Home »
Steam Donkey an incredible local coffee
By Danielle Cardozo
There’s something about drinking seven cups of coffee that can get you really excited about your day!
Meet Michelle and Kevin Shepit, of Kimberley; and the folks behind the coffee at Steam Donkey Coffee (pictured above). Oh and that’s “Lemmy,” the coffee roaster.
Now if you really want to get excited about coffee, I suggest you go knock on their door. I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with the Shepits at their roasting facility, learning about where their beans come from and the process that goes into roasting the beans for brewing. I will admit that I have developed a whole new appreciation for coffee.
Previously, I had no idea what I was looking for in a cup, besides a strong cup that would get me going in the office. There are of course different flavors, but I hadn’t really taken the time to learn about different beans, their origins, or their roasting temperatures. It was really interesting to learn about terms like “first crack” and “second crack,” which refers to the degree of roasting. But most of all, I was absolutely impressed by what Michelle and Kevin referred to as their relationship coffee, Aksel, a 100% direct trade, single origin coffee.
It sounded a little complicated at first, but their explanation was quite simple. Michelle and Kevin purchase the beans for Aksel directly from Diego Chavarria, a seventh generation Nicaraguan farmer and Canadian Citizen. They call it relationship coffee because it is the result of building a relationship with the farmer himself.
You see, Michelle and Kevin have travelled to Nicaragua. They have watched their beans being harvested. They drank coffee (and wine I hear) with the farmer. As a result, they purchase directly from the farmer at fair trade prices. I wish I could tell the whole story the way Kevin told it to me, but we’d be here far too long! It might have been the story behind the blend, but Aksel was by far my favorite cup of the day.
I encourage you to visit the Steam Donkey coffee website, so that you can see the love that goes into their coffee. The homepage features a four-minute video of Nicaraguan coffee roaster of 42 years, Porfirio Perez Hernandez. It’s a questionable video (as in during the last few seconds, I questioned why I was still watching it, but for some reason I was still engaged, as if something exciting was eventually going to happen…), but it gets its message across, that the Shepits truly care about the source of their beans.
After a day at Steam Donkey Coffee, there was a great deal of productivity in my day (which continued until about 2 a.m. the following day), and I had a sincere appreciation for the process.
So after reading this, you might be craving a cup of this incredible coffee. I don’t blame you. For those of you who don’t know, I am currently managing the development of a convenience store project called Aq’am Trading. It’s a new trading post style convenience store located on the St. Mary’s reserve, where we will serve, you guessed it, Steak Donkey Coffee.
We couldn’t be more proud to be serving up this incredible local coffee. So we all hope you’ll come out to join us for a cup, and maybe even take a bag of this incredible Nicaraguan coffee home!
– Danielle Cardozo is a mom of three, entrepreneur, and shameless idealist. Whether it be creating it, sharing it, or writing about it; the culinary world is her ultimate passion. Danielle placed eighth on the first ever season of CTV’s MasterChef Canada, and has continued blazing her trail in the culinary world since. Danielle contributes her success to hard work and being stubborn, as she’s never believed anyone who has told her she can’t do something.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/danielle.c.cardozo
Website http://daniellecardozo.ca/