More than just the Hawaiian beans
At this distinctive shop in the tiny Shaughnessy Village neighborhood of Montreal (near the downtown grid), a selling point is the “authentic Hawai’ian coffees direct from our friends who helped build the Hawai’ian coffee industry.” But more than this—and what you don’t notice when you make a purchase—is that you are supporting a non-profit. Namely, the Centre de Santé Meraki (Meraki Health Center) adjacent to Café Pacefika on Rue Lambert Closse, “which helps marginalised and underserved individuals and families.”
Beyond existing as a simple coffee shop, Pacefika offers items such as smoothies, their own baked goods (like cardamom buns), and a meatless menu of “healthy” light breakfasty items (such as fancy toasts) with vegan options. Their website features a downloadable menu and a photo gallery displaying some of the food.
Whirled Peas
While at times the customer base seems mostly composed of local students, Pacefika doesn’t feel like a college hangout. If you were to visit on a few consecutive days, you’d notice a diverse customer population in terms of age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Police officers frequent the cafe for takeout, perhaps due to the ease of parking in loading zones on the side street in front.
In fact, after sitting for a few hours in Pacefika, one wonders why world peace is not the normal state of affairs. As their website states, “all of our guests and team should feel as if they are entering a second home, where they are treated with the highest level of respect and dignity.” These are not empty words, as the customer base will tell you.
According to their social media accounts, Café Pacefika closed on March 18 due to the pandemic. This is obviously a very reasonable action considering that the cafe shares traffic with the connected Meraki Health Centre (mentioned above). “Please note that we have decided to close the café temporarily to protect your health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also the right decision for our team and the patients at the clinic next door.“
Bohemianity: 
Old World: 
Hipsterosity:
Starbuckishness:
3rd Wave
[explainer for these terms can be found here]
What you want to know about Café Pacefika
Coffee ☕ Two beans to choose from for drinks made with the cafe’s espresso machine: Hawaiian or Italian. Try the Hawaiian bean. The Italian bean is tasty too, and the macchiatos made from it aren’t gustatorily overpowering—but they are strong.
Shots ☕ The default for espresso-based drinks is two shots.
Milks ☕ Cow, soy, almond, oat, and coconut.
Baristas ☕ Nice folks behind the counter, not pretentious. You can tell they don’t hate their job (not surprising, since they aren’t stuck in a corporate culture cafe). The talent in pulling espressos isn’t entirely consistent between baristas, but odds are you’ll get perfectly pulled shots.
Ambiance ☕ The storefront, which takes up the breadth (not length) on one side of the rectangular space housing the cafe, provides the only source of daylight. Given the sterile office space housing their cafe, they did an admirable job of dressing it up to be more homey.
Seating ☕ Capacity is limited in comparison to the Starbucks around the corner on Sainte-Catherine. Some of the tables for two are set up so that a party of six can push tables together for a group session—assuming you’re lucky enough to find three adjacent tables unpopulated. If you visit Café Pacefika on numerous occasions, this won’t help in predicting the seemingly random nature of when the cafe will be busy.
Connection ☕ Wi‑Fi is reliable, if not fast; password at the counter.
Outlets ☕ Plenty of electrical outlets for everyone.
Music ☕ The tunes are fairly innocuous. The volume is reasonable for those trying to get some thinking done. If one was forced to sum up the music by naming a single band, it might be the Mamas & the Papas.
Location ☕ A block away from the Montreal Forum, and thus a block away from the subway kiosk in Cabot Square for Atwater Station. Fun Facts: Before the Forum became the home of a Cineplex, it was “the most storied building in hockey history” (1924–1996). Café Pacefika is on the same block as Marché Adonis, a chain grocery store opened by two Lebanese Canadian brothers that features Mediterranean products.
