Albertans, if you're reading this, you might be surprised to learn that specialty coffee makes up less than 5% of the coffee purchased in our province. And it's a shame, because these coffees are the result of amazing work done by small batch farmers around the world and local roasteries who have come together to create a product that's good for everyone—including our planet, economy and your taste buds. We're lucky enough to have access to them right here at home.

When we looked at other cities like Portland in the US that have a thriving local coffee culture - with as many local roasteries as the entire province of Alberta and even more product variety - we were not surprised to find that local coffee made up more than 25% of the local consumption - more than five times more than what we see here at home! It goes to show how much your support matters.

We're proud to say that Alberta-based coffee roasteries such as Monogram Coffee, Rogue Wave Coffee, Phil & Sebastian, Transcend Coffee Roasters and others have represented Canada on the world stage.

Since Gems launched in 2020, we have tried over 300 coffees from Alberta's local roasters. We've spoken to local roasters, discovered their approach to sourcing and their roasting philosophy. We put together a vast list of intelligence, which means that we really know what's available in Alberta and which roaster has what kind of coffee. And, we didn't stop there - we wanted to know how Alberta's roasters compare with others, so we tried lots and lots of coffee from roasters everywhere. We're ready to take your coffee experience to a whole new level.

Most people don't realize that grocery store coffee is simply not the same as specialty grade coffee. First, specialty grade coffee is grown by hand; it's harvested in small batches, by entire communities that care. It's also roasted fresh and if you didn't know, coffee starts going stale within 2 weeks after it's been roasted. Because of this, our beans are roasted to order and shipped directly to your door—never sitting on a shelf for months at a time..