how it looks on the weekend.
The goods: I ordered a Macchiato with the home made almond + coconut milk. The milk is awesome and totally worth it. These guys use Pilot coffee, which I sometimes like, while at other times, it leaves me indifferent. I had a custom blend that was roasted specifically for a café in Québec City that was awesome. The blend used for this Macchiato was OK but it was a little bitter for my tastes. I still enjoyed it though, and I’d say these guys are in my top 6 coffee spots. Yes, that’s right, SIX, not five!
Service: The barista was so, so nice and friendly.
Price point: $ 3.50 for the Macchiato, though I think there might be a surcharge for the home made milk. I forgot to ask.
All in all, a very respectable coffee joint in this part of town. Check it!

The soy latte I got was good if a bit too foamy. The lemon-​berry bar was delicious. The space is cramped but the window seats overlook the street. The location is just off the Main Street through the Gay Village. And yes they have soy milk!

Le café est excellent ! Même chose pour le chocolat chaud et le cappuccino.
Le service est très agréable.
Un endroit que je recommande sans aucune hésitation.

great café in le village!
while they use pilot coffee, it is their house blend almond milk that really makes the coffee shine and worth going back for more. well, if you’re in the neighborhood.
the place is really small with one community table and plenty of counter seats. there’s no A/​C in the place so it gets really hot.
so don’t forget to ask or say yes to their almond milk. that’s the star of the café!

Located a bit further east than I usually venture, I had to come here after reading the reviews… And the place did not disappoint!
First of all, although I love plain ol’ cow’s milk, almond milk is my default for coffee, so I loved the house blend of coconut and almond milk. The coconut milk added an extra je né sais quoi that worked perfectly with the nuttiness of the almond milk and the toasty notes of the espresso.
They have a variety of baked goods on offer. I chose the banana-​chocolate square, which was on the dry side, but it was pleasantly banana-​y and had just the right amount of chocolate.
The seating isn’t the most plentiful and the arrangement isn’t the most inviting, but it isn’t terrible either. The window seats are perfect for people watching, but they’re also up on a platform, so you do need to have some sense about you when going up and down — especially when you have one of their precious lattes in your hands!
Will return for sure.

I had an excellent latte and scone here.
When I ordered the scone, the gentleman behind the counter asked, «Do you want me to ‘eat it up for you?»
Not sure why he wanted to eat the scone I just purchased…

Wonderful staff and delicious coffee in the heart of the Village. Worth a return visit for sure!

Wow!!! Great coffee and company !!! The attention to detail, the smile of the barista, makes you want to come back ! See you soon!

Mocha was luke warm and super expensive, nearly $ 5. The lady who owned the shop was really nice though, salvaged a poorer coffee rating.

Coffee as coffee should be.
Lots of respect to the process.
The best coffee for those who care ;)

Pourquoi Pas Espresso Bar serves hands down one of the best lattes I’ve had in Montréal so far! Located in the Village, it is easily accessible to downtown dwellers, workers, tourists and passersby. The only downside I find is that it closes so early (6PM everyday).
Small and simple, the venue is decorated with cutesy works of art for sale. The barrista was very nice and produced a killer frozen latte. What more could I possibly ask for?

Oui, oui, oui, oui, oui!
Un incontournable pour moi quand je me rends dans le Village.
Il faut monter Amherst à partir de Sainte-​Catherine et être attentif au très chouette design de clous! Excellent café. Service parfois un peu lent, il faut préférablement s’y rendre quand on a un peu de temps. Autre hic: j’ai trouvé le thé assez cher comparativement au café. Peu de place pour s’asseoir, c’est vraiment fait pour un petit moment espresso… mais si vous trouvez une place pour y poser une fesse, un latte s’impose. Il y a du lait pour tous les goûts! Le staff est sympathique et attentionné. À voir et à boire encore et encore!

Endroit très cool et molo !
L’espresso était excellent !
J’ai pu également y acheter une Keep Cup!
Le service était super sympa !
J’aime

Pourquoi Pas is my favourite café east of Saint-​Laurent and south of Mont-​Royal, and among the very best in the city. All their beans are from Pilot in Toronto, the coffee organization behind the excellent Te Aro on Queen East and Crafted on Ossington. PP came through a recent change in ownership with completely consistent coffee. They have retained their (unusual for Montréal) rotating, two-​option bean menu for espresso drinks, each posted with a few descriptors on a chalkboard. The staff are some of the sweetest and most welcoming folks you’ll meet at a Montréal café, and they have a devoted local following in the Village. They’ve had a flat white featured prominently on the menu for years, and it is excellent, just like their lattes. Good wifi, and a rare, mostly (maybe all) vegan baked goods spread.

Pourquoi Pas Espresso Bar is a great place in the village for anyone anyone that wants a great cup of coffee (They serve other stuff but their speciality is coffee).
I came of couple of times before. This time I ordrered a Flat White, a hot cocoa and one of their homemade yogurt.
The décor is standard for a coffee shop. Which means that you can either sit at a table, at the bar or closer to the big bay window giving a great view of Ahmerst.
The service was laid back and professional. All of my questions were answered quickly and I was even asked some more. I was offered to either have my Flat White with home made almond milk, soy milk or with cow milk. All of the options were nice little options that made my experience even better.
The coffee was obviously the star of the afternoon! I had a Flat White which was totally different from the one you can get at Starbucks. First it wasn’t drowned in hot milk. Second, it tasted like actual coffee. Third it was totally delicous.
My cocoa was also very good. It wasn’t overly sweet and the cocoa tasted a bit like cinnamon.
The yogourt was served with dried fruits. It was as delicious as it was healthy.
Will I come back? For sure I will!

A great little spot with an impressive selection of coffee to choose from… perfect for 1 on 1 meetings.
A noteworthy mention to the «screw head» Pourquoi Pas Espresso Bar signage in the storefront window.

As good as Piccolo’s Espresso Bar, and slightly cheaper. My go to coffee shop if I’m staying in hostels around St Catherine’s, or indeed when I’m willing to walk for it.
Choice of daily roasts (Ethiopian and Colombian when I was there). Serving staff were great, and price was right ($ 2.75). Had free wifi and you could sit at the window looking at the world, or at the bar chatting.
A must go.

La qualité du café est incroyable.
Malheureusement, souvent le service est plutôt lent. Il faut donc y aller à des heures stratégiques et surtout né pas s’y arrêter lorsqu’on est pressé.

For someone who drinks as much coffee as I do in as many cafés as possible, it’s rare for a café to truly surprise me. Pourquoi Pas did, and in a very good way.
It started with ordering a latte. I was met with a simple question: what kind of milk? The options that followed were not the «skim, 2%, whole» that I’d expected, though, but rather, «house-​made almond/​coconut, soy, or cow’s milk». Hearing «lait de vache» come across, with a slight prickliness to it, caught me off guard. (Of course I know milk comes from cows, but never when ordering a drink does that fact come to my attention.) I stumbled. I fumbled. «Regular, you know, um, milk.» Herp de derp, smooth move, Katie.
After tripping over my obviously non-​vegan beverage order (callous carnivore as I am), I looked at the menu more closely and noticed that cow’s milk carries an extra surcharge, and is indicated by a weepy broken heart on the chalkboard. I was tickled by their apparent display of ethics (and judgment?), and determined to try their lait maison the next time, so I could be a cool and compassionate coffee snob, too. I also noticed that their standard coffee was an Aeropress, which gets props from me (I love my home Aeropress), and also noticed the striking lack of other options on the menu. This is, uncontestedly, an espresso bar. A one-​trick pony, perhaps, but that one trick is a showstopper.
The latte set before me – made with creamy dairy goodness stolen from the mouths of bleating calves at their mothers’ teats — was phenomenal. Perfectly balanced, not bitter in the least, and made with a perfect microfoam swirled into lovely latte art. Mmmmm.
The next time at Pourquoi Pas, not even a week later, I tried their house almond and coconut milk, and was impressed. It made great foam, and had a rich but sweet nutty flavor. But, for all that, even with the added bonus of self-​righteousness for not exploiting our bovine friends, I regretted not getting cowmilk. Sweet, delicious, calorific, uncompassionate cow’s milk. I’ll placate my conscious by imagining that the extra charge goes toward buying the most wonderful, single-​origin, free-​range, fair-​trade, grass-​fed, eco-​conscious milk from the happiest cows in Quebec. Or one can hope.

Petite place intéressante que j’ai trouvée grâce à Unilocal en cherchant un café dans le coin.
Le «Espresso Bar «dans le nom décrit bien l’endroit: pas vraiment un café où l’on va se poser pour travailler ou jaser, mais plutôt un arrêt où trouver des produits de qualité avec des gens qui s’y connaissent.
On a le choix entre deux types de grains pour notre café, ce que je trouve plutôt plaisant. Et pour le lait, on a pas moins de 3 choix: lait de vache (moyennant un supplément), lait de soya, et lait maison fait d’amandes et noix de coco.
J’ai testé ce dernier, car j’étais vraiment curieuse. Le goût était pas pire, quoi que pas tellement mon genre car trop sucré à cause du coco. Le café que j’avais choisi avait également des notes de bonbons, selon ce qui était écrit. J’avais quasiment l’impression de boire du cupcake liquide par moment, mais je m’y suis habituée et j’en reprendrais je crois!

Aeropress of the day is excellent coffee. This is really high quality stuff. If you require cream and sugar, skip Pourquoi Pas; the subtleties of good coffee will be lost.
Nice little shop, friendly staff, decent prices. A few people have said the best coffee ever, and while I don’t agree, it is quite good.

C’est l’amour au premier latte. Café délicieux et un substitut de lait fait maison avec du lait d’amande+coco absolument génial.
Moi qui né boit pas de lait, j’ai enfin pu me régaler d’un capuccino absolument délicieux. Et j’en suis reparti enchanté !
Pourquoi pas… même pas la peine de se poser la question…

L’endroit est sympathique et vu sa petite taille et la disposition des tables (à proximité du bar)… l’ambiance est ce que vous en faites!
Nous avons pris un cappuccino ici, un soir de pluie, en attendant un événement à L’Olympia qui est à proximité. L’endroit ferme à 18:00 (le vendredi du moins) heureusement que c’était l’heure de notre événement.
Le cappucino est de bonne qualité et servi avec une touché artistique (un dessin original que vous voudrez immortalisé en photo)… seule ombré au tableau, il n’était pas assez chaud (ça aurait disqualifié l’endroit en Italie!).
Il y a une platine tourne-​disque (oui, oui pour les vinyles, c’est comme ça que vous voyez que c’est un endroit «branché») et les clients peuvent emmener leurs disques. Quelqu’un avait oublier un «Django Reinhardt» et nous fûment bénéficiaire de l’ambiance ainsi créer. Avec la musique, la pluie et l’enthousiasme du serveur, on se serait presque cru dans un film de Woody Allen pour peu qu’on aie commencer à se poser des questions existentielles.

Face meltingly good coffee and espresso. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that this is the best coffee I have ever had. They have multiple grinds available every day and the barista can tell you the details of each without batting an eye or pausing to think. Words can’t really express how good the drinks are here, but I’m about to try.
Espresso drinks are complex beasts. The espresso shot needs to be good, which means your grind must be good, which means your roast must be good, which means you actually have to care about your product and put a ton of effort into it. If you can pull a good shot, you still have to get the milk right. I know that seems like it should be the easy part, but it’s a detail that you can’t overlook. Most places, even dedicated independent coffee shops (not just Starbucks/​Dunkin/​Tim Hortons), get their milk too hot; when you overheat your milk it gets bitter and acidic and no longer serves as a foil to the bitterness/​acidity of the espresso, but instead it amplifies all the bad flavors you don’t want.
When I placed the mug between my hands and they were warmed but not scalded I knew I was in for a treat. My expectations were exceeded in ways I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest caffeine fueled dreams. After I scraped my face off the table I finished my mocha (not too sweet, not too milky, jusssssst right).
On top of crafting amazing drinks, Tony the barista is super friendly. I felt welcomed the second I walked into the bar. On my first day in Montréal he gave me a sample of their freshly delivered baked goods (the onion tart was AWESOME). Then he recommended I try a few things and when I came back the next day he not only remembered my name but asked how my day had gone and had a few more suggestions. Nicest guy I met on my whole trip.
The interior space is limited but I’d say it’s more «intimate and cozy» than «cramped.» They don’t have wi-​fi but there are a few plug sockets if you’re desperate. After you finish your drink, try their water. There won’t be a bitter taste in your mouth that you need to rinse out and your mouth won’t be burned but you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t try their super delicious water before you leave. No, I’m not joking. The water pitcher is filled with lemon peel and fresh thyme sprigs which is the dopest water combination ever.
When I return to Montréal, this is my first stop.

La grande snob à café en moi a trouvé un autre petit recoin de paradis en allant au Pourquoi Pas. Leur spécialité c’est définitivement l’espresso. Pas de pâtisseries, de salades ou de sandwich pour vous distraire. Simplement que du bon café. Ils offrent le fameux «Flat White» que je prends souvent dans les cafés en Australie, mais je né l’ai pas trouvé si différent d’un latte. J’ai vraiment bien aimé mon café et j’y retournerai pour goûter aux autres car ils changent leurs sélections de grains de temps en temps pour le café filtre si j’ai bien compris. La seule chose qui manqué pour la fameuse 5e étoile, c’est l’ambiance de la place. C’est bien tranquille mais la disposition des chaises et tables né rend pas l’endroit très chaleureux. Ça donne vraiment l’impression qu’on y va pour y acheter notre café, mais pas nécessairement pour y rester quelques heures et y lire un livre tranquillement ou bien pour jaser entre amis.