Our interview with Poul Mark from Transcend Coffee
Transcend Coffee & Roastery opened in Edmonton in July 2006, started by Poul Mark after he left a career in law. As Transcend turns 20, we caught up with Poul about the move from law to coffee, what an early trip to Panama changed about how Transcend buys, going back to the role of head roaster in 2025, and how Edmonton's coffee scene has grown over the decades.
You were practising law when you opened Transcend in 2006. What pulled you from law into coffee?
The original pull was a desire to build community. Through all my years at university, coffee was the thing that brought people together. I wanted to create a place where that could happen.
My interest in wine also played a significant role. I had developed an appreciation for how much flavour and a sense of place could exist in a glass, and I was curious about those possibilities in coffee. I insisted on roasting our own from the beginning, despite knowing very little about it. There was a fair amount of naïveté involved, but thankfully also enough curiosity and stubbornness to keep learning.
Your first trip to origin was to Panama in 2008. What did you see there that changed how Transcend buys coffee?
Before that trip, I had already bought a coffee through the Best of Panama auction (Finca Santa Teresa), which showed me how extraordinary coffee could taste. Being invited to judge the following year was both exciting and terrifying. I was quite convinced they would discover how little I knew.
Meeting producers changed the perspective completely. Quality began with their knowledge and work, long before the coffee reached our roaster. Those early trips also brought the economics of coffee production into focus. I wanted our buying decisions to support the people producing these coffees, and direct relationships became central to how we approached that.
What has your long relationship with Ricardo Pérez in Costa Rica taught you?
Ricardo’s Santa Lucia was actually the first Costa Rican coffee we ever purchased, initially through Elan Organic Coffees in Transcend’s early years. We were buying his coffee before I had ever visited Costa Rica, so that relationship reaches back almost to the beginning of the company.
It has taught me that consistency matters on both sides. Specialty coffee spends a lot of time celebrating the next exceptional lot, but producers need buyers who keep coming back.
Buying from Ricardo over the years has reinforced my belief that quality and financial sustainability belong together. If we value someone’s skill and the coffee they produce, our purchasing needs to reflect that. A relationship has to mean something beyond a name on a bag. It means paying properly, maintaining trust, and thinking beyond a single harvest.
How has Edmonton’s coffee scene changed since you opened in 2006?
There are far more independent cafés and roasters, and far more opportunities for people to discover good coffee. That’s a positive development. Every independent business that helps someone appreciate a better cup contributes to a larger audience for all of us. Obviously, this has created a lot more competition within the city and across the country, which makes business much more challenging.
We’ve changed as well. In the early days, we had some very firm opinions about how people should drink coffee, and we could come across as arrogant. I’m much more conscious now that knowledge should help people enjoy their coffee. Hospitality matters just as much as what’s in the cup.
In 2025 you took over as lead roaster again. What has it been like to be back at the roaster?
It’s been an opportunity to get deeply involved in the coffee again. Running a business pulls your attention in many directions, while roasting requires you to focus on what’s happening in front of you and then taste the results.
It’s also a reminder that experience doesn’t mean you’ve finished learning. Different coffees ask different things of you. I’m still interested in understanding those differences and figuring out how to bring out the fruit, sweetness, and character that made us want to buy a coffee in the first place.
Transcend turns twenty this year. What are you excited about for the next twenty?
There are still coffees that surprise me, and I want to keep sharing that experience with people.
I’m particularly interested in making good coffee easier to understand and enjoy at home. We’re building our Coffee Made Simple video series around that idea. A little useful guidance can make a considerable difference to someone’s daily cup.
I also want to keep strengthening the producer relationships that have brought us this far. Twenty years gives you an appreciation for how much work goes into keeping an independent business going. I want Transcend to remain curious, make excellent coffee, and be a worthwhile business for the people connected to it.
More about transcend, and their coffee in our shop, is on their roaster page.