Alter Ego

About the Coffee

The producers behind Alter Ego are spread across two neighbouring regions in Honduras: El Cielito and El Cedral, sitting between 1,500 and 1,800 meters. The group includes Margarito, Kevin, Roselis, and Evin Herrera; Wilmer, Eduard, and Donaldo Dubon; Antonio Martinez; and Pedro Moreno, among others. Phil & Sebastian also contribute coffee from their own farm in Honduras to the blend. Many of these farms have placed in the top 10 of the Cup of Excellence, a competition-based auction that highlights the best coffees in a given country each year.

The coffees are all fully washed using traditional fermentation tanks, and they share similar growing conditions: the same elevation range, the same general area, and compatible varieties (Pacas, Bourbon, and Yellow Catuaí). That last point matters more than it might seem. When blending small lots, matching bean density is essential. If the beans in a blend vary too much in density, it becomes nearly impossible to roast them evenly. Denser beans roasted at the right level will leave less dense ones over-roasted, pushing the cup toward flat or bitter flavours. By working within a consistent set of varietals and elevations, Phil & Sebastian can roast the blend as a single unit without sacrificing any one lot.

Each of the individual lots in this blend is small, often under 200 pounds of green coffee. On their own, that quantity would disappear from the menu within days. Blending complementary lots solves that problem while also, in Phil's experience, producing a result that tends to be better than any single component on its own. The specific combination that became Alter Ego was selected because it produced the most chocolatey and balanced profile out of all the blends tested from this group of producers.

About Phil & Sebastian

Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb co-founded Phil & Sebastian in Calgary in 2007. Phil came from an engineering background and applied it directly to the roasting process, designing their roasting machine and building software that runs across different parts of the business. Sebastian has focused on the cafe side and on sourcing trips to Central and South America, while Phil handles green coffee buying in Africa.

On the sourcing side, Phil & Sebastian pay above the industry average for green coffee and put money into projects at origin. Sebastian's relationship with the El Cielito region goes back to 2011, when it was the first coffee-growing area he visited in Honduras. That long-term familiarity with the region and its producers is part of how a blend like Alter Ego comes together.

"Phil & Sebastian is a favourite of mine from my time in Calgary. My wife swore by their "Hartmann Honey" beans, and we stocked it (or, maybe "hoarded" is a better word) for as long as they sold it. It feels like a 'full circle' moment to finally have them in our rotation."

- Dean, Director of Coffee