A five-time latte art champion has been quietly building one of the most interesting coffee shops Vancouver has seen in a while.
Peace and Culture Coffee opened on February 12 in Strathcona, and it is already buzzing.
The shop is tucked inside the Assembly building at 720 Glen Drive (just a block from La Casa Gelato), a new development that also houses artisan shops and design agencies.
There is no flashy signage from the street.
You walk through a set of gates, into an open-air courtyard lined with corrugated metal and wood-framed windows, and find the cafe at unit 720.
Once inside, the space feels like a concrete speakeasy.
Exposed ductwork runs across a raw concrete ceiling.
Cinder block walls frame the room.
A long poured concrete counter runs the length of the space, with a small, intimate seating area tucked into the back corner.
It is compact, warm in a quiet way, and very intentional.
The person behind it all is Jun, a competitive latte artist who has been building toward this for a while.
He won five gold medals at the 2024 Latte Art Throwdown and took bronze at the 2025 WLACO Coffee Fest in New York.
His first Peace and Culture pop-up was back on June 25, 2025, and the local coffee community has been tracking the project closely ever since.
Jun’s path to Vancouver started in Melbourne, where he worked at a small cafe owned by a couple.
They taught him the backbone of running a craft-focused business.
Years later, Ben helped build the physical walls of Peace and Culture, turning what once felt like a distant dream into a real space.
The menu reflects that same attention to detail.
Every drink is made from scratch, including the syrups and tonic.
The “Conventional” side covers the basics: a black coffee (Americano), a white (latte), and a matcha latte.
The “Contemporary” section is where things get interesting.
The standout is the Mango Sticky Rice Matcha ($9), a layered drink made with mango puree, coconut milk, sous vide glutinous rice, salt, and matcha over ice.
It has been the biggest draw for non-coffee drinkers so far.
There is also a drink called “Can’t Be It” ($8.50), made with pH-adjusted coffee, milk, yogurt, and a saline solution over ice.
On the specialty side, Peace and Culture is pouring beans from Onyx Coffee Lab out of Arkansas and Bib Coffee from Daegu, South Korea.
Pour-overs range from $9.50 to $13.
Korean beans aren’t as common so this is a treat for many locals to give them a try.
Croissants are available in a small display case by the counter.
On a nice day, the courtyard outside offers additional seating and a quieter alternative to the intimate space inside.
Peace and Culture joins a wave of recent openings across Vancouver, including ChaTraMue on West Broadway and Goldie’s in Kitsilano.
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Address: 720 Glen Dr, Vancouver, BC
