Photolog: Urban Plant Cafe

If you are a fan of bingsu, you would of likely visited (or at least heard of ) Let Eat Snow once or twice in the past few years. Well, Let Eat Snow has now rebranded and turned into Urban Plant Cafe! Not to worry though, Urban Plant Cafe still offers bingsu amongst other desserts and drinks. More notably, they also specialize in cold brew coffee and single origin coffees now. Essentially, Urban Plant Cafe encompasses more than just shaved ice – they are a green space for coffee, dessert, and bingsu.

Disclaimer: I was invited to Urban Plant Cafe for a preview of the new space and menu. While my order was fully compensated, there was no expectation of a blog post and all opinions remain unbiased and my own.

During this preview, all COVID protocals were followed. As visits were timed, I was also the only patron in the restaurant space and was socially distanced from their staff at all times. Items were prepared for dine-in to take photos and then packed to-go for consumption.

Cold brew coffee “jugs” available for purchase, house-made fruit preserves.

In terms of the space – As the name suggests, Urban Plant Cafe is full of plants and greenery. It’s a modern and very “zen-like” space and reminds me quite a bit of recently opened cafes in Edmonton. It was mentioned that all the plants are air purifying plants so there is also no smell or anything. The owner plans to continue adding to the plant collection so I am excited to see the final result as they open their doors. Overall, it’s a very inviting and calming environment, perfect for studying or a quick hang-out.

I am no coffee connoisseur but there seems to be something for everyone. Their barista has curated different brews and specified tasting notes for each one too. There’s coffee that is sweeter, bitter, more acidic, or just a touch fruity. Ultimately, Urban Plant Cafe aims to be coffee educators and will be providing customers with samples and also selling their brews to take home too. Surprisingly, they said the coffee tastes better with age and the best time to consume it is 2 weeks after the brew date. Their brews can be refrigerated though and will last for extended periods (each bottle is dated). You can also adjust the brews to your taste… add water, cream, milk, etc. to suit your preferences. Make sure to check out their Dutch cold brew coffee maker when you visit in-store!

For food, the menu at Urban Plant Cafe is not drastically different from what they served as Let Eat Snow. All of the popular or favourite dishes are still available including ones like Mochi Cheese Pizza, Bingsu, and Honey Butter Bread. The bingsu is one of my favourite in Edmonton, they do a great job in layering the shaved ice with other toppings and the ice itself is made with a milk base so it has plenty of flavour.

Waffles and select sandwiches are also still on the menu. Their waffles are well done but can be on the sweeter side, so be prepared for that. The sandwiches are suitable for a quick snack, though I don’t think I’d come here specifically for them. The Taiwanese sandwich is especially fluffy!

The drink menu has a good variety and with their rebranding, coffee will be showcased a bit more. I personally enjoyed their ade, which was refreshing and made with their own fruit preserves. The grapfruit ade was really good and I loved the (real) grapefruit bits! If grapefruit is not your thing though, you can also choose from fruits like peach, bluerberry, and strawberry. Other drink options include lattes, bubble tea, smoothies, frappes, etc.

Urban Plant Cafe opens to the public next Tuesday, Jan 26th and will be following all COVID restrictions/protocals put in place. Please make sure you visit safely! In conclusion, it’s good to know that we can still enjoy the original menu in a new and inviting space – with the additions of unique coffee drinks.

Thank you to Eric and the Urban Plant Cafe team for having me!