Roaster

Subtext Coffee Roasters

  • Origin

    Toronto, Canada

  • Founded

    2020

  • Specialty

    Balanced, Light and Flavor focused coffees

Available Coffees

The Skinny

Coffee is labour and agriculture; the byproduct is a barely explored bounty of diversity in expression.

the roaster

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

Our aim is to push the boudaries 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.  

A taste of Paris with Datura!

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SUBSCRIPTION

Unique coffees, from unique roasters, for unique experiences.