Mindful of the importance of our products, we set out to find out the best coffee, tea, and syrups. I have thought about roasting coffee(maybe even within the store) to create the novelty factor of freshness, but I realize that this is not my forte right now and it is not the best move to deliver quality to the customers.  Through drinking coffee at multiple independent cafes, research, and word-of-mouth, I managed to contact and visit some of the top Canadian roasters, both huge and micro-roasters.

Samples of coffee samples that I have sampled

They include Globe, Reunion Island,  Patera,  Equator,  Bona Fide, Mark H  from Ontario; Moccasin-Jo and Toi Moi et Cafe from Quebec; 49th Parallel from Vancouver;  and from sampling in cafes, Classic, Illy, and Intelligentsia. Apart from the last 2, all the coffees are roasted by Canadians and it is our goal to support Canadian roasters by serving and selling them at Red Bulb. While they vary in size, origins, and taste profiles, all of them share a common passion for coffee and it is amazing how they could transform green beans into the myriad range of coffee blends and flavours.

This is freaking good coffee!

Our direction at Red Bulb will be to carry coffees from two  roasters and profile coffees from independent micro-roasters. This will provide opportunities for roasters who are starting up/looking to expand their business to showcase their products and also for Red Bulb’s customers to enjoy a wide variety of coffee. We have not decided which coffee roaster to go with but we do know the characteristics of the coffee we would like for our espresso and brewed coffee, and we have come across a few that are able to meet this.

What we would also want to do is to thank each and every coffee roaster we have met. I have spoken about their passion for coffee, but what also stands out is their willingness to share their product knowledge, time to run through their roasting process, and their belief in letting their coffee speak for themselves. Regardless of who we will be working with, they will always remain a part of Red Bulb’s journey. We are blessed to have the opportunity to try their coffee.

Kay is playing at Moccasin Jo; it is situated within Kanehsatake Mohawk Territory in Quebec

With Walter at Moccasin Jo

p/s: will be talking about syrups and chocolates in my next blog entry, stay tuned!

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.

We visited Domenic and Rebecca’s roasting plant three weeks ago – they are putting the final pieces in place to open up their roasting business in the next few months. They are targeting small cafes who would like to serve premier coffee/espresso.

Anyway, D&R kindly offered to serve up their newly roasted at our home last Sat. After a BBQ dinner, we brought out our coffee machines and tasted their coffee, and also did some comparison with Starbuck’s Italian Roast.  Their signature blend offers a light bodied coffee with slight hint of floral tones, a very well balanced coffee. Obviously this is in big contrast to SB’s Italian Roast who is heavy on the tongue.

We did not manage to open the Ethiopian Yirgacheffee coffee, but I am already spelling the aroma everytime I come close to the bag.

Looking forward to seeing D&R in business soon!