OUR STORy
Rooftop is a tight-knit family coffee company operating in the mountains of Ktunaxa Territory (“Fernie, BC, Canada”). Our roastery-café is the result of almost a decade’s worth of continuous learning and dedication to coffee. Moving from the city to a small mountain town in the mid-2010s was incredible in just about every way… except for the coffee. The specialty, third-wavey scene hadn't found its way to most small towns yet, and I’d fallen in love with Calgary’s emerging coffee scene. After nerding out on coffee forums for a bit, I found out about home roasting and couldn't get it out of my head. When I was 16, I begged my parents to let me buy an electric Gene Cafe home roaster. The first batch was in the kitchen, which was instantly filled with smoke. So, the second roast was on the rooftop patio of my parents home - hence, Rooftop Coffee.
The next summer, a teacher at my high school was opening a café in Fernie and wanted to carry locally-roasted coffee. Both my parents have business backgrounds, so I presented them with a rough business plan and we partnered to officially open Rooftop Coffee Roasters in June 2016, right as I graduated high school.
A lot has changed since those early days - we refined our self-taught chops with roasting and sensory courses, we moved locations, we developed partnerships at origin, and we steadily grew our presence in the industry. Most importantly, we’ve formed a team of dedicated baristas, roasters, designers, and all-around stellar people. Today, our roastery-café runs in the heart of historic downtown Fernie, under the same rooftop where it all started.
-Keegan Street.
Good coffee, For Everyone
We’re all about creating good coffee, for everyone.
Our sourcing is at the core of this principle. We’re challenging ourselves to be better partners in an industry that is inequitable for most coffee growers and farmworkers. Beyond paying fair prices, we aim to build our green coffee buying on clear communication, shared risk, and solid commitments that span multiple harvests. Our seasonally-rotating menu largely consists of coffees from producers and co-ops that we purchase from year after year.
On the other end of the supply chain, “good coffee for everyone” means creating an accessible and engaging culture so we can share our love of coffee with as many people as we can.
Basically - no gimmicks, no gatekeeping, and no grandstanding. We just want to share great coffee and do it right.
Our Coffee
We love balanced coffee. When a sparkling acidity is perfectly coupled with a sweet, syrupy mouthfeel, we know we’ve done our job right. Much like the unique flavours and aromas in our coffee reflect the terroir and processing imparted by the farm, our roasting style derives partly from our hometown. Fernie has played such an important role in shaping our coffee company. This lighter style of roasting was new to the area, which has long been dominated by darker-roasted coffee. Without straying from our style, we had to adjust our approach. This led to a menu that encompasses both bright and articulate profiles alongside approachable, familiar coffees. All part of the mantra of good coffee, for everyone, we never want to leave our community behind. It’s easy to feel out-snobbed in the specialty coffee world, and we hope to have something anyone can connect with. This has a created a coffee culture that is a reflection of Fernie - it’s uniquely ours.