Saturday turned out to be one of the days when I literally did nothing. Yeah, seriously!

Our son, A, had an afternoon engagement with his outdoor school in the other end of town. So we made that happen after gym and breakfast.

That drop off gave us parents a solid 3 hours of hangout time. I had hoped to get together with our friends who live that way, but they were dealing with the flu, that I had zero interest in partaking! So we said a distant hello at their door, and made a move to do other things: checking out an art supply store in the east end. That being done, and the essential shopping list being covered, we still had 2 hours to kill, on a commercial street (Danforth) in a strange to us part of town (East end)- how exciting, right?

We figured we’d grab a cup of coffee in some nice place we may encounter as we walk along this patch of the Danforth starting at Coxwell- if you know Toronto at all.

Near where we parked there was a coffee shop that claimed to be “the Birthplace of Coffee”. I had to scoff and move on ahead…

Anyways, let’s just say we were on the outer edge of the commercial part of this long street. The part that we started our walk on was very different from the street we know – the stretch closer to downtown.

So, not knowing what to expect, we kept going.

What was strange and surprising was the number of Ethiopian restaurants and cafes on this strip. I love Ethiopian food- the simple spicy flavors, and healthy options of injera and vegetables and lentils is what I have enjoyed. So it was exciting to see such a selection of all these places.

But the whole time I was wondering how I had never heard of this part of town ever mentioned for its Ethiopian community and restaurants. 

Another surprising aspect were the Latino places- supermarkets and little food places along the strip. Again, I had no idea of this part of Danforth had a Latino community presence.

In my head Danforth is Greek town. But for that we’d have had to walk a whole lot further towards downtown. And we did not have time for that to happen. So we just drifted as far as we thought time would allow us. I felt like I was transported into another place, another city. We wandered into places that seemed interesting. 

After what felt like a long time of just slowly walking back and forth in a what seemed like a city I am not familiar with at all, we were back at our car. 

We realized we still had 30 minutes to spend, and that a drink would be welcome.

What was right near us was the coffee shop with the “Birthplace of Coffee” sign that I had spotted earlier at the beginning of our walk. Because time was limited at this point, and I did scoff again like “Yeah, right! Danforth the birthplace of coffee…!”, but we did go inside.

As we entered the place- Mofer Coffee Danforth, we were pleasantly surprised- it was really nice inside- the decor was soft wooden trims everywhere inviting in its big open space with it’s easy vibe of coziness. I was not expecting a place like this from the outside signage. And then I realized was that this was an Ethiopian establishment- the coffee beans were all from Ethiopia! The place was full of coffee beans- both for drinking, as well as for decor! I even spotted a couple of big burlap sacks of them in one corner. And the interesting bit was that we could choose our beans to be ground into for a cup of coffee- that choice has not been offered to me before!

Now the signage of “Birthplace of Coffee” made total sense- Ethiopia of course!

When I first started this afternoon walk of no agenda, we did not know we were going to be encountering Little Ethiopia. But after a tour of the street, realizing that I was being transported to a whole other world of little Ethiopian shops, cafes and restaurants, I came back to my car a bit more enlightened. Birthplace of coffee indeed.

Everyday it turns out that we learn something.

When we are least expecting.

I went into my wander completely blind, and came back knowing just a fraction more. A day of unexpected learnings indeed.

Also the lesson of not judging the book by it’s cover. That coffee shop had a great vibe, and I would love to hang out there for a weekend morning, with my choice of coffee beans in my cup and a good book. The hustle bustle of the place for the added spice to my morning. 

Maybe one day I will do just that! 🙂