Searching for coffee
During the start-up phase of a cafe, other than identifying and negotiating for the right location, nothing matters more than determining the products that we will be selling. Red Bulb being a coffee place, coffee is right at the top of our ‘shopping’ list.
The evolution and popularization of specialty coffee means that the number of coffee roasters has grown exponentially over the last decade. This has been great from both the retailer(cafes) and coffee farmers’ perspectives. For retailers, this means a wider and choice selection for their customers; personally I am a big believer in offering the best product to my customers and this will be one of the most important guiding principles of Red Bulb Cafe. For the latter, growth in the coffee market means farmers are able to get a fairer deal on their coffee yield, which in turn leads to better living standards, and subsequently better coffee plantations, which will then lead to better coffee… well you get the picture.
In my research for coffee suppliers/roasters, it is common to find most roasters offering fair-trade/direct trade and organic coffee. I will be blogging extensively as my search for the perfect(or close to perfect) coffee for Red Bulb takes place over the next 2 months. My hope is that Red Bulb will be able to support a Canadian roaster that meets our requirements, and is also a responsible coffee citizen, eg suppliers like the Kicking Horse Coffee Company. I am seriously looking at some serious caffeine loading as I try out the various roasters’ coffee.
p/s: for more insights on the coffee farming trade, check out the book ‘God in a Cup’ by Michaele Weissman.
One Comment to “Searching for coffee”
Kicking Horse coffee rules! It is the best store bought coffee available, and fair trade, organic, Canadian….
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