Phil & Sebastian

Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb co-founded Phil & Sebastian in Calgary, Alberta in 2007. Phil came from an engineering background and applied it directly to the roasting operation, designing their own roasting machine and writing custom software that runs everything from order fulfillment to coffee menus. Sebastian brought a focus on the business and cafe side, along with green coffee buying in Central and South America. Both founders travel to origin to buy coffee directly, with Phil handling sourcing in Africa and Sebastian covering Latin America.

Phil & Sebastian pay above the industry average for their green coffee and invest in projects at origin with their producing partners. On the roasting side, Phil's engineering background means quality control is built into the process rather than checked at the end. They openly describe their goal as raising the bar not just against large coffee chains, but against other specialty roasters globally, including holding their own past work to the same scrutiny. For a Calgary-based operation, that's an unusually specific and ambitious target to set publicly.