A local coffee brand that started with a single small door in Gastown just earned one of the biggest honours in the global specialty coffee world.
Nemesis Coffee has been named No. 15 on the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list, making it the highest-ranked coffee shop in Canada.
The Vancouver cafe was one of three Canadian cafes that made it on the list.
The ranking was announced at CoffeeFest Madrid on February 17, 2026.
For anyone who has been following the Nemesis story from the beginning, this feels like a moment.
The brand opened its first location on West Hastings Street in 2017, founded by local entrepreneur Jess Reno.
What started as a small Gastown cafe quickly built a loyal following for its specialty coffee, pastries, and a vibe that felt more like a creative community hub than a typical coffee shop.
We have covered Nemesis several times over the years, from their jaw-dropping Great Northern Way location to their expansions into North Vancouver, Surrey, and Coquitlam, plus the launch of their standalone bakery brand, Dope Bakehouse.
Nine years later, the brand now operates five locations across British Columbia.
The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops is a global recognition platform that ranks cafes using a weighted evaluation model.
Thirty percent of the score comes from community voting, and seventy percent comes from an international panel of more than 800 coffee and gastronomy professionals.
Coffee quality, barista technique, sustainability practices, customer service, space design and atmosphere, food and pastry quality, innovation, and service consistency are all evaluated.
“We are so proud and humbled to be named one of the World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops,” said Jess Reno in a statement.
“Sometimes when things like this happen, we tend to brush past them, like we didn’t earn it. Then I look at our team, and the standard we’re trying to hold. The care. The effort. The way people show up every day.”
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: 302 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC (Gastown flagship)