Coffee

Can-Con was Fun… Éric is tired!

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Morning,

Can-Con was a lot of fun. I had been reconsidering going next year but after this weekend, I’m looking forward to it. I was greeted warmly by lots of people I really like and respect. Some of them I hadn’t expected, and it made me feel way more welcome than I’ve ever remembered.

It was a nice weekend filled will great people and a really chill vibe.

Thank you to everyone who came to talk and I look forward to seeing you all next year.

This image of Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh, walking around barely awake, really shows how I feel. I’m going to spend the day resting and playing video games.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Thank You Ottawa ComicCon

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Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

This past weekend was Ottawa ComicCon, and it was a busy one. We saw lots of people, sold a lot of coffee, and somehow survived.

Every year while i prep, I wonder why I do it. It’s weeks of set-up, roasting, packaging, planning, and packing. I get all grumpy and introverted and worried.

But every year, the people make it worth it! In no particular order, I’d like to thank:

  • Our close friends that vend next to us
  • All the other amazing vendors
  • The con goers that are both enthusiastic and genuinely happy
  • The organizers, and
  • The amazing volunteers that not only keep the whole thing running but are also some of our best clients.

Special shout-out to my family for being amazing. We couldn’t do this without you!

Another special thanks to Dragon and Pegasus, who were amazingly well-behaved and made us proud all weekend.

We feel loved, appreciated, and maybe a little more hopeful.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Come see us at Ottawa ComicCon 2025

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Hello Coffee and Crochet lovers,

JenEric Designs, JenEric Coffee, The Travelling TARDIS, Jen Desmarais, and Eric Desmarais will be at this year’s (September the 5th to the 7th) Ottawa Comiccon at the EY Centre.

Come get your coffee, crochet, and books!

We will be at tables 2606-2608

Can’t wait to see you there!

Jen and Éric

Price Increase for JenEric Coffee

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Dear Coffee Lovers,

In 2017, we started buying coffee from U-Roast-it. They are a fabulous company and they managed to only raise their prices around 30% in the past 8 years,. That’s amazing and has let us keep our prices steady. Coffee in general has doubled in price in the past 8 years.

I talked to the owner and they told me that they will be pulling out of selling bulk green beans. Its closest competitor is selling beans at nearly 50% more right now.

Other things have gone up. The price of tables has steadily climbed and now most of them are requiring insurance as well, which is an extra cost.

Basically, the past few years we’ve broken even on our big events after you count in all costs. Unfortunately, that’s not sustainable.

That’s why we’ll be increasing prices starting September 1st. The old prices are still in effect until then, so take advantage while you can.

The new prices will become:

Regular

  • Small (2oz) = $5
  • Medium (4oz) = $10
  • Large (8oz) = $18
  • Extra Large (1lbs) = $30

Decaf

  • Medium (4oz) = $12
  • Large (8oz) = $20
  • Extra Large (1lbs) = $34

Thank you for your understanding,

Éric

Adding Stuff to Coffee

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Hello Coffee Lovers,

I am a coffee snob. I prefer my coffee pour-over, I like high grown South American beans, I like a light to medium roast, I think the water should be 175-190 degrees fahrenheit, and I will say no to certain coffee.

I LOVE flavoured coffee, especially the flavours that combine with the natural flavour of the beans. It’s one of the reasons I started JenEric Coffee.

When it comes to adding things to coffee, I had always believed that you were supposed to only drink good coffee black. I tried changing from cream to milk, and lowering the amount of sugar I use. I thought that as I got used to the taste, it would get better. It didn’t, all it did was make me enjoy coffee less. That could be because I recently found out I’m a supertaster, or it could be that I just don’t like the more bitter coffees.

I have had a few really good coffees that I drank black. They are very rare but they exist.

More recently, I have started thinking of dairy and sweeteners like salt in food or vanilla in baking. It’s a way to bring out the taste and enhance it. No one looks at you funny if you add cinnamon or nutmeg to your coffee and those are great ways to lower the bitterness and cover the taste of certain chains over-roasting their beans.

If adding something to your coffee makes you like it, then more power to you. If you’re adding stuff to make it tolerable, than maybe it’s the wrong coffee or coffee isn’t for you.

Cup shaped like the Mummy from the 1990's movies with light brown coffee inside.
The Mummy says enjoy your coffee!

Basically, enjoy what you enjoy without feeling bad, and don’t force yourself to like something just because it’s “the way it should be”.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

JenEric Coffee is as Canadian as we can get

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Hello Coffee Lovers,

As much as I applaud the movement to buy Canadian, there are certain limitations when it comes to producing coffee.

We roast, flavour, pack, and sell all from our home in Ottawa.

Green Beans

Any coffee company that tells you they are 100% Canadian is lying. Canada doesn’t produce any coffee beans.

We here at JenEric Coffee order our beans through two Canadian resellers: U-Roast-It and Green Coffee Co.

We always buy high grown and fair trade beans from Sumatra, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, or Honduras.

Roasting

All our beans are roasted in the back yard on our custom built BBQ roaster (it’s only for coffee). The BBQ is Broil-Mate (Canadian company but made in China) and the roasting parts were from RK Drums (US company but the only one that made this when we were buying 8 years ago).

Flavouring

We use Lorann Flavouring, which is unfortunately an American company. We have tried other flavouring, but it’s the best out there for smaller bottles. We do purchase from The Vanilla Food Company, a Canadian reseller.

Packaging

Once we’ve worked our way through our current stock of bags, we’ll be buying new ones from Pouch Makers Canada.

Labels

We used to get all our labels printed at Vista Print Canada, which is the Canadian branch of a Dutch Company.

We’ve recently bought a Lien sticker machine so that we can produce them in-house instead. The company is from Shanghai.

We create our own designs and if we ever have the extra cash, we’d get a Canadian designer.

Websites

This blog and everything attached to it is hosted by the fantastic CanSpace. The servers and service are all in Canada.

For our Store JenEric Coffee and Crochet we use Square, which is American but has a free tier which is really nice. We’re looking into an alternative but don’t really want to add extra costs. Also, Square is really easy to use and works extremely well.

Overall

The products from JenEric Coffee are processed and put together in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We’re trying our best to have mostly Canadian parts but it’s not easy.

I hope this has helped you understand the process a little better.

May your coffee be stronger than your fatigue,

Éric