Nektar is on Saint Jean street in Quebec City which is quite a popular strip of local businesses and an easy place to find just about anything when in the city. I was here for an hour on Sunday morning to sample some coffee and catch up on email.
The layout is very open, very conducive to conversations with plenty of variable seating of high and low chairs, benches, stools and dark and well-lit areas that make it easy to get work done no matter what your work style is. The shop has fresh beans from Intelligentsia at lower prices due to the July 2015 USD to CAD exchange rate. Their coffee equipment area is pretty extensive and anyone could walk in, buy exactly what they need including the beans, go home and brew a cup of coffee.
Nektar offers Pour over (via Clever Pot), Cold-Brew, Espresso drinks and drip coffee. I tried Clever Pot and Espresso as well as an Almond vanilla Latte and was very impressed.
Espresso, Short Shot, Dopio – I’d rate it an 8/10. It was thick, creamy, plenty of chocolate but not very much sweetness. Great and healthy Crema along with enough sediment to keep things exciting. I was impressed with the pull and would have it daily if I lived locally.
Pour Over – 7/10 mostly because in a new wave of coffee shops, the baristas use very little beans to where the coffee is translucent almost like a tea which does help expose the nuanced flavors but it is not very nice when you want a lot of flavor. They probably used half the beans per ounce as I would. The pour was very clean and enjoyable.
Latte, excellent shot, 9/10. Good sweetness, frothing was spot on and the cinnamon was a nice touch. If it wasn’t for the calories, I could drink a lot of these!
The staff was pleasant and fun and their Wifi was fast enough and most clientele were on MacBooks which I enjoy. As a nice added touch, they have a library book-swap program for patrons to drop off books and grab new ones.
