As the year 2012 is now upon us, I thought it appropriate to do a little reflection on the past year and a little looking over the horizon into what will surely be a busy and exciting new year.

Sometimes, you just have to embrace the cheese of the season.



Thanks to you — our friends, family, customers, blog readers — we had a great year.  We've had a lot of fun roasting some amazing coffees on our new (to us) vintage Probat UG22 roaster, we opened a new café, went on a number of sourcing trips, started making our own food in-house, and fared pretty well at a little coffee competition.

If you are still looking for a last minute gift, you can always opt for a coffee subscription. It doesn't involve traffic or line-ups or wrapping, and it will remind the recipient of you every time they find some delicious coffee in the mail. We'll even email you a certificate you can print out to put under the tree.

If you're in Edmonton, check out our holiday hours and come visit us, we'd love to see you.

From Poul, Kate, Zack, Gustavo and the many, many other talented and dedicated coffee enthusiasts on the Transcend team that didn't happen to be at the roastery when this odd picture was taken (there's around 30 more of us), have a joyful and restful holiday.

Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays everyone. Below you'll find our holiday hours for our three Edmonton Cafés.

December 24
Argyll: 9:30 am - 3 pm
Garneau: 8 am - 3 pm
Jasper Ave: 8:30 am - 3 pm

December 25 - Closed

December 26
Argyll: Closed
Garneau: 9 am - 5 pm
Jasper Ave: Closed

December 27 - 30
Argyll: 7:30 am - 5:30 pm
Garneau: 7:30 am - 9 pm
Jasper Ave: 8 am - 4:30 pm

December 31
Argyll: 9:30 am - 5:30 pm
Garneau: 8 am - 5:30 pm
Jasper: 8:30 am - 5 pm

January 1, 2012
Argyll: Closed
Garneau: 10 am - 5 pm
Jasper: Closed

January 2, 2012
Argyll: Closed
Garneau: 9 am - 5 pm
Jasper: Closed

January 3 - back to regular hours.

There is a lot of talk and "buzz" lately about direct trade* coffee. We at Transcend have made a deliberate move away from talking about "direct trade" and instead are focusing on the notion of relationships, as we feel that this is more in line with how we conduct business. Frankly, the marketing term direct trade is confusing, as it infers that there are no middle players in the transaction between the coffee buyer and the coffee seller. This almost always is not the case. It is to avoid this confusion both at the consumer level, and at the producer level that we are using the languge built around relationships.

No where is this relational approach to coffee more evident with us than with the producers we have partnered with in Costa Rica. Having worked with some of them now for three years, we are beginning to truly appreaciate the meaning of these relationships. In fact it is more than just relationships, it is the forging of real partnerships with a number of very important players which enable us to bring some of the best coffee into our shops in Edmonton.

Fresh crop Sin Limites is here! We have partnered with Jaime Cardenas and his family for three years now, and each year the coffee gets better.

We are always thrilled when we are able to release a new coffee. And this one is new in every sense of the word.