Walking into Hale Coffee shop in the Junction in Toronto I was hit by a community feel that I’ve been craving since the pandemic hit. There was an instant buzz inside.  The shop patrons occupied most of the parking along the street, a resident telling me that he loves the coffee shop but not enthused about the traffic they’re attracting – guess you can’t keep a good thing away!

Bold Coffee, Bold Ambition

Hale’s coffee and ambitions are as big as the whale you see when you enter their shop – grand and inspiring. Ramzi Yanis and Khaldoun Toukan founded Hale coffee in 2013 when their passion for specialty coffee took their careers in an unexpected direction. They became more and more aware that the average coffee drinker was drinking sub-par coffee. At the time, they realized that local coffee shops were producing the best coffee and they wanted to get involved. The only way to do that, in their minds, was to open a coffee shop and roast their beans onsite to give customers the richest experience possible.

 

[Founders: Ramzi on the left, Khaldoun on the right]

 

[Hale’s Loring S35 Kestrel roasting machine designed and made in the U.S.A.]

Our Meeting

I met with Ramzi at their junction location. Before he gave me a tour of the coffee shop and the roaster next door, he offered me a cup of their Brazilian blend called Toriba and a fresh baked croissant – crisp to the touch, the only way it should be.  He stared at me the way a winemaker observes his guest when they take a sip of wine for the first time.  I’m sure he was confident of how I would react, the only way you can react when you take a sip of coffee brewed from in-house fresh roasted coffee beans – magic.  All your senses light up, before the coffee even touches your mouth your nose is hit with an aroma that shouts fresh coffee, like smelling beans for the first time they come out the roaster.  Next, your mind goes wild as the coffee hits your palette, trying desperately to match the coffee flavours with previous tastes.  In this case, I taste toffee and chestnuts.  This is definitely not an ordinary coffee. It’s a specialty coffee backed by the artists who curate the coffee, from importing green beans from international farms to masterfully roasting each batch to bring out particular flavours.

From our first meeting, it was clear that Ramzi was passionate about the specialty coffee movement.  Without hesitation, Ramzi and Hale wanted to be a part of My Local Coffees as our goals were clearly aligned – to promote local coffee roasters and bring a better coffee experience to coffee drinkers.  Hale is our first partner and we’re exciting to share their coffee with our customers.

[Left: Ramzi from Hale,  Right: Joe from My Local Coffees]

How to Purchase & Support Hale

You can purchase by the bag by filtering for Hale in our Shop section or receive various Hale coffees that match your tastes preferences when you subscribe to My Local Coffees.