The father-daughter duo behind Street Brew Coffee wants to offer real change for Toronto’s homeless

Caitlin Campbell fell in love with coffee from Lynchburg, Virginia. The college town had tons of locally owned specialty coffee shops and roasters, and there, the then-student began drinking specialty iced coffee and iced lattes, gloriously unlike any coffee she’d ever tasted before. These stores became home to Caitlin and the staff as a family.

“Coffee is a drink that creates community,” she says. “People come together in a central place and come together out of a shared love for them. I realized how much life spends in a coffee shop, from job interviews to dating and making new friends. “

Caitlin Campbell and her father Ross Campbell started Street Brew in 2019.

Back home in Toronto, Campbell’s dad, Ross Campbell, was growing weary of take-out coffee and wanted to make his. He found a local roaster who helped him discover the world of specialty coffee, eventually leading him to roast his own beans. Once Caitlin was home, she says, she wanted to go inside.

“This became something Caitlin and I did together in our spare time as we got deeper and deeper into creating quality coffee,” he says. “The first batches we roasted were a bit rough, but we ultimately settled on a roast profile that our friends and family loved and continued to request.”

Coffee wasn’t Ross’s only passion – he’s also a long-time advocate for better support for the homeless. Could your family create a cafe that not only tastes good but did good too?

“I knew that coffee was one of the most widely consumed beverages in Canada and we knew that if we could bring high-quality artisan roasted coffee to the market, we could use our community’s passion for quality coffee to benefit the homeless, “He says. So in 2019, he and Caitlin started Street Brew.” Street Brew’s mission has been to create a community of coffee lovers who support Street Brew and allow us to donate part of our profits to end the lack of living place”.

Within a few months of its launch, they had forged fundraising partnerships with many large corporations and nonprofits. Then COVID-19 hit and decimated their event plans. The jovial couple have moved on, however, with their trademark good humor intact, and just unveiled their own Street Brew coffee trailer to help caffeinated people with drip-and-pour coffee, espresso, lattes, and cold and iced coffee. , and it continues to generate those donations in some way. They are roasted in smaller amounts, ensuring that the beans are roasted to their maximum flavor profile without being over-roasted. “We don’t roast for inventory or consistency,” says Caitlin. “We truly believe that when coffee beans are treated with respect and allowed to properly develop their full flavor profile, they will deliver an incredible taste experience.”

Eventually, they want to use the trailer for street outreach activities at night as well. But the ultimate goal is to open a brick-and-mortar Street Brew cafe that employs people in transition out of homelessness. They also want to raise funds through limited-edition coffee-related products. “We continue to search for unique sources of coffee beans that most people would not have experienced,” says Caitlin.

The demand is there, with Street Brew customers already spread across the UK, Australia, Scotland and Italy. More global customers are sure to follow, thanks to Caitlin’s status as a TikTok star; His fandom is constantly leaking in, with 331,000 followers in love with his positivity and healthy coffee recipes (including chocolate bar lattes!). Now, she is often recognized when in public.

“I am passionate about coffee,” he says. “I encourage coffee lovers around the world to support their local specialty coffee roasters without putting pressure on everyone with Street Brew coffee,” says Caitlin. “I get dozens of messages every day from people thanking me for helping them learn how to make better coffee or helping them get interested in coffee, and that’s what I like the most.”



Reference-www.thestar.com

Leave a Comment