Take Your Coffee-Loving Self to Turk’s Tomorrow (That’s What We’ll Be Doing)

I recently moved to the Drive. As in, Commercial Drive, home of what seems like more coffee shops per capita than any other part of Vancouver. And, after settling into my new home, I immediately launched the next-most-important order of business: finding a café to call my own. It was gruelling work, trust me, and I could have saved myself a lot of trouble (and a lot of wasted cuppas) simply by starting with Turk’s. This East Van institute has been serving up some of the tastiest, smoothest coffee I’ve ever had the pleasure of sipping—award-winning stuff, in fact—and has been doing so non-stop for the last 20 years.

Beyond the coffee, I’ve fallen in love with everything about this joint, from the perfect-for-people-watching patio to the crisply brown-paper-wrapped Lemon Coconut Squares to the character to-go cups featuring drawings of the kinds of people you’d see on the Drive on any given day (collect ’em all!).

And here’s the best news: this Saturday, September 30th, from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Turk’s is celebrating two decades in business by inviting all of Vancouver to come in and enjoy a cup of the coffee that started it all—at 1997 prices, to boot! There’ll be music, cake and other birthday-worthy goodies but, really, it’s the perfectly roasted and brewed beans I’ll be there for. Join me (and the rest of those Commercial Drive characters), won’t you?! —Noa Nichol

Turk’s Coffee Bar, 1276 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, 604-879-4468, turkscoffeebar.com