Clinton News Record, 2015-11-04, Page 9Delivering the beans
Lynda Hillman-Rapley
Postmedia Network
Bring me a coffee takes on
a whole different meaning
when that coffee is delivered
right from Columbia.
Ben Gingerich and his
wife Brianna have owned
Coastal Coffee Company for
the past few years. It has
become very popular in the
local communities and last
week's delivery from Colum-
bia was an added bonus.
"About a year ago another
coffee roaster, who is a friend
introduced me to Chalo Fer-
nandez at the Canadian Spe-
cialty Coffee & Tea show in
Toronto," Ben explained, "I
learned his story and tried
some samples of Chalo's
Colombian green coffee
beans.
Chalo's coffee plantation
is located in the township of
Caloto in the Municipality of
Paicol within Colombia's
beautiful, mountain-
ous province of Huila. The
coffee trees grow on 25 hec-
tares of land that range
between the altitudes of
1450m - 1600m. and grow
amongst orange, mandarin
and banana trees, sugar cane
and tropical fruits such as
mango, pineapple and
guama. "This adds to the cof-
fee's unique flavour and
sweetness," says Chalo add-
ing their sustainable farming
practices include reusing
plant products as fertilizer,
minimizing energy usage,
preserving our natural
ID'S
HELP
PHONE
01').
FREE
EMERGENCY
CALL
1.80048.616i1
8.816I
RUNAWA
SIN
LNGETii, IN
TROUBLE
forests, safely eliminating
waste, and prohibiting hunt-
ing and mining on their
land.
Ben said they found "his
coffee to have a beautiful
honey sweetness with lively
acidity and bit of cinnamon
spice to it. We offered it to
our loyal Coastal Coffee cus-
tomers told his story and it
was very well received."
Ben grew up on an organic
farm near Bayfield. Later,
while studying at the Univer-
sity of Victoria, B.C. He met
and fell in love with Brianna.
Those years on the west
coast also led him to dis-
cover, and develop a palette
for, exceptional coffee.
They ended up between
Bayfield and Grand Bend
and where they raise their
family and share their love
for nature and adventure.
And they love their coffee.
So, when the Bluewater
Youth Centre closed in 2012,
Ben seized the opportunity
and started his micro roast-
ery business. Since then he
has quickly grown his busi-
ness to a full-time roastery
and gained a following
among local restaurants and
serious coffee drinkers.
During one of their many
sociable interactions a friend
showed them how to create
and use a home roaster. They
found themselves learning
the art of home roasting on a
small scale. They shared
their fresh roasted brew with
anyone one who
Ben said as they learned
Wednesday, November 4, 2015 • News Record 9
more about Chalo's 4th gen-
eration producers, coffee
farm, and built a relation-
ship with him. He invited
them to come to see his farm
in Colombia, meet his com-
munity and check out more
coffees from his region.
And that they did. In May
2014 the Gingerichs traveled
to Colombia with some
other coffee roasters from
Toronto and Ottawa to visit
the farm and cup other sin-
gle estate lots from the Huila
Region. "We learned so
much about how Chalo's
Specialty Colombian Coffee
is grown, harvested, pulped,
fermented, washed, dried,
milled and graded, then
exported," he said.
Last week was Chalo's
second year of bringing his
crop to Canada and this
was their first shipment of
this years Colombian har-
vest. Chalo is traveling
around Ontario visiting his
roasting partners and deliv-
ering their orders of green
E
0
L
0
0
0
0
a
0
coffee beans directly.
Chalo said, "Buying
green coffee from us is a
win-win situation. You will
be rewarding a team who
are 100% dedicated and
passionate about produc-
ing the best possible coffee
for your customers. It also
means that we can provide
our team members, com-
munity and environment
the care they deserve and
that's awesome!"
This creative entrepre-
neur enjoys having con-
sumers appreciate his crea-
tions. "It's satisfying when
they enjoy it," Ben
said. Coastal Coffee Roast-
ery in downtown Zurich is
Courtesy of Coastal Coffee Company
Delivering the coffee from Columbia, Chalo Fernandez helps Ben
Gingerich unload the beans.
OPEN Wednesday- Satur-
day year round. At the
Coastal Roastery here we
sell brewed coffee, espresso
based drinks, fresh roasted
Coastal Coffee beans, fresh
baking and home coffee
brewing equipment.
If you go:
Coastal Coffee Roastery
Open Wednesday -
Saturday year round
17 Goshen Street North
Zurich, Ontario Canada
Rooted in your community,
we've sheltered generations.
The spirit of mutual insurance is woven into the fabric of every community.
It's the spirit of coming together for the greater good.
While some people may say that spirit's long gone, we say it never left.
Call us today and discover the mutual difference!
HAYMUTAL
COMPANY
ontario mutuals -
We're in this together
For a quote from one of our local Agents, please call Hay
Mutual at 1-877-807-3812 www.haymutual.on.ca/
HOME • AUTO
• COMMERCIAL • FARM