Dean's List
A monthly, invitation-only selection of Canada's highest-scoring coffees.
Dean's List represents my personal shortlist of the best coffee currently available in Canada. Each monthly release features three exceptional lots from one roaster, selected for cupping scores of 88+ and distinctive characteristics.
This coffee is for those who want to go deeper down the rabbit hole.
Dean Pitton
Request an Invite
If someone passed you an invitation, you are already in. If not, ask for one here, and I open the door as room comes up.
How It Works
- Membership is by invitation.
- Each release reaches the list before it goes public, with a note from me on which roaster and coffees will be featured, and why they were chosen.
- Limited quantities will be available until sold out.
Selection Criteria
Every coffee on Dean's List meets a strict quality threshold, judged against the Specialty Coffee Association's evaluation protocols. I work only with roasters who maintain transparent sourcing relationships and can document the chain of custody from farm to cup.
Cupping score: 88 and up on the SCA scale.
Selection: I taste everything before it makes the list, and judge it on fragrance, flavour, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, and the character that comes from a single farm or an unusual process.
Sourcing: full traceability to the farm or cooperative.
Format
Every release is comprised of three coffees from one roaster, provided in small format bags. A rare micro-lot might be ninety grams; a more generous one might be two hundred grams. Either way there is enough to live with the coffee for a week and learn it across a few brews, which is the only honest way to know whether you love it.
Each coffee arrives with the story behind it, written by the roaster: why this lot, who grew it, what the processing was reaching for, how the cup came to taste the way it does. You get the particulars too, varietal, process, farm or cooperative, elevation, harvest, and the full tasting notes, so you can read a coffee as closely as you drink it.
A release lands once a month. Each is a one-time box, yours to take or to pass.
| Format | Three small bags, one roaster |
| Size | Sized to the lot, usually 90 to 200g |
| Releases | Monthly, while the lot lasts |
| Price | Set per release |
Why This Exists
Stillwater has always been about excellent coffee from great Canadian roasters, matched to your taste, at a fair price. Dean's List is a little different. It is my personal shortlist of the best coffee I can find in Canada right now: the lots that score highest, taste most distinctive, and come from the most compelling sourcing stories.
It exists because I want to drink it, and I suspect some of you do too.
Being curious about coffee is enough.
Questions
How is this different from Stillwater Coffee Club?
Stillwater is great coffee from Canada's best roasters, matched to your taste and priced fairly. Dean's List is what happens when I strip out every compromise and hunt for the best coffees, period: the highest-scoring lots, made in tiny quantities, whatever they cost.
How do I get an invitation?
From a member who has one to give, or by asking on this page. I let people in as room comes up.
Which roasters do you work with, and what is in a release?
Four of the country's best to start: David Kim, Phil & Sebastian, Hatch, and Rogue Wave, with more through the year. Each release pulls from the rarest end of their work, the microlots and limited releases they make very little of: a washed Gesha from Phil & Sebastian's Uncommon line, a natural or anaerobic lot from Rogue Wave's Limited Roasts, a competition coffee from Hatch's Peak series, an experimental ferment from David Kim. The coffees they are proudest of, 88 and up.
What does a high cupping score mean?
A cupping score of 88 and up means exceptional coffee: complex flavour, distinct origin character, and a clean cup. These are usually micro-lots, measured in dozens of bags, not shipping containers. For context: commodity coffee scores 70 to 79, specialty grade begins at 80, most good cafes pour something in the 82 to 86 range, and Dean's List starts at 88.
| Cupping score | Classification | Share of production |
|---|---|---|
| 90 to 100 | Outstanding | under 1% |
| 88 to 89.9 | Excellent | about 1 to 2% |
| 85 to 87.9 | Very good | about 5 to 7% |
| 80 to 84.9 | Specialty grade | about 15 to 20% |
What if I do not like one of the coffees?
They are all exceptional, but taste is personal. You might find you lean toward certain origins or processes. That is part of the fun, and part of the point: working out what you love.
Why does it cost more than other coffee?
You are getting coffee that scores in the top few percent of what is grown, in tiny lots, with full traceability and the roaster's own notes. The price is set per release, to the coffees inside. You will always see the price before you buy.
When does the first release open?
Summer 2026. Members hear first.