ou can go to Starbucks, but that would be missing the point. Toronto’s revolving door of café options offers locals opportunities to feel like they’re in another DIY world, if only for a half an hour. In particular, the coffee/café experience provides a great momentary escape into another culture, rather than a sterile, double latte environment. The next time you’re thinking Starbucks or Tim Hortons, give an indie café a shot.

Queen West's newest coffee joint Greenavi Cafe, for example, has opened its little doors in the old Just Us Café location. And, don't worry, the owners haven't named it a pretentious word that's clearly over your head - the name is just a combination of two Korean words: green for the focus on organic products, and navi, the Korean translation for butterfly.

The high ceilings and airy feel of the location makes the space ideal for displaying artwork. Right now, it’s the owner's paintings, but look out for a steady rotation of works from up and comings.

The café serves almost exclusively organic products, from coffee to sandwiches. The desserts come from bakeries around the city, and a lot of them, such as carrot cake and blueberry pie ($5.40), are vegan, gluten free, or both. Sandwiches, such as the tuna melt with salad ($7.50) are made in house, and feature ingredients like wild fish. Popular iced chai lattes (3.25) and smoothies ($4.95) are refreshing to sip on while doing work in the free WiFi environment. It's easy to get tired of the same bold roast at Second Cup, and to keep the fickle Queen West crowd interested, the café will switch up the coffees that they roast every few weeks. "They are all high end and Canadian," says manager Tammy Lee, "So the quality is there, but the tastes will just change." Currently, they are featuring a 49th Parallel blend out of BC.

The environmental consciousness of the café isn't just limited to the food and drinks; all the cups and containers are recyclable, even though they might be a bit more expensive. Who ever thought you would help the environment with your double soy latte? Look out for the cafe's expansion to nightlife; in the next few months they will start to serve organic wines and beer, making it an ideal go to place for a pre-drink, and boost, before the club.