I was encouraged to try Bulldog Coffee (sold to me as "Toronto's first good indie coffee place") when we stayed around the corner at the Courtyard Downtown last month. We walked over when we arrived in Toronto for a coffee and found the place was full - there aren't many seats available.
The Foursquare tips that popped up when we checked in lead me to believe that this place has a reputation for rude servers, but I had the same server on all of my visits and although she wasn't particularly chatty, she was helpful and friendly.
We both ordered The Bulldog on our first visit. The server told us that it's a medium latte, but a friend later informed me that it's actually halfway between a latte and a cappuccino, which is closer to what I thought when I drank it. It was very tasty - solid espresso. We also had a snack - they have a number of squares in the pastry counter - we chose the ones that were chocolate and caramel with Ritz-style crackers in it. It was different, tasty and was just the ticket to tide me over 'til supper.
The coffee in the Courtyard was free, but is abysmal (it's brewed too strong and burnt), so I walked back to Bulldog on every morning that we stayed there. On my second trip I got an americano and it was so tasty that that's also what I had on my third.
I'm not sure if Bulldog sells whole beans, so I can't comment on them, but I will say that they serve up a really solid cup of coffee that's probably a little more friendly to those who are wary of more citrussy roasts like those at Fahrenheit. I'll happily visit here again.