Cafes
Mercury Organic Espresso Bar
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.
Discussion
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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.
First of all, it seems that you don’t really understand the reasoning for implementing fair trade certification when it comes to coffee. One of the major reasons behind it is that coffee plants take up to five years to produce coffee beans and the farmers are therefore unable to make changes to their crops based on market prices as many other farmers (including tomato farmers) are. You’re right in commenting that it is an imperfect system especially as a result of limited access to fair trade certification, but I simply don’t understand how anybody could argue against paying farmers a fair wage for a product that is a part of your daily life, and that you even have enough of an interest in to blog about. Additionally, fair trade certification programs generally involve long term relationships with coffee farmers, so the farmers are able to cater to the desires of the buyer in order to produce a higher quality coffee.
In regards to your comments about organic farming, it is true that yields in the first few years may drop in comparison to those who farm using conventional methods, but in the following years, organic yields become equal to those of conventional farmers. With organic farming, there is a need for increased labour inputs, but labour is also something of relative abundance and availability in the developing world, while fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation required for conventional farming are not. They require financial capital and credit which are unavailable to poor farmers – especially if they are not involved in a long term fair trade agreement. Maybe your organic farmer had to use more labour inputs, but they didn’t have to use fertilizers, pesticides, or massive amounts of irrigation. By using intercropping and beneficiaries, they are able to obtain increasingly good soil quality, natural pest control, and they are also empowered by having a greater understanding of how to most effectively use their land.
Please do your research before attempting to spread your noxious and socially irresponsible views.
last week my spro machine broke (mega f*ck),
so.... i started juggling from one joint to another digging some cappuccino/spro (up to my mood)
today saturday I went the known Golden Spro location Mercury! and oh god what Fu*king mistake....
two baristas one was OK and the other (Blonde) mega bad one.
the first barista managed to go with the latte art (at least that) and the second one couldn't even fill up the cup. she try to get some latte “art” which looks to me like fucking retard doing some abstract drawing with milk (looks to me like bat shit signal). WTF she is doing in mercury?! i asked her to fill up the cup but the dumbass said that" @ Mercury they never fillup the cup" W.T.F?!
WTF…. Im asking
too bad i didn't have my camera with me, could get some great pix (not!).
both Capu tasted like starbucks shit.
and for all those who goes to mercury and praised the place. wakeup... much better joints can be found @ walking distance any direction and without the dumbass mentally challenge attitude.
and don’t make me talk about their spro. Use to be wicked indie spro that anyone should dig. but today …
Guy sporting the rad beard, rock on brother! Very nice friendly guy.
Matthew
It's all shipped from Africa or Latin America.