If you’re anything like me, one of the first things I do when planning a summer road trip is to source out where the good specialty coffee shops are where I’m going. That’s exactly what happened this past summer when my wife and I spent a few days down in Helena, Montana.
A quick google search for “specialty coffee Helena” popped up with Montago Coffee Co., and after just a few seconds on their website, I knew this was going to be a must-visit spot. It was so good, I ended up there multiple times over our few days in town. I even had the chance to meet co-founder & roaster Steven Ladefoged, get a tour of the shop & roastery, and ended up grabbing pizza & beer one night for dinner at a local pub. It was that perfect experience of small-town charm and friendliness.
I knew after such an incredible few days in Helena, that I had to share the Montago Coffee Co. story, so without further ado, here is the story of Montago as our Coffee Roaster of the Month for October! Enjoy the read.
So great to get the chance to connect with you Steven! Help our audience get to know you a bit better… What’s your personal backstory in coffee? How did you get started? What keeps you going in coffee?
Thank you so much for featuring us Tyler!
I’ve always remembered having an affinity for coffee from a young age, having it regularly though high school, continuing to buy local coffees as I worked seasonally throughout my home state of Colorado, but I don’t think I truly appreciated specialty coffee until I met my now business partner Racheal in maybe 2013. Like many who have gone down the coffee rabbit hole, I had a natural Ethiopia that just blew my mind and changed how I viewed what coffee could be. From there I was around the industry in Colorado for years before deciding to make a leap start a (very small) mobile coffee shop in Montana that’s now grown into a (still small) brick and mortar coffee shop and roastery.
There’s so much I enjoy about the industry that excites me almost every day. The coffee aspect obviously with so much transformation in the quality approach that has gone through the industry. There are so many cool tools at our disposal to measure any metric in brewing, roasting, and processing that have opened up an infinite potential to learn and grow. That’s really exciting, but I truly love the people side of the industry as well. We get to share all the hard work of many hands and create a space for real human connection. I’m honored to help build such a strong community in Helena and help expand our customer’s knowledge of how special coffee is.
Before we go much further, share with our readers what you’re drinking/enjoying these days when it comes to coffee!
We have two honey processed coffees I’ve really enjoyed lately. One is our Puerto Arturo from a local importing company based here in Helena (shoutout to Montana Coffee Importers) that is a pink bourbon from the Antioquia region in Colombia. The second is a Red Honey from Finca El Chilimate processed at the renowned Las Lajas mill in the central valley in Costa Rica. One of the first coffees I purchased when I started roasting was from this farm and it’s been really cool to have them in our lineup again.
I am always fascinated in the origin story of how a roaster selects their name, so help our readers to get to know the story behind the choice of yours. Why Montago Coffee? Is there a significance or symbolism about this for you?
The name is a combination of Montana and Otago. I spent a year abroad in New Zealand with the intention of traveling from the Northernmost tip of the country all the way down to the Southernmost point, but once I got to the central Otago region it just drew me in and I didn’t really make it any further South. I remember when I first got to the town of Wanaka I was really sick with a cold and was sitting at my campspot overlooking a lake with a beautiful backdrop of glacial mountains. It struck me how similar the two places were and the name Montago popped into my head, probably due to my state of delirium, with no real plan of starting a coffee shop, but when that time came around that’s what my mind went back to.
I immediately felt a sense of place and home in the Otago region while being nearly on the opposite side of the world that made me feel like I was back in Montana. That “sense of place” is the experience we try to give for our customers whether they are regulars that have made Montago their place, another visitor in need of that sense of home, or someone drinking our coffees.
So can you tell us more about how your time in Otago, New Zealand helped to shape your appreciation of specialty coffee? There’s no questioning that Kiwi’s and their nearby Ausie neighbours have some of the most revered coffee cultures on the planet.
As I’m sure you know both Aussies and Kiwis are very proud of their coffee cultures and for good reason, the Aussies are just louder about it ;). The bigger cities had some fun specialty shops but I was most impressed that you could be in the middle of nowhere and get a solid espresso beverage from almost any small cafe. Looking back now, it’s amazing the level of commitment in training some of the major wholesalers put into their partnered cafes. I think that commitment in really caring about your partner’s success and how they represent not just your coffee, but the people involved throughout the process from farm to final cup is something we continue to aspire to as we begin growing into wholesale partnerships of our own.
It was great having had the chance to connect up with you this summer when my wife and I were down in Helena for a few days. We were really impressed with the city and its coffee culture. So, what do you love about the coffee community in your home-city/state?
I really enjoyed having you both here in Helena! We probably had the most Montana experience when we happened to run into each other one evening and ended up having dinner together. That kind of coincidence seems to happen a lot in Montana, and I really love the genuine connection that comes with it. We like to say that Montana is the biggest small town in the world.
The coffee culture here is especially fun because our customers come from such different backgrounds. We have ranchers raising hundreds of cattle who enjoy learning about the agricultural side of coffee, alongside tech workers who found Montago because they missed the coffee culture they’d experienced living in bigger cities. It makes for a pretty interesting mix of people. Because Montana is so big, the specialty coffee community definitely has to make an effort to stay connected, but I think we do a pretty good job of it. A friend in Billings is organizing a statewide Barista Jam in October, and we’re hosting it here in Helena. We’ll have folks driving more than four hours to get together for some learning, camaraderie, and, of course, a latte art competition. I think that says a lot about the community here—people are willing to drive a long way just to hang out with other coffee nerds.
So from your humble beginning in your refurbished 58’ Shasta Camper to now having your very own brick-and-mortar location in Helena, what have you learned about specialty coffee through the many years you’ve been doing this?
What a trip, huh? Looking back to the beginning, I’m still impressed by how courageous, or maybe ignorant, it was to start a mobile specialty coffee company in a place that’s frozen for half of the year. But we grew a good following by leaning on a good product and genuine connection. We even managed to make it through COVID in our first year in business.
There are endless things I’d like to continue learning and improving on when it comes to coffee itself, but I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there are so many great people in this industry who genuinely care about what they do. That care shows up at every step, from the people growing the coffee and experimenting with different varieties and processing methods, to the importers, roasters, baristas, and ultimately the people drinking it.
I think specialty coffee has done a really good job of making that connection more visible to the consumer. When you know where a coffee came from, who grew it, how it was processed, and why it tastes the way it does, the experience of drinking it changes. It becomes more than just a commodity or a caffeine delivery system; there’s a person and a lot of care behind it. Compared to a lot of other industries, I think it’s pretty cool to see that kind of transparency and appreciation for the people who make a product possible. We live in a world that can feel increasingly focused on quick consumption and convenience, so I really value an industry that encourages people to slow down a little, pay attention to where something came from, and appreciate the people and work behind it.
I feel like we all desire to bring about positive change when it comes to specialty coffee. What would you like to see change—either locally or globally—when it comes to the specialty coffee space? How is Montago Coffee moving the needle towards this change?
There are so many people doing great work around the world that sometimes it’s hard for a small company like ours to feel like we’re really moving the needle. But I think there’s a lot of value in what small shops can do within their own communities. Like a lot of other independent coffee shops, we’re trying to build community around specialty coffee while putting a real emphasis on education.
Surprisingly, there are still a lot of smaller towns where specialty coffee isn’t commonplace, and I think that creates a great opportunity to introduce people to something they may not have experienced before. We can teach our customers what makes specialty coffee different, where it comes from, and why it’s worth slowing down and thinking about it as more than just a commodity.
One of my favorite parts of that is watching someone start their specialty coffee journey with no preconceived ideas about what they’re “supposed” to taste or like. There’s no right answer, and it’s a lot of fun to watch people become curious, try something new, and start to develop their own relationship with coffee. If we can help make specialty coffee feel approachable rather than intimidating, I think that’s a pretty meaningful way for a small shop like ours to contribute.
Thanks so much for sharing your story! Here’s your chance to say anything else you want to. Go for it. Is there anything else our readers need to know?
Thanks so much for featuring us, Tyler! It’s been really fun getting to share a little bit about Montago and what we’re doing here in Helena. If anyone wants to try our coffee, we’d love to have you stop by the shop. Montana is also a pretty great place to visit, as if you needed another excuse to come this way. You can also find our coffee online at Montagocoffee.com.
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Contact Info:
web: www.montagocoffee.com
instagram: @montago_coffee
email: info@montagocoffee.com
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.
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I just wanted to say a huge thanks again to Steven and the entire team at Montago Coffee Co. for being a huge contributor to the specialty coffee community in Helena and across the state of Montana.
Happy Brewing!
-Tyler
