Is % Arabica Coffee Worth the Wait? | Richmond Review

Let's drink some coffee and eat some ice cream! We went to % Arabica, which is a new spot for coffee lovers in Richmond. Vancouver is a top tier city for coffee and with hundreds of cafes and specialty shops, it's no surprise that Vancouverites know coffee well, whether it's matcha or bold new flavours like ube. We visited Richmond Centre on the weekend to try this new and trending shop. 

% Arabica is a Japanese brand of shops from Kyoto founded in 2013. Their brand is based on minimalistic designs and this matches their coffee shop aesthetics. This is consistent throughout their stores across the world, with over 200 locations worldwide. They opened their first store in Whistler in 2024 and their Richmond location in late 2025.

Their Richmond Centre mall location positions the brand for high customer foot traffic, being located next to the food court. The line wasn't that long and we waited less than 5 minutes to order. Considering we've heard stories about hour long waits, we were quite relieved to see that it was a pretty quick experience. We tried two items: their Kyoto Latte, and their Affogato. 


The ice cream was around $9, and the latte just over $7. Between the two items, we liked the Kyoto Latte and enjoyed the creamy taste. The affogato, which is ice cream topped with espresso, was very strong. So strong that it was almost bitter because they used coffee ice cream instead of vanilla (traditional ice cream uses vanilla and is sweet). The dessert is probably not suited for my taste buds but for someone who likes coffee this could work for them (I like more sweeter, creamier desserts).


Hits:
  • Cool aesthetic; minimalistic designs and branding (kind of like Muji)
  • Unique experience, mother-in-law loved the latte drink and ice cream (she rated it 5/5 and loves coffee)
  • Smooth, very rich and flavourful coffee flavour (I preferred the latte over the ice cream)
  • Mall location makes this location easy to access, plenty of parking
Misses:
  • Sometimes you have to wait a long time; doesn't make it worth it at that price for over an hour
  • Both the products were decent, but not something outstanding that I'd go out of my way to get again
  • Prices are bordering on the higher end, especially for the ice cream, and the menu doesn't have prices
Rating: 4/5 - this is a solid, decent coffee shop that's good for a one time visit for us, but probably won't visit again. Worth the try if the line isn't too long. What's next in our food adventures?

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