The Art We Are

Many people love their local coffee shop for no other reason than it provides a pleasant place to congregate. Most people naturally look for a communal gathering spot and a spacious coffeehouse is probably the best place to do this. It’s no wonder that people flock to such spaces.

Next stop in our journey on our way to Vancouver was Kamloops. Today we decided to stop at a place in downtown Kamloops called The Art We Are.

 

The Interior

This space was quite large when it comes to coffee house sizes. The ceiling height had to have been 15-20 feet high. The large walls were filled with local artist’s paintings and pictures. There was also an area they were selling local artists jewelry and other crafts.

There is a ton of seating, mismatched tables and chairs, which we thought was pretty cool. I would call it eclectic rustic décor.

When we were there, Pride week had just finished and they still had a huge display in their front window showing their support.

The Drinks

First off, as you can see by the pictures that the menu is huge and not just the size of it on the wall. They have a huge assortment of drinks to choose from. Myself personally, I found it too much to look at and had trouble deciding what I wanted to try.

We ordered a Matcha Lemonade, a Vanilla Latte and a Pina Colada Smoothie. All prices were pretty reasonable except for the smoothie which was $8.95. The smoothie was served in a small mason jar. The smoothie had a more banana flavor instead of the coconut we were expecting.

All the other drinks were good, they served Kicking Horse Coffee. A local vendor from Invermere.

The Food

First off, they like to support the local community, by sourcing items such as produce, baking, cooking supplies, and milk from local farmers.

We had ordered a Chai Lemon Loaf and a Coconut Apricot Pineapple Muffin. All were reasonable priced and  had terrific flavor.

 

The Service

The service overall wasn’t too bad, the only negative I had was that we asked for all the drinks to be put into to-go cups. The drinks showed up in mugs and mason jars. Staff were pretty friendly, nice to talk with. For their table identifications when you order food, they give you an animal or character. That day we received a donkey, earlier that day we had drove past Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge just outside of Chase, my daughter really wanted to stop but we had to keep moving. She was so excited to see we received a donkey. After they had messed up on our beverages, not being in to-go cups, we wrote a ransom note, left $2 and we decided that we would take the donkey on a little adventure to the ocean. Later that day we decided to name the donkey Poncho.

 

The Hours

Monday- Saturday 9am to 9pm and Closed on Sunday

 

Parking

Street parking is available, we ended up parking about a block away from there.

 

Last Words

After sitting down with our drinks, my family and I enjoyed a delightful hour of good coffee and conversation in their shop. After leaving the coffee house, I can easily see why The Art We Are holds a solid place in this community.

Poncho’s adventures became a big part of our trip throughout Vancouver and to continue following his adventure in Calgary, follow extremecoffeefreak on Instagram.