Equator Coffee

Equator got its start in 1998, when Craig and Amber Hall began roasting fair trade organic coffee out of Almonte, a small town about 45 minutes west of Ottawa. The company built its business on direct relationships with small farms across Central America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and over the following two decades grew from a single roastery into a handful of cafes around the Ottawa area. The Westboro location on Churchill Avenue North has become one of the neighborhood's anchor coffee spots, with a compact dining room that spills out onto a sunny, south facing patio.

The menu runs through Equator's own rotating roasts as espresso, batch brew, and pour over, backed by a kitchen turning out breakfast plates, sandwiches, and baked goods through the day. Regulars tend to treat it like a living room, settling in with a coffee and a plate at a corner table while neighbors cycle in and out to pick up bags of beans for home.