Canadian Heritage Roasting Company

Two former wildland firefighters, Mike Wenzlawe and Jamie Parker, started roasting coffee in a cast iron pan on the fireline before turning it into a company in 2015, and the Ramsay roastery and cafe now operates out of the century old C.C. Snowdon building, an early 1910s oil refinery restored in 2008 after decades sitting empty. Iron fixtures, brick walls, and worn century old wooden tables fill the space, with a section of old fire damage left visible on purpose rather than patched over.

Roasting happens in house, and the company plants a tree for every bag of coffee sold, a habit that has put well over 100,000 trees in the ground across Alberta, British Columbia, and Manitoba toward a longer term goal of one million. The seasonal patio adds coffee based cocktails to the usual espresso and drip menu once the weather cooperates, and the building itself doubles as event space for gatherings ranging from small meetups to larger evening functions.