Posted at 11:00 a.m.
“Coffee has always been a passion for me, and I always said to myself that if my career didn’t work out, I was going to open a café, that was always my plan B”, admits Allison Van Rassel, who therefore did not wait to put her career as a communicator aside before launching that of an entrepreneur. “A little over a year ago, Pier-Paul told me he wanted to start his own business,” she explains. I tasted his coffee and really fell in love. »
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, THE SUN
Pier-Paul Fortin and Allison Van Rassel, co-founders of deTerroir Café
The contact between the two partners had been made a few years earlier, by chance meeting during a trip to coffee farms in Costa Rica. “Pier-Paul was roasting at the time for the Rousseau coffee roaster, I found him fascinating because he didn’t look at coffee like the others,” says the columnist.
The geek coffee will intellectualize the patent a lot, to such an extent that it becomes a little scary for ordinary mortals. Pier-Paul does as much research and he knows it thoroughly, but for him, it’s the taste that speaks above all.
Allison VanRassel
Café deTerroir is thus available in two distinct offerings: the Éveil range is intended for customers for whom specialty coffee is not familiar, while the coffees in the Rituel series are intended to be true grands crus. “We work our beans one kilo at a time, which allows us to sublimate the nuances and subtleties of the terroir, explains the coffee enthusiast. Pier-Paul has 15 years of experience, it is possible for him to stand out through taste. »
Obviously, great importance is given to the origin of the grain, so much so that it is purchased through people who have contracts with local farmers. “But we also know someone from Quebec who works with producers in several regions of the world, and my desire is to work with this person, tells us Ms.me VanRassen. I want to establish a relationship with someone I trust who is physically there. »
Works of art
For Allison Van Rassel, coffee, “is art, there is a know-how behind the work of roasters”. It is with this idea in mind that she chose to draw a parallel between this gourmet genius and other artistic manifestations that she loves and wants to share. “We teamed up with visual artists so that the consumer could understand that what we do is edible art, a consumer good associated with the subtleties of the terroir,” she explains.
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IMAGE PROVIDED BY DETERROIR CAFÉ
Illustration by Maude Gervais/Les Barbos
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IMAGE PROVIDED BY DETERROIR CAFÉ
Illustration by Cécile Gariépy
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IMAGE PROVIDED BY DETERROIR CAFÉ
Illustration by Philippe Girard
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The sachets of the Rituel range of deTerroir Café are thus adorned with original works by painters from Quebec City such as Paule Thibault, Philippe Girard, Maude Gervais alias Les Barbos, but also by Montrealer Cécile Gariépy.
“The labels will also be printed in poster format, but never more than 20 copies, specifies Mme VanRassen. Each comes with a certificate of authenticity, so it becomes a work of art that happens to be associated with a coffee, a producer, an experience. There is really something unique about the whole process. In addition, the funds raised with the sale of the posters are donated to Centraide, at the suggestion of the painter Paule Thibaut, whose sister recently succumbed to cancer.
PHOTO YAN DOUBLET, THE SUN
Allison Van Rassel presents made-to-measure playlists for tasting deTerroir coffees.
Finally, to push the experience a little further, Allison Van Rassel also presents tailor-made playlists to add hearing to the senses stimulated during the tasting of deTerroir coffees.
I was a host at CHOM-FM and a member of the Polaris Prizes jury; the pleasure of music is therefore for me as great as that of coffee. It allows me to escape, to transpose myself into similar emotions. We therefore offer people the opportunity to discover something else through the comfort of the café.
Allison VanRassel
For his musical choices, instinct prevails. “I try to offer what I would like to have myself. I’m also going to sprinkle in some guilty pleasures from the 1980s and 1990s, which brings something familiar that opens up to the new. »
If the QR codes printed on the bags will remain the same, the content of the playlists will change according to Allison Van Rassel’s moods. “People are always going to discover something new,” she says, adding that this will also be the case for the Rituel range of coffees, which will constantly evolve.
DeTerroir coffees are available in Quebec at the Société des Cafés as well as at Les Macarons de Sophie. They are also available online.