Milkshake Espresso

About the Coffee

Milkshake Espresso is a blend built from coffees grown in Kenya and Ethiopia, two of the most consistently high-quality origins in specialty coffee. The Kenyan side brings SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and Batian varietals, while the Ethiopian coffees come from JARC landrace varieties, which are regional heirloom cultivars developed and catalogued by Ethiopia's Jimma Agricultural Research Centre. Both origins are grown at elevations between 1,700 and 2,200 meters.

The blend combines washed and natural processed coffees. Washed processing removes the fruit layer from the coffee cherry before drying, which tends to highlight clarity and structure. Natural processing dries the coffee with the fruit still intact, pulling more round, fruit-forward character into the cup. Traffic deliberately uses both methods together here to build a specific kind of balance: fruit-driven and juicy, but not sharp or overly bright.

The blend changes year to year as crop availability shifts, but the goal stays the same. Traffic sources these as coffees they would otherwise sell individually as single origins, which means the starting material is held to the same standard as anything else in their lineup. Pricing on the Milkshake can move throughout the year depending on what Traffic pays for the green coffee, and they're upfront about that: Ethiopia and Kenya are inherently expensive origins, and their producer relationships mean the farmers set the price.

About Traffic Coffee

Traffic Coffee was founded by Greg Lancot and Jessie Lewin in Montréal. Both came from creative backgrounds, and that shows in how they approached building a roastery. They wanted to make coffee that felt fun and worth paying attention to, not just something people drink on autopilot. The branding reflects that, but so does the sourcing: Traffic works with small-batch roasting specifically to keep producer relationships direct and ongoing.

Their sourcing philosophy runs in two directions. Sometimes they step back and let a single varietal or origin show what it does naturally. Other times they lean into more experimental processing, like co-ferments, where the coffee cherry is fermented with added cultures or fruit to develop specific flavour characteristics. Either way, the through-line is choosing green coffee they're confident in before it ever hits the roaster.

"Traffic's breadth of coffee is remarkable - from dark roasts reminiscent of your grandmother's kitchen, to wild co-ferments with tasting notes we admittedly have to look up. The packaging and the coffee inside is meant to captivate you, and I hope you feel the same when you try this coffee."

- Dean, Director of Coffee