A Dartmouth coffee shop owner’s love of a good cup of joe has taken him around the world , looking not for a great deal, but one that’s fair for all.
Two if by Sea Café owner Zane Kelsall has gone everywhere from Africa to South America, looking, smelling and tasting some of the best beans in the world.
“I realized really quickly it’s not so much what you do at the roaster, it’s what happens on the farm,” Kelsall says.
That’s why Kelsall went to dozens of farms himself, most recently in Peru.
“We had about 300 coffees to taste and we knew nothing about those farms when we’re tasting them,” he says. “When we were done I picked out three samples out of the 300 and said, ‘OK, these are good Anchored Coffees.’”
Kelsall is a quality grader, the equivalent of what a sommelier is to wine. But he wants to do more than drink it. Kelsall gets to know the people growing his beloved beans and pays them ethical prices based on quality.
“It’s really special to sit down for a meal with someone at three kilometers elevation at this coffee farm that you drove eight hours to get to,” says Kelsall.
The long journey has ended in Nova Scotia at the cafe's next door roastary, Anchored Coffee. The beans are now on their way to becoming that perfect cup of joe.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelly Linehan.
