September 2020: Smoke And Mirrors Coffee Co.
Secret Sip Coffee Club jubilantly unveils September’s secret roasting partner. Tucked away on the far west of our awesome country, this passionate team of scientists have outdone themselves with a remarkable secret roast! Roasting out of Victoria, BC, Smoke and Mirrors Coffee Co started with an intense craving for caffeine, knowledge, and the desire to have a positive impact on their community through social enterprise.
The awesome and unique team leveraged their collective experience spanning from sensory science to chemistry and through rigorous product development, flavour analysis, and drinking (a lot) of coffee, offer an exceptional brew.
Starting with four local organizations that the team knew well; they began donating half of their profits as unrestricted funding. This means the organizations are free to spend the money on any aspect of their operation. The only string attached is complete accountability and trust that the money will be spent responsibly. The team indicates that the funding recipients work is not only worthwhile but necessary; and “…we are all better off having them enhance our community.”
The story is fascinating:
“We started roasting with a converted ShowTime Pro. Why does that ring a bell you ask? We'll let you in on a secret. It's because it's the same thing you pull out of your storage room to make a rotisserie chicken for that backyard party you were talked into hosting!
Ingenuity knows no bounds, and we were starting to pull off some incredible roasts in this machine. Fast forward a year, and we are now roasting with a state-of-the-art fluid bed roaster. We're graphing each roast by temperature measurements, filling spreadsheets with roasting data, bean weights, the weather outside, and we achieved steadfast consistency in our process. If we scientists know one thing, it's the value of sweet sweet repeatable data.”
Smoke & Mirrors sources omnigradable, eco-friendly packaging from the Canadian company, TekPak Solutions. While their packaging design is constantly being tweaked and enhanced, they maintain our commitment to the environment and want you to know you're helping too.
In their first year of operation, Smoke & Mirrors Coffee Co. proudly donated $4,000 to support four non-profit community partners/ world shapers! This doesn't account for the matching $400 donations by The Very Good Butchers and Phillips Brewing & Malting Co., or the many other in-kind donations to support community events.
September’s secret roast was Smoke and Mirrors’ delectable reserve espresso blend, which incorporated a masterful mix of Marcala, Honduras and Amazonas and Cajamarca, Peru yielding the most ridiculously awesome tasting notes we have every observed:
“TASTES LIKE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT IF YOU FOUND A BLACKBERRY BUSH WITH NO THORNS THAT ALSO SPROUTS MILK CHOCOLATE AND HAZLENUTS.”
Do we need to say any thing more? Are we not the best coffee club the world for finding this gem …😊
Secret Sip Coffee Club is so pleased to have partnered with Smoke and Mirrors Coffee Co. to bring you this month's secret roast, and what we believe to be, one of Canada’s best coffees. To learn more about Smoke and Mirrors Coffee Co., check out their website below: