Fernwood Blend

About the Coffee

Fernwood Blend draws on coffees from Peru, a country where smallholder farmers typically work plots between 1 and 5 hectares at elevations ranging from 1,400 to 2,000 meters in regions like Cajamarca, Puno, and San Martin. Many of these farmers belong to cooperatives that have formed over the past two decades to give small producers access to export markets and fairer prices they couldn't reach on their own.

Peruvian coffee is predominantly washed (meaning the fruit is removed from the bean before drying), which tends to produce a clean, consistent cup. The high-altitude growing conditions slow the development of the coffee cherry, giving the beans more time to build density and flavor. Fernwood selects South American coffees for this blend with consistency in mind, sourcing beans that will hold up across brew methods without requiring any particular skill or equipment from the person making it at home.

The blend is roasted to a medium level, a deliberate choice that keeps it approachable for everyday use whether you're pulling espresso, running it through a drip machine, or making a French press. Fernwood Quality-checks the blend daily to make sure what ends up in the bag is the same coffee every time you order it.

About Fernwood

Fernwood was started in 2007 by Ben and Terra, who came out of the restaurant industry before buying Parsonage Café in Victoria, BC. The café had a 1936 Barth roaster sitting in the back. They started using it, and roasting eventually became the center of what they were building rather than just a side function of running a café.

Their background in hospitality shaped how they think about coffee: it should be consistent, reliable, and good enough that people come back to it every day without thinking twice. That straightforward standard led them to compete seriously, including a Canadian Barista Championship win that showed the approach was working. The same family-run operation has stayed focused on doing fewer things well rather than expanding what they offer.

"Fernwood is a roaster you'll see all over Reddit as being one of BC's best. I asked to try their coffee, and now I get what all the hype is about. I bought a few extra bags of Manos al Grano for my stash at home."

- Dean, Director of Coffee