Societe Coffee Lounge

The Coffee

The Societe Coffee Lounge espresso bar display their current coffees on the counter next to the till as well as on their wall with other coffee related items for sale, including their own branded ceramic mugs made from a local vendor in Canmore called Rainmaker Ceramics.

Fratello Roasters, a local coffee roaster that has been around for quite some time and is Societe’s main roaster. Societe will also be bringing in feature roasters on a monthly basis, November’s roaster was Pilot Coffee out of Toronto. It looks like December’s feature roaster will be Pig Iron Coffee Roasters out of Mississauga, Ontario.

They offer espresso based drinks, pour-overs, assorted teas, as well as a very interesting drinks such as the Turmeric Latte and the Beet Root Latte. The one thing that I thought was really great is all of their syrups are hand-made in house by their staff.

On the Friday night we had a pour-over, a turmeric latte and a London fog. I was fortunate enough to get to Societe before he ran out of Pilot’s Los Lobos Blend. This is a Limited Edition offering from Costa Rica which is a classic Geisha coffee (extremely small batch coffee). The pour-over was amazing and had terrific flavour. The coffee had notes of jasmine and stone fruit and was extremely smooth to drink.

My daughter had the London Fog and she said it tasted good, could have been hotter and had more vanilla flavouring.

My wife had the Turmeric Latte and she said it was the very best Turmeric Latte she has ever had, and will now not drink them anywhere else. The flavors were outstanding, she was extremely happy when she got to the end of the drink, there was no gritty chunks in the bottom of here mug.

We also thought we would try something different. We ordered one of the Beetroot Latte’s. My wife didn’t mind it but my daughter and myself weren’t fans of it. The drink tasted like a juiced beet heated up. Just a bit to earthy for me.

We then went back to Societe on Saturday for their official grand opening, we tried a batch of different drinks.

My wife couldn’t get enough of the Turmeric Latte so she had another one. My daughter went out on a limb and ordered the London Fog again, she said it tasted better than the night before which she was thrilled about.

My son and I went for the flights. My son had the espresso flight done 4 ways, it came with a espresso shot, a latte, an Americano and a shot of espresso added to tonic water. My son liked them all but really enjoyed the espresso in tonic water. The drink was very refreshing.

I went with the espresso flight done 2 ways, so they did one espresso shot and a latte made with the feature coffee roaster (Pilot Coffee Roasters) and the other was made with Godfather which is from Fratello Coffee Roasters. The Pilot espresso was very smooth. I found the Godfather espresso was a little bitter. Sorry but didn’t enjoy the Godfather at all.

The Cups

Food

Societe Coffee Lounge has a wide range of baked goods as well as fresh sandwiches, and other cafe fare. The two times we were there we didn’t try any of the food, but we will most likely try in the near future. It all looked very fresh and healthy.

Surroundings and comfort

Societe Coffee Lounge is a very modern espresso bar that is wonderfully equipped with both a sleek industrial cafe decor and a huge focus on coffee and presentation. The décor has huge steel beams coming out of the walls with lots of oversized lighting everywhere and it is well lit and very clean. There is plenty of low wooden seats and long bench style tables which were all pretty busy full of people sitting and enjoying their beverages. The espresso bar was not too big, but seemed to be spacious enough for 3-4 staff behind the bar for drink preparation.

Service

The baristas were very friendly and clearly very knowledgeable. One thing I really enjoyed was that the barista’s were very talkative and very helpful when asked questions about their menu.

The Location