Mercury Organic Espresso Bar
915 Queen Street East
Phone: 647.435.4779
 Profile |
 Map |
Mercury Organic Espresso Bar has been doing something right. This bustling cafe near Carlaw and Queen is known for their artfully crafted espresso, lattes and fresh-pressed organic lemonade. They also have a great selection of organic teas, juices and a daily selection of fresh baked muffins, cookies and biscotti. Co-owner Matthew Taylor recently filled me in on what makes the cafe such a neighbourhood success story.
What is the concept behind Mercury Organic Espresso Bar?
The idea behind it was pretty simple, really. It was to build the type of coffee shop that we (James, Matt and myself) would want to hang out at. Nothing too fancy, or too quiet. Just good coffee, bare bones and rock 'n roll.
The cafe seems to be constantly busy. I guess you guys are coping nicely despite the Starbucks across the street.
The Starbucks thing was never an issue. We knew they were thinking of moving in across the street long before we took the spot where we are. In the beginning there were a lot of people who tried to create some sort of rivalry between the two shops and push the whole David and Goliath thing, but really, we weren't too concerned. They have their thing, we have ours and that's that. Water draws its own level.
Who's your typical customer?
I believe that a Mercury customer is someone who appreciates great coffee. We bring in some of the best coffees in the world, from some of the most reputable roasters in North America. Then secondly, I guess, would be someone who's socially and environmentally conscious as all our beans are Direct Trade or Fair Trade. All of our milk and other condiments are certified Organic and our paper products and take out containers are all eco-friendly.
What's the secret to your success?
I don't think it's a secret really. Quality product, knowledgeable staff, fair prices. Simple.
Where did the name Mercury Organic come from?
One of the first places we tried to get for the shop was the old Mercury Dry Cleaners spot further east on Queen, which still had the really cool old-school hand-painted Mercury logo on the front window. Well, we never ended up getting the location, but we decided we really liked the name so we kept it.
Comments (4)
These guys have skills!! Although here is my beef. The indie coffee world should be promoting organic, fair trade and social responsibility. The effective way to reduce your carbon foot print is through the purchasing of local Ontario product. Although it seems that many of these independents order their coffee through roasters in Chicago or BC. If you ask me that is not Kosher!!
First off, I think it is unfair to assume cafe's must bear the burden of having to educate consumers on organic/fair trade practice and social responsibility, especially if those are not mandated aspects of your business.
There are many cafes who choose to simply serve quality products, regardless of how it was purchased or produced, much like any other business on the market, who can slip by without being called out on such things.
Do you demand that your independent pizza restaurant uses only Ontario tomatoes for its sauce? Or that its pepperoni was paid for fairly?
There is also much speculation as to the validity of Organic coffee growing, and how it is detrimental to the farmers growing it, therefore an UNFAIR trade.
A farmer growing without fertilizer or pesticides may yield a significantly lower crop than a farmer who does, without actually showing any difference in the end quality of the harvest.
When coffee is harvested, roasted, and brewed at varying degrees of processing and application of heat, any of the residue that may have been on the bean from fertilized growth is absolutely removed.
So lets say 2 neighboring farmers grow coffee, one grows organic, one does not.
The organic farmer must apply additional labour to produce this coffee, as well as pay for organic farm certification, and may yield 500 bags of coffee, of equal quality to his neighbor.
The non organic farmer may yield 850 bags of coffee, with less labour and fees, and have quality equal to his organic neighbor.
The coffees of equal quality will fetch the same price, based upon how they grade out of 100, therefore the Organic practice does not work in favor of that farmer.
That said Johns above argument is a valid one that deserves a thorough answer.
As more and more cafes are opening in Toronto, catering to customer base demanding the highest quality product made from not only quality raw ingredients, but craftsmanship as well, there comes a question of which raw materials to use, and which supplier can also provide customer support in the way of training their accounts on how best to brew said coffee, as well as updated information on the chain of production, to further pass along the education to the consumer.
In the Ontario market there is currently no coffee roaster capable of supplying or educating their accounts with quality beans, or education at the same level as select roasters from Vancouver or Chicago.
There are many others across North America who roast and supply excellent quality coffees, as well as provide the service accompanied by these coffees.
Unfortunately Chicago happens to be the closest American roaster capable, and 49th parallel as well as Origins from Vancouver being the closest Canadian roaster of equal quality.
There are plenty roasters within Ontario, but the point here is that they do not offer coffees of the same quality, nor the service provided by the above mentioned.
With quality and education being the priority for most cafes, it becomes obvious why they ship coffees from outside Ontario.
Of course every cafe in Toronto would love to have a local supply of reliable quality coffee, but it is not currently available, otherwise you would see shops such as Mercury, DarkHorse, Crema, Manic, Wild Thing, Lit, Fresh, Jamie Kennedy, as well as some of Torontos finest dining establishments serving it.
It will forever be an argument for why some people choose not to support these cafes, but I hope this clears up some of the questioning behind why many specialty cafes currently ship in their coffee.
I really love going to Mercury on Queen....but it seems lately it has become more about what the staff wants versus what the customer wants. It seems the staff cater to themselves a bit too much and lose sight of the consumer.
I really can't agree with you, Julia. They still make high quality espresso, take the time to talk about what they're doing and how they do it, and always have a kind word when you come in. I don't need them to play Django Reindhart for me to be happy.
RSS