Rogue Wave Coffee

Best new coffee shop in Edmonton, wicked cool staff and great coffee. Tucked away beside the Mercury Room, I come here often for both cappuccinos and pour-​over. Highly recommend!

Every time I find out there’s a new coffee shop in Edmonton, I stick it on my growing «To Do Eat/​Drink» list and fast track it up to the top. I am absolutely in love with coffee. And I honestly don’t know how it developed past the Starbucks and the Tim Horton days of university but ever since I moved downtown, I’ve been surrounded by some amazing cafés. Just learning about the beans, the roasting processes, and drinking some soul soothing coffee has become quite the daily pleasure for me, something not to be overlooked as just a caffeine hit. When I stumbled upon Rogue Wave Coffee Co.‘s social media, I was absolutely ecstatic to see that another local roast was just a bike ride away from me. You can never have too much coffee in my books!
I had a chance to check out Rogue Wave Coffee Co. last week, spending the morning of my day off chatting to co-​owner David Walsh about the new space. Alongside partner David Laville (that’s correct, there’s two Davids), the duo had the idea of opening up a roastery nearly ten years ago. They even built their own roaster from scratch, lovingly named Stubby! At the time, Transcend was barely taking off. Life, as it always seems to, just got in the way and the dream never followed through and the two went separate ways for a bit before returning back home to Edmonton. The dream is now a reality though, Rogue Wave Coffee Co. established in early 2014, where the Davids started roasting their own beans (out of their original roasting location in Northeast Edmonton) and selling their coffee commercially.
Fast track to July 2015 and the pair now have a storefront on 105^th Avenue and 114 Street and are ready to share their love of beans. Named in the tune of the «third wave» of coffee, Rogue Wave Coffee Co. now has a public space. Small and not entirely finished, the café currently houses a pint-​sized roaster (too cute! but not their own Stubby) with a reclaimed wood countertop seating near bright windows that let in a fantastic breeze. In the future, they hope to place a communal table in the middle of the space and move in their larger roaster. David hopes to have a more official grand opening in August, an event I’m looking forward to!
Their menu currently offers a wide range of brewing methods from espressos and my beloved latte to syphon, cold, and Chemex brews. Prices seem ridiculously reasonable for coffee, something I think students in the area will greatly appreciate. Rogue Wave Coffee Co. is currently working with a small supplier and cooperatives of small farms that work in a fair and sustainable manner although not all labelled and certified Fair Trade. Their current coffee selections and information can be found on their website, something greatly appreciated for somebody learning about coffee like me! Walsh’s favourite at the moment: the Peruvian Cenfrocafe. Their mainstay is still commercially selling whole beans ($ 8 for ½ lb, $ 16 for 1 lb). Thus far, they’ve provided small batches for the Mercury Room and for some events held at Nosh Café.
Aside from moving in their larger roaster, David hopes to supply local restaurants in the future and to open a bigger space across the river. He’d also like to see a space that’s open on Sundays or open late and to provide a space for coffee lovers to come and enjoy after dinner or to host coffee tastings (or cuppings), all of which I’d love to see! Rogue Wave Coffee has seen a lot of positive support from the surrounding community, a lot of the customers finding the shop through social media outlets and those that work in the area. Once school season starts, I have no doubts that students will be fighting amongst themselves for some study space.
I’m so happy for another local roast and so appreciative of Edmonton’s growing coffee culture. The more coffee shops I go to, and subsequently the more coffee I drink, the more I learn. It makes me twice as happy to not only support a local business, but to support one that’s roasting their own beans. Here’s to expanding Edmonton’s coffee scene!