Interview with Denis Sigulin, Coffee Director
For our subscribers just getting to know Ethica, can you tell us more about Ethica's identity and mission?
Ethica is a small roasting company with a cafe located at Sterling Road in Toronto, and a roastery located at Symes Road. Ethica was established in 2019, just a couple of months before the pandemic, and was named after the book “Ethics” written by philosopher Benedict de Spinoza in the 16th century. What I always try to keep in mind is that our coffee might be something that brings joy and a bit of light into peoples’ day. So, my interpretation of our mission is that we hope to provide an experience that makes peoples’ everyday lives a bit better in some way.
How did you get into specialty coffee?
I kind of stumbled upon it in 2011. I met a guy while I was working as a bartender in Russia, and he was interested in espresso. Through our conversation, we found out that we had a mutual interest in coffee, and by the end of it, he handed me his business card and invited me to visit his office. It turned out he was the founder of a green coffee importing company in Russia, and I’ve worked in coffee ever since. I started at the company as a green coffee trader, then I became a sales manager. After that, I moved towards quality control as chief technologist until eventually, I switched to another roasting company and decided that I should go further in coffee roasting, and that’s how I ended up at Ethica.
How does the specialty coffee scene differ between Russia and Canada?
When I started working in coffee in Russia, at the time there was no such thing as specialty coffee. In 2012, I visited Boston for the SCA Expo, and realized how far ahead the U.S. coffee market was compared to Russia. By the time I left the company I was at in 2022, I believe we were one of the best in terms of green coffee sourcing and roasting in Russia. When I came to Canada, I was actually deeply surprised by how far behind coffee is here in comparison to the United States. We definitely have a lot of work to do.
What do you hope to see change in the specialty coffee industry?
I think that sometimes specialty coffee lacks integrity in the sense that a lot of specialty coffee roasters perceive other specialty coffee roasters as competitors. Recently, I found out that the specialty coffee segment in Canada is estimated to be only 4% of the whole market, meaning that there is no such a thing as competition. Instead of competition and rivalry, we need to focus more on the development and expansion of the specialty coffee market, and I think it's about to happen soon.
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