Pastry and Espresso at Chez Christophe

A flower-strewn cafe in Gastown's flatiron that pours espresso by day and natural wine by night, so one date can quietly become three.

A Gastown roastery dressed like a vintage railway carriage, pouring the kind of coffee that makes you forget you had somewhere to be.

A converted Gastown warehouse turned sunlit bakery-cafe, where daily sourdough, good espresso and reclaimed-furniture charm make lingering the entire plan.

A tiny Turkish-run cafe on a tucked-away downtown Langley lane, where sweet and savoury crepes meet a proper Turkish coffee.

A gloriously over-the-top Italian coffee palace on the Drive, all marble, chandeliers and Roman statues, running since 1976 and taking exactly zero notes.

A blush-pink micro-roastery on Broadway that roasts in the corner and looks like a date already in progress.

An award-winning timber pavilion shaped like a flower, where the room is so good the coffee almost has to apologize for stealing focus.

A husband-and-wife Italian bakery-cafe on the Drive where a morning cornetto and an evening aperitivo are the same great date, twice.

A warm, cabin-feel cafe on Deep Cove's main street, purpose-built for the coffee you earn after Quarry Rock.

Chinatown's most serious coffee program in its most serene room, rotating Canada's best roasters through a space built for quiet talk.

A cosy Yaletown roastery with the one thing Yaletown rarely offers a coffee date: enough seats to actually settle in and talk.

A 4.9 rated bakery on Sixth Street where the laminated pastry is the reason and the flat white is the excuse.

A tiny French pastry counter in Ladner Village where the macarons and the croissants are the reason people drive out here.

The caffeinated heart of historic Cloverdale, roasting its own beans a few doors from Main Street's heritage storefronts.