Modus Coffee
Modus is a local Vancouver coffee roasters that focuses on seasonality, relationships and roasting light, balanced coffees and we think it pairs perfectly with our donuts! We took a visit to the Mount Pleasant Roastery to check it out to see a little behind the scenes.
We use Modus beans in house and and we also sell retail bags of beans that we can ship directly to you! Order here.
When did the company start and what was the main reason for starting out?
Modus started quietly in 2015 as just an online roaster and wholesaler. The goal really was and still is make specialty coffee a little more accessible for the common coffee consumer without sacrificing quality and intentional sourcing. This idea really revolves around the way our menu is designed. Operating off of both seasonality, traceability, repeatability and consistency. And working with producers and groups who are either pushing the boundaries of coffee growing/production or have little to no access to the specialty coffee market.
What are some ways that you practice sustainability within the coffee industry?
As a small business we always look to partner with other small businesses in Vancouver. For the shop we purchase all our ingredients locally ranging from bread to produce. Our new coffee roasting machine is the most 'green' on the market as far as gas consumption, smoke and energy. As far as packaging goes we decided to recently move to fully plastic bags as they're the most easily 'recycled' without sacrificing the quality of the coffee. Our roasting waste (coffee chaff and jute bags) we donate to local inner city farms for gardening purposes.
Why don’t you use the term ‘fair trade’ in your branding?
The label of FairTrade is out-dated, and a broken system that doesn't work for especially the most impoverished producers. Beyond that does not promote good quality coffee due to price floors being involved along with a slew of other flaws. Most of the time the fees involved do not make up a good enough bottom line for producers to have it make sense either. We prefer a more communicative approach that involves repeatable business with our importers and producers, leaving out as many middle men as possible, and greenwashing labels to keep more money going back to the source.
What are some of the things you do to stay active and build relationships in our local community?
We're always open to collaborations - especially with other owner/operated businesses - keeping money in our local economy is high on our list.