Sparkplug Coffee: Travel-Inspired Blends

If you’ve been following my blogging journey for a while, you will know that I have been the author of all the blog posts I have shared. Recently though, after connecting with fellow traveller and the founder of Sparkplug Coffee, I decided to try something new. I asked her to write a guest article for me on travel from her perspective – a coffee perspective. So, without further ado, let me introduce the lovely and adventurous Kara.

Hi!

I’m Kara Isert and I’m the founder & Chief Coffee Officer of Sparkplug Coffee.

I met Frances online in a group that supports growing e-commerce businesses like Sparkplug and Boutique L’Abeille Française.

We found we have SO much in common! We’re both based in Toronto, and it turns out we share a passion for travel and enjoying beautiful food & beverage experiences everywhere we go. AND we love bringing them into our daily routines once we get home from our travels!

Our companies started in similar ways. After years of travel, living overseas, and experiencing great coffee around the world, I did not want to come home to blah coffee. Wanting to share great coffee with my friends and neighbours, Sparkplug Coffee was born!

I love daydreaming about the origin locations of our beans. We source coffees from all over the world both for our signature, always available blends and especially for our small batch limited edition coffees.

Did you know the birthplace of coffee is Ethiopia?

The best coffee I’ve ever had was in Ethiopia and that’s one of the reasons we put Ethiopian beans in many of our blends.

And have you heard of the Costa Rican coffee production process called “honey processing” (no actual honey involved)? So delicious!

Or did you know that it’s crazy easy to make Vietnamese ca phe sua (milk coffee) or ca phe nau (brown coffee, i.e. without milk)?

Another thing Frances and I have in common is that we are in LOVE with Paris. I think Parisians would fully agree with this Ethiopian proverb; “Coffee and love taste best when hot.”

Now that international travel is a little more challenging, like many, I’m finding new ways to do some armchair travels. Though I’m not travelling far. In fact, I’m staying in my own backyard and celebrating Canadiana with our Roadside Attraction Coffee Series. Each limited-edition coffee celebrates a big, cool, quirky and generally awesome Roadside Attraction.

Perhaps one day Frances and I will find ourselves scooting around Paris on Vespas in search of the perfect spot for a baguette & wine picnic lunch. A gal can dream, oui?

xo

…Kara

Without a physical storefront, Sparkplug Coffee delivers its coffee by mail – or if you’re in Toronto, by bike, on foot, or on the back of founder Kara Isert’s vintage Vespa scooter. With a range of coffees to suit different brewing styles and taste preferences, Canadian coffee lovers find it easy to find their perfect coffee match in one of Sparkplug’s blends. Roasted and hand-blended to order each week, Sparkplug’s premium coffee beans will surely kick start your day.

Check it out at www.Sparkplug.Coffee (yes, that’s a dot coffee domain – très cool, non?!)