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montreal coffee

Autumn is in full swing in Montreal — the weather is crisp, the leaves have changed colour and festive fall drinks are on every menu in every cafe.

While Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte may be the most popular fall beverage, so many Montreal cafes have seasonal refreshments that are just as good, if not better. Let's be real: local, fresh ingredients make everything taste more delicious.

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Downtown Montreal will smell exceptionally inviting at the end of the month. Café Collectif is brewing up a storm with a coffee festival featuring over 30 local roasters. Café Pista, Zab, and a caffeinated conga line of specialty coffee vendors from Fantôme and Rabbit Hole to Saint-Henri and Nucleus are ready to spill the beans on what sets their brews apart.

The festival, from May 31 to June 1, will also pack a punch with interactive barista workshops. Hosted by experts from Edika and Lelit, the sessions at the Société des arts technologiques (SAT) promise to upgrade your home coffee game from amateur pourer to pro espresso puller. It’s a hands-on opportunity for attendees to operate professional-grade machines under the guidance of seasoned baristas.

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Montreal's café scene is as rich and robust as a shot of espresso, and its hidden gems are the crema on top. These spots, discreetly tucked within other businesses, serve top-notch brews, from creamy lattés to fruity bubble teas.

Not only can you hit up a café in a boxing gym, and caffeinate where you lift weights, but you can also withdraw a light roast from a bank-turned-coffee shop, or take a tea where you read. Let these percolate:

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Montreal is home to countless must-try cafés that offer up some of the best brews, sweet treats and other breakfast and brunch must-haves that make Montreal's food scene so spectacular.

Now, while iconic Montreal cafés such as Café Olimpico, Crew Collective & Café, Pastel Rita and Tommy Café are certainly top spots across the city, we've rounded up a list of nine cafés that are redefining coffee moments in Montreal.

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While there's no lack of trendy Montreal cafés lighting up your social feeds, we're here to spill the beans on something a bit more personal — the baristas behind the brew. If you're looking for some coffee inspiration or just appreciate good latté art, we've got you covered.

From national champions whose creations are as innovative as they are delicious, to coffee aficionados who mix sustainability with exceptional roasting skills, these Montreal baristas pour passion into their craft. There's a master of Studio Ghibli-inspired designs, turning each coffee into a miniature work of art, and you shouldn't overlook the trailblazers who've elevated coffee brewing by opening their own iconic Montreal cafés.

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Montrealers are thirsty for third-wave coffee — high quality brew made from sustainably cultivated and ethically sourced beans — and more local cafés than ever are satisfying that craving. Specialty coffee, sometimes roasted on-site, has become the calling card of many a coffee shop in the city.

According to Google data, these Montreal cafés are brimming with positive reviews of their brew:

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Modern society often seems to revolve around coffee and around sex, which means an almost countless stream of web pieces, and a more modest list of scientific studies, theorise a link between the two. Like many things coffee-related, the connection isn’t simple, but science supports the possibility that your latte is lifting your libido.

Macchiatos and the Mechanics of Sex

Coffee gets the blood flowing. Literally. Coffee is best known for waking us up, but it also promotes circulation and blood flow, fundamentals in arousal for both men and women. This vasodilation occurs when caffeine inhibits phosphodiesterase (PDEs), leading to a buildup of molecular messengers that trigger the expansion of blood vessels.

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That piping-hot cup of coffee you’re holding isn’t going to cure cancer. Or heart disease. Or any of the list of ailments that headlines have tied it to. Whether it’s a well-crafted pour over, a shot of espresso or a paper cup from your local depanneur, coffee is a fantastic beverage enjoyed by literally millions of people every day. That little cup of heaven is going to wake you up, but it is not a health food.

A recent study was heralded as showing that drinking coffee will make you live longer. The media flutter joins a list, stretching 50 years or more, of claims that coffee drinking makes you healthier – or kills you. The continuous thread is an interest in coffee. The role of that beverage swings wildly. Most recently, the balance has been on toward curing all, but coffee has also been cast as the villain.

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The average cup of decaf coffee is pretty terrible. It just is. It may be better than it used to be, but diet soda is also better than it used to be and the bottom line is still that fewer people would choose the unleaded version over the full test.

But there are times when even die-hard coffee drinkers, including me, would like a cup of our favourite brew sans caffeine – if it didn’t taste like chewing the paper cup that it came in.

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This Essay article is part of a Narcity Media series. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.

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You probably think that coffee makes you poop. But does it? The answer is a solid maybe.

Popular culture holds that coffee makes us poop, but the science is a bit more equivocal. Some studies suggest a firm yes, others a looser no. As little as a third of us may actually be ‘Coffee Poopers.’ What seems to be coming out, overall, is that either you are a coffee-driven pooper, or you aren’t. There are no occasional Coffee Poopers.

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We have some good news for java enthusiasts. On September 24, you can get free coffee all day long at Montreal café Barista. Pizza slices, cupcakes, affogatos, coffee-based cocktails and sweets will also be on the house.

Sound too good to be true? Pinch yourself.

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