Colin Moran and his partner Jackie at one of their outdoor events during more pleasant weather. Courtesy Photo

METCALFE – BH Coffee Roasting officially got its start in 2023, not so much as a plan for a business, but as an interest of founder Colin Moran. As he tells the story, he started tinkering around, using an old-fashioned popcorn popper and using a large skewer to agitate the beans. “You really get to see firsthand how they go through the different phases of the roasting process,” said Moran, during a phone interview,  “And you learn a lot about it, directly that way, and then, after drinking, like, a lot of really bad coffee that I roasted, you start to get the hang of it, and it evolved.”

Moran enjoyed the process, but it got to the point of trying different coffees and different roast levels and he wound up with a cupboard full of coffee and eventually he had to start giving it away to friends and family. “After a while, they felt they wanted to pay for it, and it just kind of went from there.”

The name “BH” comes from the first initials of his two son’s names, Beckett and Henry, ages 10 and 8 respectively.

One thing that fueled Moran’s interest is his genuine fondness for coffee. “I’m just a really big coffee fan,” he said. “I love trying different coffees, and I still, to this day, if I go into a new town, I like going to their local cafe and just try theirs because I really just enjoy coffee in general.

“So it was, you know, not so much just wanting to create or starting out trying to create something on my own, I thought, well, what the heck, I can, if I start out roasting, then I can fine tune it until it’s sort of how I like it, and until I’m happy with everything.”

At the present time BH Coffee Roasting doesn’t have their own storefront, and that isn’t in the immediate future. Moran markets his different coffees through various retailers, such as Greg’s Quality Meats, Loughlin’s Country Store, St. Albert Market, and Campbell’s Metcalfe Variety.  He also attends events such as Music in the Park, in Metcalfe, where people get a chance to try it out.  “We’re also doing really well with cafes, like with the Gathering House in Chesterville and Lachlan’s in Hallville. They both serve by the cup.”

“Honestly, in the early days, I just brewed a pot of coffee at home, and my coffee pot has the lip that you could close the top, and I basically drove around, went into Greg’s, and had a cup of coffee with them and chatted. That was really how we ended up getting into all the stores; just having a conversation over coffee, so it was kind of neat that way.”

It is no secret that the price of coffee, like almost everything else is rising, but Moran says that hasn’t been much of an issue for him. “I’m honestly trying to keep it as low as I possibly can,” he said. “I would say the biggest issue I face right now is shipping, especially dealing with the weight of coffee, but we offer free local delivery, so that saves that.

“I would rather just drive, you know, 20 minutes, a half hour, whatever it might be, and have a chat with someone rather than plunk it in the mailbox anyway.”

They say that if you find something you love and make it your life’s work, you will never work a day in your life, and it seems Moran is well on his way to achieving that. “I enjoy it, and that’s what makes it fun even as I’m doing the roasting portion. I personally find it therapeutic. I can sit there, and you have to really pay attention to what you’re doing because the way that I roast, I don’t use any electronics. It’s all time, temperature, and intuition, I guess. It’s about as grassroots as you can possibly get.”

If you’d like to know more about BH Coffee Roasting, you can visit their website at bhcoffeeroasting.ca, where you’ll find a complete listing of the different varieties of coffee they offer (Two of their beans are certified fair trade organic beans), as well as advice on how best to brew, the retail locations where you can find them, an FAQ section, and additional contact info. You can also follow them on Facebook and learn more about how they give back to the community.

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