coffee

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

Shipping and Shopping

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Hello Coffee Lovers!

The current Canada Post strike will affect us, but we have found alternative ways of shipping. Canada, USA, and International may be slower to fullfil, but we’ll find a way.

Coffee.JenEric-Designs.ca is still open for business!

Ottawa Shipping

For those inside Ottawa, we are now offering a discounted shipping cost of $10. We’re working with Trexity to get the packages into Ottawa and parts of Gatineau.

Coffee with Coffee Shop

For the holiday season we are offering a bonus 2 ounces of mystery coffee with every purchase of Coffee Shop Between the ‘Verses.

Good luck with your holiday shopping.

Éric

Queer Christmas Craft Fair 2024

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We will be at the Queer Christmas Craft Fair tomorrow (Saturday November 16th!) Come join us.

🎄✨ Get ready for the Queer Christmas Craft Fair at The Good Companions – it’s going to be a holiday shopping spree like no other! ✨🎄

🗓️ When: November 16th
🕙 Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
📍 Where: The Good Companions (670 Albert Street) FREE PARKING!!

Prepare for an unforgettable day full of festive vibes, fabulous finds, and a whole lotta cheer! We’re bringing you 23 amazing vendors from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in and around Ottawa, all serving up an irresistible mix of treasures. You can expect dazzling jewelry, cozy knitwear, vibrant artwork, luxurious artisanal soaps, locally sourced honey, flavor-infused coffee beans, unique speedo’s and more. These one-of-a-kind gifts will have your holiday shopping done in style!

And while you’re shopping up a storm, treat yourself to our famous homemade chilli and cornbread combo for just $6.50! Not only will it hit the spot, but every dollar helps The Good Companions keep bringing diverse and inclusive programs to life.

This is the perfect event for everyone who loves to support, celebrate, and show up for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community!

Allies, friends, and festive souls,

Let’s make this season sparkle together – see you there! 🎁

Come say hello at Can-Con 2024

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Hello Readers!

This weekend is the wonderful Can-Con: Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature.

Jen and I will be in the vendors room (FREE to the public, masks are optional) most of the time, selling awesome coffee and crochet.

Here are the vendor’s room hours

  • Friday 5-8
  • Saturday 10-6
  • Sunday 10-4

Jen will be on the “”The Pros of Being a Ghost (writer)” panel on Saturday morning (Nov 2nd) from 10:00-10:50.

Éric will be at the booth and chatting with people.

Hope to see you there!

Éric

Ten Years of Coffee!

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Hello Coffee Lovers,

Ten years ago, I got the idea of roasting my own coffee. It was born from a combination of wanting to contribute to JenEric Designs sales and find a flavoured coffee that wouldn’t hurt my stomach.

This was the first ever coffee I roasted.

With this first batch, I decided to keep trying, and after figuring out the timing for adding the flavouring, I started roasting enough for Pop Expo 2014. I managed to roast a total of 10lbs.

Look how tiny it is:

We had 3 flavours available that year; Butter Rum, Cinnamon, and Chocolate Hazelnut.

The original Butter Rum was based on Spike from Buffy
Little has changed for Raktajino. Hard to improve on perfect.
Davroast was originally Chocolate Hazelnut but the flavouring wasn’t great and was eventually switched to Chocolate.

The price we charged at the time was $10 for 125g (a little over 4oz). Shockingly, with better equipment and suppliers, we were able to bring the price down about 8 years ago to $8 for 4oz.

There have been times I’ve considered quitting, but it is something I love doing. I’ll never be able to retire on it, but it’s a fun job.

Overall, we’ve been extremely lucky with equipment, suppliers, and especially clients.

Thank you for ten great years!

Éric

The State of JenEric Coffee September 2024

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Hello Coffee Lovers,

According to my notes, coffee prices have almost doubled since we started roasting coffee. The beans, the flavouring, the labels, the bags, con tables, and especially shipping; have all gone up by as much if not more.

The last time we increased our prices was 2016, and I was starting to think we’d have to increase our prices again.

Good news is that I think I found a solution that will help. There’s a Canadian company that makes bags that are significantly cheaper than the American company we used in the past. This will also save us duty and brokerage fees.

I’m also looking into alternate sources for flavouring and labels.

All that said, we are working hard to keep our prices competitive.

Stay tuned and we’ll have some coffee news coming in October when we’ll be celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

Stay Caffeinated,

Éric

Come see us today and this weekend at Ottawa Comiccon

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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 6th to the 8th) Ottawa Comiccon at the EY Centre.

Come get your coffee, crochet, and books!

We’ll be at booths 2604-2606!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Jen and Éric

The Newsletter is ALIIIIIIIVVVEEEEE!

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Hello People Who Want to Know What’s Going On with JenEric Designs,

You can now sign up for our nifty Good as New Newsletter.

This time around, Jen (JenEric’s resident publicist and marketing expert) is taking over from Éric (JenEric’s resident coffee taster). That means you’ll get cool stuff and lots of news. Also consistency.

If you really don’t want to go to the link to sign up for our Newsletter, you can do it down below.

Thank you and look to your inboxes for cool stuff.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric