Kafka’s Coffee and Tea

It serves my favourite cappuccino in Vancouver. The place has great ambience and an arty relaxed vibe. It is closer to the b-​line but in the hipster quarter of main street. The food is so-​so. My pet peeve is they do only have one plug point and thats not very conducive to working here if you are on the laptop. I often carry an extension with me. I asked the staff about this once and they told me they do not want people with laptops. It struck me as a bit snooty, and confusing considering they have wi-​fi, but then again the love for coffee wins. In the end it has to do with the kind of atmosphere they want and I can accept it. Now, I go there to read and to enjoy the coffee and conversation.

I want to like this place but every coffee I’ve had here has been stomach-​churningly sour. No thanks.

Was in this morning for an espresso and a pastry.
Got a double espresso and a cookie (chocolate chip and rock salt)
The cookie was very tasty, but the espresso was completely burnt. The crema (what little there was) was almost black. Coffee had no depth of flavour it was so burnt. The barista watched it pour before he handed it to me so I can only assume he was happy with it, he must have either been new or just plain not good at making coffee. From having had the drip coffee on my first trip there I can also say it’s not the best in the area.
The place looked nice, was nicely laid out and had some great artwork on the walls but I couldn’t bring myself to recommend kafka’s. However, given how popular it appears to be I may give it a third try soon before I call time on it.
*review edit November 16^th 2015, the below is an addition to the original review and the score has been updated accordingly from 3 to 1 stars.
Tried kafkas a third time today. And it’s been 3 trips, 3 different baristas and the 3 worst cups of coffee I’ve ever ordered. In order I’ve had a drip coffee (way over roasted beans), espresso (burnt to all hell, black crema) and today the «Spanish latte», which is a café con leche (espresso in it was burnt again, and the milk was steamed by a barista who just didn’t know what they were doing). Very disappointing. I still think the cookies and other bits are nice, but the coffee has nothing I can recommend.

This place was open on Thanksgiving day till 8pm. It was my first time at Kafka. Espresso drinks were great. I had a waffle with my coffee which was fine. A good place for groups.

I find Kafka’s Coffee & Tea one of the better and friendlier neighbourhood coffee shops around with its serious but no nonsense approach to coffee blends and reliable selection of baked treats.
It’s hard to be beat the central location on Main Street and East Broadway packed in between not only other cafes, but also, little shops and stores. Kafka’s coffee is always up to par with their baristas taking careful attention to detail. Their café mocha is particularly delightful in its subtle yet sweet richness.
In contrast to the brighter, more ornate cafes, Kafka’s is much more demure and utilitarian in its basic yet still hip design and décor as it reflects elements of the crafty and artistic businesses surrounding it.
Kafka’s makes a mean Americano that’s perfectly comforting and solid while the American misto (with steamed milk) gives you a slightly fancier and refreshing satisfaction to it. I usually enjoy mine in tandem with a sweet scone for its fruity hints to balance out my caffeinated endeavour.
I always have the urge to visit Kafka’s whenever I’m walking by with its warm, neighbourhood coffee shop vibe and friendly appeal.

This coffee shop is my all times favorite. Great location and I simply just like their coffee. They offer one of my favorite coffee — Spanish latte.

One of the best coffee places in Vancouver. Hipster-​friendly and knowledgeable staff. If you’re a MacBook user (i use an iPhone), you’ll fit right in here! Leave your PC at home, or risk being refused service or kicked out :-)
I especially like their Ethiopian pour-​over, and they even sometimes have it for me when it’s not shown on the signboard menu. They have a few other outstanding coffees too. Fortunately for me, this place is close to where I work, so I am a semi-​regular. I don’t know what the people complaining about the noise are all about, as I never find it too loud here (unless they are bothered by MacBook keyboards clicking away). Like others have said, their coffee is not cheap, but you get what you pay for, and when you’re among the best in the city, it’s worth paying a bit more!
I judge a coffee by whether I have to add anything to it: I drink Kafka’s coffees black. Enough said.

Excellent coffee and pastries. Prices are steep for a cup but you get what you pay for! Excellent space although it gets loud very easily. Lots of reverberation…

Best pourover’s in the city; they beat revolver and timbertrain. The americanos are pretty good too, not amazing, but I drink them.

3.5
I’ve avoided this place because the exterior looks a little uninviting.
It’s red… and it looks old.
I personally prefer the hipster vibe with clean + minimal interior.
Their drip coffee was okay. Nothing to rave about, but it was much better than a Starbucks coffee.
The same can be said for their latte — good but not great.
I still prefer matchstick/​revolver/​49^th parallel.

Great service, great atmosphere, horrible coffee.
I thought I would try somewhere new, but I just got an americano from Kafka’s that had absolutely no crema. I regret wasting $ 3.25 on this garbage. These guys obviously don’t care about quality, and there are so many better places to go on Main Street.

Overpriced tea and unfriendly service.

One of my favourite coffee places in town, consistently good coffee and more interesting baked goods than most places. The art on the wall is hit and miss, sometimes great and sometimes not my thing but always interesting. I’ve been going for about 2 years and the staff have always been friendly and patient.
They price the drinks accordingly based on the higher quality and so there aren’t really many cheap options that are under $ 3.50 or so.

Despite being intimidated by this place for the past year (so artsy! Such fancy people inside!) I decided that it would be a great place to meet Tonye A. for a chat and a drink — gotta tackle those fears sometime! Obviously my fears were totally unfounded — it was great!
I was there at a thankfully quiet time and was able to grab a table before they were all snagged. The décor is cool and calm, with a hipsterish twist that I would expect from such a trendy Main St. spot. Walking up the the counter I was daunted by the coffee menu, but luckily I’d already overcaffeinated for the day. We ordered the apple cider and aside from being pretty expensive, it was outrageously tasty! Seriously the best I’ve ever had. It was thick and actually tasted like apples (weird, right?) It was a tad too sweet for me, but the spices and viscosity made it feel so homey and cosy that I downed the entire thing before I even realised what I was doing. Drop what you’re doing and go get one — you won’t regret it!
There’s definitely a strong hipster contingent here, as was to be expected, and the atmosphere is friendly and warm, the staff were polite, and it’s a great place to have a chat or do some work.

I bookmarked Kafka’s for a year and didn’t have intention to try it. I heard they have few ways to brew the coffee such as pourover, aeropress, syphon & expresso and pretty much the same as platform 7.
After we ordered our coffee, we looked around the shop and found some unique decoration on the walls. It makes the café atmosphere fresh and inspiring.
We ordered Spanish Latte and found it’s great. However, we didn’t stay long to enjoy our coffee coz we found the place was so noisy and dirty!

After reading a few of these reviews, I guess I’ve gotten lucky when I’ve sat down to read a book or work. It’s been a decent and quiet place to work and my theory behind this is…
… There’s only one outlet for customers to use!!! Hahaha? My recommendation is to bring your device fully charged, and maybe make friends with whoever is sitting by the table on the south side of the room.
Comfy sofas, local art (with the occasional exhibition), unexpected grilled cheese, and of course, fantastic coffee. I’ve spent many sunny afternoons sitting by the window, and judging by our weather now, maybe a few rainy ones too. See you soon!

Spacious and clean hangout with decent coffee and tea. Not as spatially cramped as the other Main Street cafes, though they don’t have a ton of seating. Not a lot else to say, but that’s not a bad thing. Friendly with a decent coffee selection.

Yay i really like Kafkas. The shop has a great vibe with great art pieces, The coffee is good and they have great staff! Its great for meetings, coffee dates and homework as well. Check it out when your on Mai street!

What a cute little place! I walked in and saw that there was plenty of seating and tables that are big enough in case you need to bring out your laptop and get some work done. The place is bright, and really just makes you want to be awake and productive haha. I ordered the Spanish latte which was made perfectly with a flourish of latte art on top. Love it! Only weird thing is where the washroom was located… you have to walk down a long narrow hallway which makes you kind of feel like the killer from Saw is gonna pop out and attack you, but other than that everything else is fine. haha: p

This seems like the kind of place that adding milk and sugar is frowned upon.
It was either here or Tim Horton’s on the corner. Stopped in for a coffee because I owed my dinner mate a dollar. Figured buying her a coffee would more than make up for it and we could sit a bit and chat longer. Hmm, what is a Gibraltar? He explained… I heard very little, but nodded and ordered it anyhow. Every day is an adventure. My friend got a London Fog. Turns out, my coffee is a shot (or two, the menu says two) of espresso with steamed milk. I did not add sugar. I look sophisticated – no, not so much… My friend grabbed my drink while I was in the washroom and I was just too lazy to find it. Plus, the glass was tiny. didn’t want to stir, coffee everywhere. Be an adult Jasmine.
There is art all along the wall. Not sure if there was a thing, but people were going up to every table and hovering over them looking at the drawings like I did at Huber’s (well, sort of… I went to empty tables).
The washroom is made for tall people… I could barely see my head in the mirror on the shelf above the sink. Am I really this short? Really?