ACE Coffee Roasters sells its numbered ACE NO.9, NO.10 and NO.OO roasts from four Edmonton locations, including a West Ritchie roastery with an on-site training classroom. It also stocks La Marzocco, Profitec and Breville espresso machines.
Best for ACE numbered coffee roasts and barista classes
Catfish Coffee is a small-batch Edmonton roaster selling exclusively from its Saturday stall at the Old Strathcona Farmers' Market. Its lineup includes named roasts like Yirg'Onna Love It and the blend Sucker Punch.
Best for Saturday-market small-batch Edmonton coffee
Rogue Wave is an Edmonton roaster working single origins from Colombia, Panama and Ethiopia across washed, natural and honey processes. It is also the Canadian distributor for Origami, 1Zpresso and Orea brewing gear.
Best for Single-origin coffee across washed, natural and honey processes
Poul Mark founded Transcend Coffee in 2006 and still roasts to order from Edmonton, shipping direct-trade beans across Canada. Its standing lineup includes the Argyll and Gateway blends and Vamos specialty instant coffee.
Best for Poul Mark founded Transcend Coffee in 2006 and still roasts to order
Poul Mark founded Transcend Coffee in 2006, and nearly two decades later the Edmonton roaster still roasts to order rather than to stock, shipping fresh beans within a few business days of a batch coming off the roaster. Two cafes, on 124 Street and in the Ritchie neighborhood, sell the same lots poured in-house - single origins from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, and Peru sit alongside the roastery's two standing blends, Argyll and Gateway, and a green, unroasted coffee option for home roasters. Transcend also makes Vamos, a specialty instant coffee produced from its own roasted beans rather than a generic freeze-dried base, extending the direct-trade sourcing it applies to its bagged coffee into a format meant for travel or an office desk. The company reports sustained customer volume - 256 verified reviews averaging 4.83 stars - built over years of shipping across Canada with free shipping thresholds for Alberta and the rest of the country. Between the two cafes and the mail-order roastery, Transcend has kept the same direct-trade sourcing language since Mark started the company in a city not typically associated with specialty coffee.