I am excited to be partnering with Eastern Slopes Roasting Co. to give away four bags of their coffee on my Instagram page.
I had the chance to hang out this morning with Jamie (who is the man behind ESRC). We spent a few hours chatting about his passion for coffee, why he has ventured into roasting & selling coffee, and did a cupping of the four coffee’s I am giving away. When I asked him why he got into roasting & selling coffee he said “just like how in Calgary we see a surge in quality micro-breweries and the apparent demand for them, I feel that it’s the same for quality micro-coffee-roasters.” I would have to agree with him. While there are definitely some amazing major-players in the Calgary coffee scene, we are a city that is lucky to have some amazing micro-roasters who are emerging onto the scene as well.
I asked Jamie where the name “Eastern Slopes” came from. That answer came through him sharing about another passion of his; fishing. The Eastern Slopes is the name given to the region along the Rocky Mountain Foothills where there is numerous lakes, tributaries and cold rivers. This area is ideal for any avid or amateur fisherman. You see this reflected in his clever logo design using two hooks with a subtle “peak” in between.
All of the roasting happens on a 2kg Dongyi Coffee Roaster. Coffee is sourced in Calgary through Apex Coffee Imports. One of Jamie’s desires is to keep as much of his business tied to Calgary as possible. Even his website/e-commerce platform are done through a local Calgary company called Helcim. This passion to support local is evident when you talk with him. The website just launched a few weeks ago and it looks slick. Really easy to navigate and I’m personally a huge fan of his branding.
One of the things you’ll quickly notice is that Eastern Slopes offers their coffee in 1lb bags! And with a price-point between $15-20 a bag this is a great deal. Like I mentioned we cupped his four current coffees:
- Bull Trout Blend (Narińo, Colombia)
- La Florida (Acevedo, Huila, Colombia)
- Idido (Yirgacheffee, Ethiopia)
- Dimtu (Guji, Ethiopia)
I have to say that my favourite was the Dimtu. I was amazed at how fruity & floral it was for a washed coffee. I would have sworn it was a Natural had Jamie not told me. Notes of lemon iced-tea, and red grape with subtle mango are noticeable. After a few hours of cupping, we even brewed some on his Moccamaster and also tried some of his Cold Brew. Needless to say we were well caffeinated by the end of our morning.
If you’re looking to support local, and experience some amazingly roasted coffee’s then enter my Instagram contest. If you don’t want to wait to find out if you win, then head on over to their website and get some! Jamie left me with these words, “I’m just trying to roast coffee as well as I can and share it with as many people as I can while helping to support small producers as well.” I really appreciated Jamie taking the time to hang out with me, and I certainly home more people in Calgary try his coffee.
-Tyler
commonly coffee 