Where did it all start?
Devil’s Head Coffee was born from adventure. Ok, it really came from a few things. I was always keen to get up early and head to the mountains for weekend adventures. Work all week in a job downtown, coordinate my time out with friends and family on the weekends and go smash it! Was always really busy. Never had the time to really think about coffee, even though it was part of my daily routine since writing those long papers in university.
One day I got injured and wasn’t climbing and going on adventures. All of a sudden, I had all this time on my hands to actually think about the coffee I was drinking. Double doubles, really dark coffee with lots of cream and sugar. I really had a hard time pretending I actually enjoyed the coffee I was drinking, so, I started to research roasting my own.
The Quest M3... where it all started for Devil's Head Coffee
This process totally took me down the rabbit hole. Once I set my mind to something, I tend to focus on it until I feel I’m not the worst at it. I started roasting on a pop-corn popper, which, is surprisingly awesome! Until you want to have enough around to actually drink. I got hooked on roasting and got a machine made for the task, the Quest M3. It’s a sweet little unit to start out on. Next thing I knew I was roasting after work, weekends, just to keep up with providing coffee to friends and family! I eventually progressed into a commercial coffee machine just to keep up.
Now What?
It turned into a passion – Sharing good coffee and education to help show people what it’s all about. Nothing fancy really as a lot of places lead you to believe… but, as any experiment, it’s just that. Keep it simple, change one variable at a time till you figure it out. Then, track, repeat and work with our customer base to roast something they like.
This is why we roast to order for each individual customer. Tell us what you like, we work with you to get you just that. Personalized custom roasting, just for you.
Ok, so that’s who we are.
How did we settle on Devil’s Head Coffee for a name?
Well, I really like what it represents; Free thinking and adventure. Here’s my view of a quick coffee history lesson as it relates to western culture:
-Coffee was outlawed by the church in western europe in the early 1500s because people always seemed to gather and drink it in an equivalent to our modern cafes. The church wasn’t interested in places that promoted free thinking and banned it.
-Pope Clement VIII liked it and…. well, turned over that decision when he was voted in.
-Devil’s Head Mountain, Ghost Wilderness Alberta; My favorite playground, and Devil’s Head is one of the most recognizable peaks around, even from Calgary. It has a rich history for First Nations in the area, navigation when Western European settlers were exploring the area, and now… A sense of adventure. Just getting there can be dicey… Poor mountain roads, river crossings, ice and snow… it’s a place for the adventurous.
What’s the connection? Free thinking adventure? I don’t know but we liked it!
View west towards Lake Minnewanka in Devil's Gap.