Behind The Alley — Restaurant in Markham

If you are looking for good coffee look no further. Where to even begin, the coffee is excellent, in my opinion the best coffee in Markham, and the York region and possibly the GTA, worth travelling up for if you do not live in the area. Located in a small alley way in the picturesque and beautiful Main Street Unionville, the atmosphere does not need to be further elaborated on, if you know you know.

More on the coffee though, the quality beans and ingredients are definitely worth the price they charge. On top of the good tasting and interesting drinks, a stand out for me although I never realized how important it was before is the ice they use, it takes a long time to melt, I have never gotten that kind of quality of ice before in coffee anywhere, makes the drinks here less diluted by water letting you enjoy a cold drink while keeping its full flavour. Minor detail but I wanted highlight it because it gives you an idea of how much they care about the quality of drink compared to their competitors. In summary, come here for good coffee and people who really care about their product.

On the topic of people, Andy is a amazing person to talk to and he really does his best to get to know his clients and put out not only a quality product but a quality experience. As for Shun, an experienced barista who knows exactly what he is doing, he is always putting out a consistent drink but that is a everybody in the shop, again another great person to talk to while you enjoy your coffee, you will find excellent customer service here. If you have time I highly recommend coming here for the coffee and enjoying it there while it is not busy and just enjoy the company of the baristas, do not come here for a quick drink as if you were going to Starbucks.

Side note: I noticed there are some people who just come here and use the nice space or the washroom without actually ordering anything, be respectful of the owners and respectful of their rules as if you were visiting a family/friends home, you will also be given the same respect if not more.

This shop is trying their best to make a quality experience rather than a grab and go or passing trendy gimmick. To empathize, come here only if you have time and you are looking for an exceptional experience. This is a little hard because of how popular they are but if you can and manage to find a time when it is not busy make the most of it. Overall, if it was possible to give anything more than 5 stars I would, this place really does go above and beyond.

Side note: There have been a couple of 1-2 star reviews on here I noticed that are completely ridiculous. Google should really filter out these nonsensical reviews that do not even give anything genuine but are just plain dumb. I can only sum this up to:

A. Some of these reviews are targeted at the shop by some people with no respect because they like being obnoxious and a nuisance.

B. Some competitors are jealous of their popularity, less likely but I do not put it past people nowadays.

C. These people have nothing better to do but be negative for no reasons, just the society we live in these days, entitled.

Anyway, I will highly recommend anyone who loves coffee to come here!

Edit: The new drinks are amazing, this place constantly gets more and...

This is the cutest coffee shop I’ve been to hands down! It reminds me of those cafes you find off of those side streets in Asia that are a trek to get to, but are hiding the best coffee and the best vibes.

I found this place from an Instagram reel my friend sent me, and since I live pretty close to it, I had to give it a try ASAP. This location used to be another coffee shop before and had its potential, but missed the mark in terms of seating and something to make it special. Especially since it’s “off the beaten path.” The way that Behind The Alley fixed up this spot, is just chefs kiss. You can tell they put a lot of effort into everything. Starting from the new pathway leading to the front door, to the beautiful rustic modern interior decor (even the washroom has a cool interior filled with vinyl records along the walls), and finally to the delicious handcrafted drinks! The barista doesn’t rush no matter how long the lines are. They carefully handcraft each drink with precision and attention to detail.

I went with my mom during my lunch break and I got the Orange Americano, while my mom got the Iced Matcha Latte. I loved my orange americano. Unlike other cafes, this twist on the classic americano was not bitter nor sour and had a good balance between the flavours of orange juice and espresso. I loved how they even caramelized an orange slice and torched a rosemary stem to top it all of, making the presentation and experience a whole lot cooler. On the other hand, my mom’s matcha latte could’ve used a little bit more matcha flavour. I do give them extra points for actually having their matcha in a matcha container rather than a plastic container or something like what they have at the cafes that make “matcha lattes.” They even use a matcha whisk.

Ps. If you want to go here to work, they don’t have their own wifi, but you can try to connect to the free public wifi.

All in all, this place is a really cute cafe and definitely deserves the hype that it will get. We need more coffee shops like this in Markham, so I hope this...

I’ve been coming here since they opened in their first week when I discovered this little beautiful coffee shop tucked behind The Alley at Main Street Unionville!

Love the decor and ambience - for those of you who have been to 915 DuPont this is a very similar vibe! The owner Andrew really wanted to introduce artisan specialized coffee in the suburb since this area is certainly limited in Markham. I’m so glad I discovered this place!

Staff are passionate for their love of coffee it is very obvious they truly want to share the coffee experience to the Unionville neighbourhood, and I for one (as a coffee nerd) am so glad I discovered this gem 💎. Shun is a barista from Japan and his pour over techniques are 👌

Their iced drinks - espresso tonic and orange Americano are both refreshing and the taste is amazing - that orange americano is a must try. I have never tasted a coffee drink like that before! They import Japanese Roastery beans and their taste profile is unlike anything I’ve ever tried so far. I just did a reservation for their Yunnan Yeast fermentation lychee pourover and it was incredible. For those who love a pourover you must check this place out!

Their coconut drinks are also amazing (coconut latte and coconut matcha). I also just found out that all of their milk is default lactose free, which is AMAZING because as much as I love oat lattes and flat whites the lactose free is as close to regular milk in taste. So for those of you who are lactose intolerant, you don’t need to pay extra to change your milk!

They don’t have food so it’s strictly a coffee bar. If they include some pastries down the road I think it would be even better together with the coffee experience 😎

Really love having coffee shop like this in the Markham area so I don’t have to travel downtown to get an experience...