Specialty coffee roasters in the province of Quebec continue to grow both in terms of the number of roasters but also in terms of the quality of coffee being roasted. It has been remarkable to witness this growth over these past few years, and to be able to share about it here on this site.
One such roaster from La Belle Province that has caught my attention recently is none other than our Coffee Roaster of the Month for March. Let me introduce you to Cafe Folklore, and have them share their story below.
Hey Jean-Christophe, so great to get the chance to connect with you! Help our audience get to know you a bit better…
What’s your backstory in coffee?
I’ve been in food-marketing for 10 years and I was getting tired of working for someone else, so I’ve decided to start my own brand. It has always been my dream to create a brand from scratch and bring an idea to a tangible product or service. I’ve always been a big fan of good coffee but didn’t educate myself and thought that I needed expensive equipment to enjoy good beans.
How did you get started?
Since I was a kid, creativity has been one of my main skills. So, when I think of the essence of the brand I found a way to not only bring good coffee to people but to take them with us in the imaginary culture of the coffee production country in their myths and legends. Every coffee does honour a legend of the country with the illustration on the bags and the tale in the back of the bag.
I’ve been creating the brand and read a LOT of books about coffee and roasting coffee and took a course of how in a roasting house.
What keeps you going in coffee?
It’s a wonderful market and what is better is to enjoy a coffee alone, with friends or with his significant other. Everyone drinks coffee lol. I’m always happy to share with people my product, my knowledge, and to talk about what is important for the brand. I love giving the opportunity to people who don’t know speciality coffee to enjoy a good and beautiful product.
Can you tell us a bit about the history of Café Folklore? Like how long have you been around? And how did you come up with the name?
We officially launched December 1st 2023 (3 days after the birth of my little girl Rosalie) but I’ve been working on the brand and the product since the beginning of 2023.
Folklore is a universal word that represents what is the heart of a culture. Like tales, food, dance, literature, etc.. is what makes people different from the others. I want to put their imaginary culture into the front line to share it with as many people as possible.
I really think that we stand out from the others with our mission, vision, our products and our packaging. We want to make a tribute to these beautiful countries and everything it is related to. It’s our way to make people travel by our coffees.
Before we get much deeper, can you share with our readers what you’re drinking/enjoying these days when it comes to coffee?
I’m a BIG fan of lattes but I’m really bad at latte art. So I’ve been watching hundreds of Youtube videos to learn and practice. I’m progressing but oh-my-gosh it’s hard lol. Shout out to all baristas out here. But these are my ”afternoon coffees”. I’m a huge fan of black coffee in the morning. I’ve been drinking a lot of my products obviously to make them better and better. But, I’m still always trying what the other roasters in my area are doing.
Speaking of coffee, could you share a bit more with our readers about your
philosophy/approach to roasting coffee.
Like I said, I’m feeling like the specialty coffee industry needs to be more accessible in 2 different ways: Education about what is the difference between third-wave coffees and why is it more expensive and that anyone with even an Amazon 20$ coffee maker can enjoy good coffee. That is the main target of our brand. Why do people who like to drink good coffee but don’t know anything about it are not considered.
When I’m in front of future customers I LOVE it when they’re like ”Ahh nice.. but I don’t have a 2K espresso machine…I would like to try it but I don’t have the right equipment and I don’t know how to do it.” After a little conversation, most of them don’t feel judged for not knowing everything and thank me because they can’t go back to supermarket coffee.
In that case, one of our main goals is to develop a unique brand, beautiful product, and really good coffee. Why do customers who are not educated in specialty coffee need to be doomed and get only ugly products with bad coffee in it? We’re kind of the ”people speciality coffee” brand.
As for our approach of roasting, we are aiming for the best way to roast to elevate the quality of the beans but also the perfect taste for our customers. Nothing too funky but definitely something that gives joy to people.
So, your home-base is Montreal QC, Canada. Can you tell us a little bit more about what the specialty coffee community is like there? What do you love? Where do you see it in 5 years? What would you like to see change/improve/stay the same?!
As you know, we are kind of a ”new” in the industry but what I can tell is: business-wise we are aiming for as many customers as possible and there’s a lot of competition here in Montreal. BUT is like how brothers and sisters ”fight”. At the end of the day, there’s still love for each-other. We are a big family that share the same passion, values and the objective to give coffee drinkers the best coffee for them. Since I’m the new guy in the industry it’s what I love. I’ve always been a competitive person and this is healthy competition.
I see the industry in five years growing and being more accessible to people. It’s our role to take the hand of the customer and show them that they can enjoy good coffee like they enjoy good beer, good wine or even good food.
As for Folklore, we see us in five years with a total of 10 products with 10 different designs with 10 tales to share. We want to be accessible as much as possible to people by our website cafefolklore.ca or in coffee shops. Actually, we don’t have the goal to open a coffee shop or anything like that. But we want to be the coffee in people’s homes that they like to drink, share and enjoy.
I was reading on your website about your values of accessibility, transparency, and diversity. How do you live those out in the specialty coffee community? How do they impact what you do as a company?
It’s really important as a customer to know what you’re enjoying and what you’re paying for. The accessibility is our main value regarding the price but also in the ”no judgment” way. Coffee is the 2nd most consumed drink in the world. People love coffee. I found there was a kind of ”discomfort” with people around me about specialty coffee. They were literally saying to me that they were not well enough equipped, that they didn’t know how to brew specialty coffee and you can feel it was like a ”shame” to be part of this community… ” You know I drink coffee from the gas station, who am I to drink good coffee!” This comment came from a person that drinks coffee EVERYDAY.
Our mission is to break this ”kinda shame wall” and give the chance to ANYONE to enjoy good coffee no matter their knowledge of equipment.
Each of your coffees offered on your site are given names from a variety of mythologies. Where did that idea come from? What was the reason behind this?
I’m a huge fan of mythology, tales, imaginative and geek stuff. I found that a lot of roasters around the world have kind of the same concept and when I started thinking about the identity of the brand I found that coffee producer countries are RICH in imaginary culture. I feeled that it was a unique way to give them the tribute they deserve for their culture and wonderful coffees.
You know, I’m the customer that you don’t want to deal with. I’m a really exigent customer and I analyze everything lol. Obviously our coffees are meticulously roasted but for me the packaging was as much as important. All the illustrations, the colours, the gold in the front and the tales in the back, I wanted the bags to stand out on the shelf. With the rich historical and imaginary contents that I can highlight on our packaging is incredible. I don’t know about you but I buy with my eyes and I also taste with them.
It’s been great getting the chance to connect up and share your story. Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
It’s been a pleasure. Coffee is made to enjoy alone or with friends and give us joy and energy. It’s not complicated, it’s accessible and easy to appreciate. You want it, then get it! Who cares if you have a 20$ coffee machine. The important thing is you and what you want, that’s it. As for Folklore, we have made our products for you.
As Gord Downie once said: ” Life’s too short for bad coffee”.
Cheers!
__________________________________________
Contact Info:
web: www.cafefolklore.ca
instagram: @cafe.folklore
facebook: facebook.com/cafesfolklore
email: info@cafefolklore.ca
Find their beans: If you’re looking to get your hands on some beans then definitely check out their web-store for what they’re currently roasting.
__________________________________________
I just want to say a huge thank you to JC at Cafe Folklore for being such a huge contributor to the coffee culture in Quebec. Check out their site, grab yourself some beans, and enjoy!
And for all of you amazing people who read all the way to the bottom, you’re the first to know that Cafe Folklore will be launching a sweet giveaway later this month as one more way to keep the good vibes going with this Coffee Roaster of the Month Feature!
So stay tuned, and Stay Caffeinated,
Tyler
commonly coffee 