Sometimes, all you need to raise your coffee roastery’s profile is some super ambitious people and winning a few competitions. I know many roasters whose fame exploded after someone from their team lifted this cup or that trophy. In case you didn’t know, word travels fast in the specialty coffee community and people are attracted to winners. Weird, isn’t it?
In the case of our latest Canadian coffee roasting partner, Rogue Wave, the story went like this. David Laville and David Walsh, two friends from Edmonton in Canada who got obsessed with specialty coffee started their own roastery with the goal to bring high quality, single-origin coffees to the province of Alberta. This was in 2015. A few years later, they were joined by Ply Pasarj, amongst other talented individuals, but it was Ply’s conquest of the Canadian Aeropress Championships and the Canadian Brewer’s Cup that propelled Rogue Wave to national notoriority.
Since then, Rogue Wave has won fans all over the country and beyond. I first came across their colourful brand and outspoken coffees when I was researching Instagram for potential Global Coffeevine roasters and they immediately attracted my attention. A few video calls and emails later Rogue Wave was on board to become one of the two excellent roasters to be featured in this month’s Global Coffeevine box.
What I loved about their business is that they are not only a very ambitious roaster, recently even winning Canada’s Th3rdwave Roaster of the Year Award, but they are also hugely passionate about hiring and keeping great people. Rogue Wave collaborates with Living Wage Alberta, an initiative by the province’s government that aims to encourage businesses to pay their staff fairly.
To make this possible, Rogue Wave also keeps very close ties to its farmers, making sure that it builds sustainable long term relationships with the people who produce their outstanding coffees, which are always seasonal and fresh.
For this box, Rogue Wave roasted a beautiful and floral washed Ethiopian coffee from Tore Gelana, a processing station close to Chelbesa, another location we love getting coffees from. This coffee is a classic washed Ethiopian with notes of peach, raspberry and white grape.
Our December 2023 Global Coffeevine box is already sold out. Make sure to visit our shop again after 16.12.2023 to pre-order the January 2024 Global coffee roasters box.
