Subtext Coffee Roasters - Frank Torres

Our feature Canadian Roaster for this month is Subtext Coffee Roasters from right here in Toronto!

This stunning lot from Frank Torres in Nariño tops off a season replete with beautiful Sidra offerings. Frank's washed Sidra shines with tasting notes of peach, white cherry, and orange blossom. 

From Subtext themselves: 

'Equity, stewardship, and transcendent sensory experiences through an intentional connection to people and places.'

OUR PHILOSOPHY

Dirt, Labour, and Humanity

'We are a team of coffee professionals roasting in one of the industrial hold-outs of Toronto, Canada. 

Our aim is to push the boundaries of coffee quality, not for some diletante or aesthetic occupation, and not for ego or self satisfaction. We believe in engaging with higher quality coffee as an alternative to the anonymization and commodification that has characterized the mainstream treatment of coffee throughout history. 

It may sound lofty, but so much of our work is actually making visible what is already there: an incredible world of biodiversity and of people tending to land, craft, and community. For that reason, quality for us is a direct connection to agriculture. That's what coffee is. And so quality is an acknowledgment of seasonality, of micro-regionality, and of the human labour behind each picked and processed coffee cherry.

This is why we don't blend coffee; it's why we don't rename coffees; and it's why we don't roast our coffee dark: because we believe all of this received wisdom has worked to keep producers (and their treatment) veiled while holding the standards of coffee quality shrouded in the mystique of actions meant to solely serve the coffee consuming world. 

So much of what we do as a roastery can modulate the quality of great coffee, but nothing we do can create quality that doesn't already exist.'

For more information about Subtext and their roasting process, sourcing, and space, please check them out here!