Interview with Seema Akram, Founder & Head Roaster
If you had to describe Mood Artisan in three words, what three words would you choose?
Only two words come to mind: Approachable and mindful.
What is the story behind Mood Artisan?
I created Mood Artisan Coffee to appeal to people that were just like me less than a decade ago, where I was sort of on the cusp of commodity and specialty. I didn't really know the differences until I started to drink more specialty and began to really taste the difference and realize the history and logistics behind those differences. Now that I know the differences, I'm trying to blast it from the rooftops and educate more people. Through Mood, I hope to introduce people to something approachable that maybe is not too far off from the commodity coffee that they are used to drinking, but with a bit of refinement to it. This approachableness has been at the forefront of Mood. I chose the second word, mindful, because I've put a lot of thought into the branding, naming, sourcing and the moods I want my coffees to evoke; it's just a huge part of the company.
How did you get into specialty coffee?
We'd have to rewind about twelve or thirteen years to when I first started to work in the financial district in Toronto where I was an accountant and financial analyst. While working on Bay street, I started to drink more specialty coffee, and at first I was a little bit intimidated by it. Eventually, I had a Brazilian natural coffee in a flat white that blew me away. From there, I just started to support more specialty coffee cafes and roasters as the years passed. Throughout the pandemic, I was working really long hours and it was a stressful time. I just needed to find something else to do to get my mind off of work, and so I started to Google search and found out that I could roast coffee at home. So, I went to the farmers market, I bought some green coffee, I didn't realize it at the time, but it was absolutely stale. Anyhow, I put it into my oven, turned the heat up, almost burnt my apartment down, and realized that I could not ever do this again. But, so many questions came up after that, like: Why did this happen, and how can I do this more often without burning my house down? So, I started to take courses on roasting and actually learned to roast coffee before I learned to pull a proper espresso!
The more I roasted and learned about coffee, the less I wanted to do my day job. So, a couple years ago, I actually made the decision to walk away and just immerse myself in coffee and I spent the last year and a half working at the Canadian Barista Institute in Toronto. I learned so much there from latte art, to espresso, to brewing coffee and roasting. The natural next step was for me to create this brand that I wanted to share with others, and I launched Mood Artisan September of this year!
Why did you decide to name yourselves Mood Artisan?
During the pandemic, Mood originally started out as a file on my desktop about all things coffee! I didn't know what to call the folder, so I just named it “Project Mood”, since I was in a bit of a mood at that moment; it was COVID, and emotions were everywhere. As things started to come together and when it came time to think of a name for the brand, I decided that Mood had to be in the name, and that’s how Mood Artisan was created.
How would you describe Mood Artisan’s mission?
My mission is absolutely around approachable coffee, but at the end of the day, I just want to brighten people's days, and I want to do that through providing them with good quality coffee and breaking down the barriers to making good coffee at home.
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