BC's first Humanity Café · New Westminster
Order a coffee. Or order a conversation.
Both are on the menu. Only one of them costs money. Lattes, masala chai, bubble tea, avocado toast, paninis and pani puri on 12th Street — in a room built so that walking in on your own is the most ordinary thing in the world.
Humanity begins with You & Me.
BC's first Humanity Café
Fighting loneliness. Bringing humanity back.
A place built on kindness, belonging, and the belief that no one should have to do life alone. Coming alone is okay too.
Welcome to You N Me'
A café on 12th Street with the lights on and a seat free.
Flat whites and masala chai. Avocado toast next to pani puri. Board games on the shelf, books you can borrow, a corner where the light is good in the afternoon.
It's a café first — the coffee has to be good, the food has to be worth coming back for. But we built it so that walking in by yourself feels like the most normal thing in the world.
More than coffee
So what's a Humanity Café?
Sometimes you don't need another app, another group chat, or another motivational quote. Sometimes you just need somewhere to go.
A Humanity Café is a café that's set up on purpose for that — where the small things are designed around people actually meeting each other. It's in how the tables are arranged, what's free, who gets remembered, and what happens on a Thursday night.
- 01
A free conversation
Order one at the counter. Somebody sits down with you. No charge, ever.
- 02
A coffee left behind
Kindness Sleeves wait on the board until someone needs one.
- 03
A reason to turn up
Events most weeks, built so that coming alone is the normal way to come.
On the menu, no charge
Order a ConversationFree
Sometimes you don't need advice. You don't need therapy. You don't even need coffee.
Sometimes you just need someone to sit beside you and listen. Ask at the counter, and when Amrin or someone else is free, we'll come and sit with you. You never have to buy anything to deserve that.
Not therapy, not counselling, not a service. Just a person, sitting down with you.
How it works
Why this place exists
Where do you go when you just need to stop?
Where do you go when you've failed the exam, lost the job, or had your heart broken?
Where do you go when you get the promotion and just want to tell somebody?
Broken or bursting, everyone wants the same thing: somewhere to belong.
A sanctuary for your sadness, and a stage for your happiness.
Food made with care
Brunch, chai and the chaat you've been missing.
Lattes, paninis, avocado toast and real fruit smoothies on one side. Masala chai, pani puri, samosas and bubble tea on the other. Both made properly.
What's happening
There's usually something on.
Board game nights, community lunches, meetups for people new to the city. Most of them exist for one reason: to give you a reason to leave the house.
We have a lot coming up. Dates go on Instagram first, then here — stay tuned.
Coming alone? Good. A lot of people do.
Come alone. Seriously.
Table for one is a perfectly good order.
You should not have to wait for someone to be free before enjoying a meal, celebrating something, attending an event, or stepping outside on a difficult day. Here, arriving alone is never unusual.
You can take a table for yourself, join one of our community experiences, ask for Amrin, order a conversation, or simply enjoy being around other people without any pressure to speak. And if you have a win but no one to celebrate it with, celebrate it with us.
About a third of the people here on any given afternoon came by themselves.
Pay It Forward
Write something kind. Leave it for a stranger.
Buy a Kindness Sleeve for any amount, then write a message on it — the thing you'd want to hear on your worst day. We put it on the wall.
When someone comes in having a rough day, they read through them and choose the one that speaks to them.
How the Kindness Sleeve worksA stranger thought about you before they even knew you existed.
Our story
This café exists because of a feeling I couldn't shake.
I'm Amrin. I moved to Canada and rebuilt my life here mostly on my own. There were stretches where I'd sit somewhere by myself, scrolling my phone so it looked like I had somewhere to be, and realise I had good news and nobody to call about it.
It took me a while to work out that this wasn't just me. So instead of opening another café, I opened the one I'd wanted to walk into.
Amrin Satani, founder
Read the full storyCommunity moments
Regular Tuesdays, mostly.
I came in on my own with a book and left having agreed to join a board game night. I don't really know how that happened.
The chai is the closest thing to my mum's I have found in this country. That is not a small thing to say.
I ordered a conversation on a genuinely terrible day. Nobody made it a big deal, which was exactly what I needed.
Rated 4.9 stars by guests.
Visit us
921 12th Street, New Westminster.
New Westminster, BC, Canada
- Mon – Sun
- 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Kitchen closes 30 minutes before we do.
Maybe you came for the coffee.
Maybe you stayed for the conversation.
Either way, there's a seat for you here.
Find us on 12th Street