Smoke & Mirrors, House Dark

About the Coffee

Smoke and Mirrors is Bright Jenny's house dark roast, sourced from Mexico. While the specific farm or cooperative behind this coffee isn't something Bright Jenny has published, their sourcing philosophy is straightforward: pay a premium, source as directly as possible, and make sure the farmer sees more of that money. The idea is simple: better pay at the farm level means better coffee coming back to the roaster.

Dark roasts have a reputation for being heavy, oily, and one-dimensional. Bright Jenny roasts this one to avoid that. The goal is a dark roast that holds together without tipping into bitter or ashy territory. It works well black, and holds up with cream without losing its character.

This is also the coffee Dave Upshaw, Bright Jenny's founder, has admitted to reaching for himself when he wants something dependable. That's worth something.

About Bright Jenny

Dave Upshaw started Bright Jenny in Kelowna, BC, after bouncing through a few careers that didn't quite fit: real estate agent, aspiring paramedic, craft beer industry. He kept coming back to coffee. His first roaster was a popcorn maker. His second was a drum he built himself using a BBQ, a stainless steel drum, and a modified rotisserie. No computers, no roast graphs, just heat, smell, the sound of the cracks, and his own instincts. That contraption is still sitting in the Bright Lab if you want to go look for it.

He learned what most people learn from that kind of setup: how to pay attention. The early coffee probably wasn't technically perfect, but his customers came back, and that's how Bright Jenny got its first loyal following. Over the years the operation grew considerably, along with a few memorable setbacks: a roaster fire involving a shop vac and burning chaff, a near-miss towing their first trailer cafe into Kal Lake, and a rebranding forced by a legal threat from an unnamed billionaire.

Through all of it, the priority has stayed the same: good coffee and good people in the same room. Dave spent a year in Edmonton as a stay-at-home dad while his partner Jenny completed her doctorate. His team kept the cafe running without him. He came back with a new favourite coffee and a renewed appreciation for both his kids and his staff.

"Bright Jenny is another roaster we love for how seriously they take their craft without taking themselves too seriously. The result: a panel of excellently roasted and delicious coffees that fit a broad set of tastes. The owner (Dave Upshaw) himself considers their dark roast, Smoke & Mirrors, among his favourites, to which Dave says: "yes, coffee nerds are allowed to like dark roasts.""

- Dean, Director of Coffee