American Express Cobalt

Overview

The American Express Cobalt is Amex Canada's everyday rewards card — widely regarded as one of the strongest earn-rate cards for food and dining spending in the country. Issued by American Express, it earns Membership Rewards (MR) points at a 5x rate on eligible eats and drinks, which includes groceries, restaurants, food delivery, and cafés in Canada. Those MR points transfer 1:1 to Aeroplan, making the Cobalt a compelling feeder card for anyone building up Aeroplan balances without flying Air Canada constantly. The fee structure is unusual: $15.99 CAD per month, totalling $191.88 CAD annually.

Who this card is for

The Cobalt is for people whose biggest discretionary category is food — grocery shops, takeout, restaurants, or coffee runs. There's no income requirement, which makes it broadly accessible. Spend $2,000 CAD per month through grocery and restaurant purchases and you're earning 120,000 MR points per year from that category alone. The monthly billing structure also means you can cancel mid-year without forfeiting a full year's fee.

Key benefits

The 5x earn rate covers eligible eats and drinks in Canada — grocery stores, restaurants, cafés, and food delivery apps — up to $2,500 CAD per month, after which the rate drops to 1x. That monthly cap resets every statement period, so there's no separate annual ceiling. Beyond food, the card earns 3x MR points on eligible streaming subscriptions and 2x MR points on transit, gas, and ride-share in Canada. Everything else earns 1x.

To put the food rate in concrete terms: spend $2,500 CAD on groceries and dining in a month and earn 12,500 MR points. At maximum spend across a year, that's 150,000 Aeroplan-transferable points from food alone.

The welcome bonus is structured as 1,250 MR points per month for 12 months (up to 15,000 points) when you spend $750 per month — a threshold most food-focused cardholders will clear comfortably. MR points also transfer to hotel programs and other airline partners beyond Aeroplan.

Potential drawbacks

The 5x earn rate is capped at $2,500 CAD per month in the food and dining category — after that, purchases earn at 1x. For very high grocery spenders, this ceiling matters. Amex acceptance is also narrower than Visa or Mastercard across Canada; Costco and some independent retailers won't take it, which limits where you can actually earn those 5x points. The $191.88 CAD annual fee is mid-range, but because the earn rate is so concentrated on one category, cardholders who spread spending more broadly may not extract full value.

How it compares

The American Express Gold Rewards Card earns 2x MR points on gas, groceries, drugstores, and travel — a more evenly distributed earn rate across everyday categories, with no monthly spending cap. If your budget is split fairly evenly between grocery, gas, and travel purchases, the Gold may outperform the Cobalt over a full year. For pure food-spend intensity, though, the Cobalt's 5x rate is meaningfully ahead. The Scotiabank Gold American Express earns 6x Scene+ points on groceries in Canada (at select stores), which beats the Cobalt's earn rate on groceries specifically — but Scene+ is a less flexible currency than MR points if Aeroplan transfers matter to you.

Bottom line

This fits best for food-heavy spenders who want to accumulate Aeroplan points through everyday purchases without booking flights to earn them. If dining and grocery spending represents your biggest monthly outlay, the Cobalt is one of the most efficient ways to convert that spending into transferable travel points.