Salt Spring Coffee Celebrates 25 Years of Making Sustainable Coffee in B.C.

Salt Spring Coffee is celebrating its 25th anniversary and reinforcing its commitment to sustainability by launching a limited-edition collection of single-origin coffees grown using regenerative organic agricultural practices. Each of the three coffees in the collection is made from the same beans, but processed using a different method allowing consumers to appreciate how each method changes the coffee’s flavour.

“For our 25th anniversary, we wanted to create a coffee collection that exemplifies Salt Spring Coffee’s dedication to producing coffee of the highest quality and acting as a force for positive environmental change,” says Mickey McLeod, Co-Founder and CEO of Salt Spring Coffee. “When we started back in 1996, we were one of the first to roast organic coffee in B.C. and, with this new collection, we are proud to champion regenerative organic coffee in the province.”

Regenerative organic agriculture is a set of agricultural practices that allow for the cultivation of crops in a way that has minimal impact on the environment and even helps return it to a healthy state. For the production of this coffee, practices included fertilizing the coffee plants with cow manure enhanced with forest microorganisms, using honeywater produced during coffee processing as a natural insecticide and choosing coffee saplings whose roots run deep rather than wide, increasing the plants’ longevity and reducing the disruptions to the soil ecosystem associated with frequent replanting.

The coffee beans were sourced from Byron Corrales’ Finca Los Pinos in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Corrales is an expert grower and long-time Salt Spring Coffee partner who has been growing coffee using regenerative organic agricultural practices for over 25 years.

The three coffees in the collection – Legado, Momento and Porvenir – are made with the same beans, but are processed using three different methods. The methods (washed, natural and honey-processed) differ in the amount of coffee cherry flesh that is left on the bean as it dries, which results in the coffees having different flavour characteristics.

Washed coffee removes all of the pulp from the bean before drying, allowing the true character of the regional terroir and growing conditions to shine through. Natural coffee leaves the pulp intact allowing it to infuse the beans with intense fruit notes and give it a more dynamic character. Honey-processed coffee leaves only a thin layer of pulp (known as mucilage) on the bean, which eventually turns brown and sticky (hence the comparison to honey) and provides sweet, fruity notes that are subtler than natural coffee.

The names of the three coffees – Legado, Momento and Porvenir – represent the past, present and future of the company while the use of Spanish is a nod to the coffee’s Nicaraguan roots.

The limited-edition coffee collection is available for sale at saltspringcoffee.com and at Salt Spring Coffee’s Café & Kitchen in Ganges, B.C.

The company is also launching ground coffee and compostable pod versions of its existing coffee blends. The ground coffee is already available in store and online while the compostable pods will be available online starting in late November and in grocery stores starting early 2022.