Have you just dropped the kids at the Kanata Wave Pool for swimming lessons and desperately need a coffee?
Or perhaps you’ve left them at Landmark Cinemas for a movie and have decided to wait it out rather than head home and back out to pick them up?
If so, City Bites has the perfect hangout and coffee shop recommendation: Z3 Specialty Coffee.
Hidden away in the tiny strip mall attached to Kanata Town Centre, Z3 Specialty Coffee is its own little world — a huge mural of a flowering cherry tree sets the tone, with artificial grass and simple tables and chairs doubling down on the spring/picnic theme. This is a coffee shop that is at once quirky and calm — on one side a Zen picnic in the park, on the other a busy coffee counter and mini store with an eclectic array of Japanese kitsch for sale — think Pokémon tchotchkes and cute cat mugs.
But Z3 is also a coffee house that takes its coffee very seriously, serving up the regular array of Canadian coffee shop staples while also introducing customers to unique Japanese-inspired coffees and teas, as well as homemade sakura soda and yakult milk-based options.
Feeling snacky? Try baked goods supplied by Ichiban Bakery.
Sample Drinks
Specialty Coffee: Japanese pour-over techniques make the most of single origin beans from Ethiopia, Peru, and Colombia
Milk Cap: Oolong mixed with cream and egg
Rose Latte Cafe: Sweet, milky, and with a hint of rose
Fruit Soda Coffee: A shot of espresso in the soda of your choice (strawberry, apple, pineapple or rose)
Yakult Drink: A popular probiotic milk beverage (available in strawberry, passionfruit, lemon, peach, and kiwi). It can also be mixed with soda.
Plus the usual beyond the espresso, Americano, mocha, and latte, which are also on the menu
Hot Tip: Don’t just grab and go. Plan to chill under the giant cherry blossom mural — Instagrammable and soothing on a cold winter’s day. Spring is just around the corner, right?
Hot Tip #2: Serious coffee drinkers should be sure to ask about Z3’s periodic workshops dedicated to roasting your own beans.
150 Katimivik Rd., Unit 50
Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.