Nemesis Coffee Gastown

Nemesis began as a single café in Gastown in 2017, set up by founder and chief executive Jess Reno with the aim of using coffee to create culture. It describes itself as a home for creatives and dreamers lost in their pursuits. The business celebrated its ninth birthday on 14 February 2026, and that same week it was ranked 15th in the World's 100 Best Coffee Shops, the highest position for any café in Canada and the only Vancouver entry on the list. The ranking combines a public vote with the views of an international panel of more than 800 coffee and food professionals, who judge coffee quality, barista skill, service, design, food and consistency.

The Gastown café is at 302 West Hastings Street, and Nemesis now has five locations across British Columbia, including cafés at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver and on Great Northern Way, plus a standalone shop for its pastry brand, Dope Bakehouse. The cafés are known for their striking interiors as much as for the coffee.

On the coffee side, the menu includes the house filter coffee, sold as the juice., and a signature coffee called culture., both of which you can also buy as beans to take home. Food is a big part of the draw. Dope Bakehouse pastries, from spanakopita to an apple pecan danish, are baked for the cafés, and a mortadella breakfast sandwich became a social media favourite.

The Gastown café opens daily from 8am to 4pm, so plan on a morning or lunchtime visit rather than an afternoon one. It suits solo travellers, friends meeting for breakfast and anyone who wants to try the city's most decorated café. Nemesis also runs events, which are listed on its website.

The café is on West Hastings Street, a short walk from the Vancouver Lookout at 555 West Hastings and from Gastown's Steam Clock at Water and Cambie Streets. Purebread's Gastown bakery is also on West Hastings, at number 159, so it is easy to combine the two on a morning walk around the old town. Check the website for the menu, as it is posted as a downloadable file for each location.