commonly coffee

Many people ask me why I’m so passionate about coffee. To be honest, it’s because of the people.

Over the past few years I have met many individuals who work in specialty coffee; baristas, cafe-owners, roasters etc. These are some of the most fun-loving, driven, and generous people that you could ever meet. As an extrovert (my Myers-Briggs scores place me to the FAR EXTREME) of the Extrovert Scale, and as a result meeting new people and sharing stories is something that I love to do. It comes naturally to me.

Over the past year I have had the privilege of getting to know (through social media) the fine folks at Roof Top Coffee Roasters in Fernie, BC. Back in April 2017 I connected my buddy Erich with Keegan at RoofTop when he was there for a weekend ski trip. Erich is also a coffee-nerd and runs a great blog called MNMLCoffee.

Over this past year I’ve picked up a few bags of their coffee here in Calgary. But it wasn’t until this past week where we had the opportunity to meet in person! Keegan Street is the head roaster and co-founder of Roof Top. He runs this roasting operation alongside his dad David, and mom Sarah who I also had the pleasure of meeting.

Keegan was flying out of YYC and they had some time to grab coffee. We met at Sought & Found  which is quickly becoming one of my favourite cafes in Calgary. We each enjoyed some tasty Guji espresso & milk along with our lunch and they left me with some INCREDIBLE samples of their coffee to try.

So this past week I have been trying out a bunch of their roasts and WOW have I been impressed. My favourite by far has been their Ethiopian Mokonisa. It’s a Naturally processed heirloom varietal, grown at 2000 MASL. This coffee promised on all the tasting notes, and truly represents what a naturally processed coffee should taste like. It came out strong with notes of blackberry jam, and a very nice body. It wasn’t too tea-like, and had a really nice bright flavour, and a sweet finish. I savoured every sip. I wish I had more. This roast isn’t available to the public yet, but I sure hope it will be soon. Coffee like this is too good to not be made available to the masses.

Here are the four samples:

I have also been brewing up their Guji Sidamo and just this afternoon ripped into their Panama Finca Santa Teresa. Both of these coffees were very pleasant. I would say these two coffee’s would be great for those looking for approachable specialty coffee. I really enjoyed the Panamanian since it as well is a naturally processed coffee. My last bag to rip into is the Colombia. I’m thinking I might pull some shots with this bag. What’s awesome about Roof Top is that they omni-roast which means their coffee’s truly can perform well as a filter or as espresso. I always enjoy doing a little bit of both with a bag of coffee to see how they taste in different brew methods.

Their web-shop has quite a few coffee’s available. And some pretty cool merch! I’ve got my eye on one of their t-shirts.

This summer I’m making travel plans that should take me through Fernie. I really look forward to visiting their roastery in person. Thanks so much Roof Top for these amazing coffee samples! It’s nice to enjoy great coffee, but even better when it’s roasted by such great people too!

-Tyler

Want to know more about Roof Top?

Article from Vancouver Coffee Snob

Looking to find their coffee?

Valley Social Coffee (Fernie, BC)

Small Victory Bakery (Vancouver, BC)

Velo Cafe (Calgary, AB)

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