The perfect café has all the things that everybody else wants in a perfect café:
quiet areas so that people can concentrate on their work, be it reading a book, programming on a computer, knitting, sorting their baseball cards
plenty of wifi to go around
pleasant electronic music playing, or staff-selected music
good coffee and cold drinks
muffled coffee grinder sound (is that even possible?)
staff that recognize you and give you the usual without making fun of you for ordering the same damn thing over and over
(not required, but nice) selection of soups and sandwiches
power outlets at every seat
coffee bar at the window (for people watching) or near the serving area (for a quick drink)
required: bar underneath for resting feet, either on the bar stool/bar chair, or underneath the bar itself
Café's that come close in Vancouver:
Beans Coffee & Tea 3305 Cambie St.
good food, seating for two or a group if you can snag it, window seating, wifi
no bar, closed on Mondays
Waves on Main and Powell
snappy wifi, decent coffee, great people watching (it's the DTES, after all)
little offering in food
Waves on Main and 10th
HD TV showing sports, usually, with the volume off
lots of power
people watching is OK, haven't done much in the daytime
Starbucks on Cambie & Broadway
wifi is good, but two hours only
coffee is Starbucks standard
music is selected by head office
the bar on the Cambie side makes up for it, with good people watching (city hall staff going for lunch at noon, for example, Canada Line riders coming in and out of the station)
See also: the Quiet Bar.