LeClair Organics Saskatoon Coffee

Local Saskatoon Founded Company LeClair Organics

LeClair Organics is a Saskatoon founded company with product available across Canada. I’m founder Jeremy LeClair, born in Regina Saskatchewan, and currently home base is Saskatoon . Although having lived in Vancouver, British Columbia recently I consider it my second home base. My background is in marketing, as a marketing major from the University of Regina, working at a marketing agency for many years and then founding my marketing company LeClair Media. LeClair Media is very much a part of the story of my personal development and pathway towards LeClair Organics. My marketing company focuses on photography, video production and social media marketing which had led to many projects working in the food, beverage and restaurant industries. After many discussions and working directly with the founders of many of inspirational companies I was quite motivated to find a relevant opportunity of my own.

I did quite an extensive search and came up with a few realizations.

North America only consumes only 2 main coffee species approximately 75% Arabica Coffee(coffea arabica) and 25% Robusta Coffee(coffea canephora)
Most coffee estates remove and discard the coffee berry from the coffee bean during processing. Coffee growing is a source of employment to over 125 million people, therefore innovation will have a big impact potential.
Ecommerce packaging and retail packaging is a massive source of plastic and non-renewable waste. Even some very socially conscious brands still face challenges in the complexities eco-friendly packaging.

I was exceptionally surprised that in an age old coffee industry I found two distinct coffee plant species not frequented in North American cafes. This led to the development of our Liberica Coffee (Coffea Liberica) and Racemosa Coffee(Coffea Racemosa)

I also found a select few coffee estates that utilize traditional methods to dry the coffee berry and create a tea called cascara tea. Only in a few coffee producing countries have they kept the tradition to dry the berry into a tea. For the most part this cascara tea has been utilized locally versus exporting and marketing to North America. Therefore this led to our Cascara Tea product, a unique upcycle opportunity.

We are currently focusing on reimagining the coffee experience with a mission to provide accessibility to world class ingredients and flavours. We provide accessibility to exceptional quality specialty coffee products. All products and product packaging is personally chosen with positive intention and ongoing improvement to being fully sustainable.

Saskatoon Coffee

LeClair Organics coffee products are now available for sale to buy locally in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and we will continually update new café, restaurant, bar, hotel and retail locations. With delivery available, get access to specialty coffees direct to your door or pickup. Beyond an exceptional quality specialty Saskatoon coffee products, LeClair Organics core values are to provide environmentally friendly coffee and ethical coffee sourcing. Our intention is to be a positive impact company also offering compostable coffee packaging.

We are known for our unique coffee products such as the Liberica Coffee, Cascara Tea, Coffee Berry Tea and Racemosa Coffee. Also look for current and future changing products such as Arabica Coffee, Robusta Coffee, Excelsa coffee and others. We’ve partnered with top coffee roasters to ensure the finest quality premium roasts.

Our Saskatoon Coffees are exceptional quality, making them the perfect choice for specialty lattes or coffee cocktails using local Saskatoon spirits.

Cascara Tea Saskatoon

As a Saskatoon based entrepreneur, I’m glad to see my cascara tea spread across the local community. There’s actually an innovative upcycling story and social entrepreneurial purpose behind cascara tea as well

Some of the biggest problems are actually the biggest business opportunities. What I didn’t initially realize that this would be something hiding behind the many coffees had during business brainstorming sessions. Ironically the idea was right in front of me the whole time. I read that the berry of the coffee bean was being removed and then discarded during processing. Only a very small minority of coffee estates may actually process the berry, and if they did it primarily would be consumed directly in that country of origin and not exported.

Simply imagine the volume of coffee beans consumed daily in a relatively small city of Saskatoon and correlate that to potential discarded coffee berries. As you can see this waste stream scales very quickly. It turns out that the berry just so happens to be exceptionally flavourful and can be upcycled into a valuable product. Cascara tea solves a massive waste problem and has potential for coffee estates to directly benefit from the core purpose of this business model. It is a new revenue stream from an otherwise discarded item. In the long term we would like to be more specific to calculate increased revenue per acre. Therefore proven data it will show a direct percentage increase for any coffee estates wanting to follow suit. Coffee provides direct work for 125 million farmers so any significant changes have massive potential if they scale. But at the same time, we’re happy to make the small incremental positive impacts as we grow. We aim to lead the way making cascara tea as a focal point of our brand as we believe the berry is as valuable as the bean. By creating market demand in Canada, creating access to our market and revitalizing traditional production methods we aim to scale cascara tea aka the coffee berry. By using traditional processing methods used for hundreds of years, it requires minor process adjustments & drying techniques after removing the coffee berry from the bean!

In such an established coffee market it was exceptionally surprising that cascara tea has not yet gained awareness despite popularity of the coffee bean. It appears the consumer is well removed from the coffee production process and knowledge of the coffee supply chain. It comes as a surprise to many, even whom drink copious amounts of coffee, whom are not even aware of the coffee berry. We think the flavour and quality of cascara tea will speak for itself, once people start trying it the word will spread. Perhaps start by using our tea in a cascara latte recipe. For more information see our article on everything you need to know about cascara tea.

Coffee Roaster Saskatoon

We offer specialty coffees to Saskatoon and across Canada. We are known for our liberica coffee which requires different coffee roasting care versus your regular Arabica beans. It has a much higher sugar content and is about 1/3 larger therefore requires different roasting conditions. The knowledge of our liberica coffee roasting is from local methods used in Malaysia for many years.

We prefer to refer to our coffee estates as our direct partners. We look for the same quality and care that would be provided in a local Saskatchewan wheat crop or premium British Columbia vineyard. They are the local coffee innovators in their respective communities. Some may say “beyond fair trade coffee” and “direct trade coffee”. Fair trade is simply a paid for certification & label that ensures a base standard rate of coffee is paid for. You can see these rates openly on the fair trade website.

Liberica Coffee Saskatoon

It is great to see Liberica Coffee continually expanding upon locations locally in Saskatoon as a fellow local entrepreneur. Our Liberica Coffee is a single origin honey processed whole bean coffee from Malaysia and is available locally in Saskatoon. The liberica bean is a distinct coffee species Coffea Liberica, therefore it is also about 1/3 larger and has a visually noticeable signature teardrop shape. As a distinct species it appears that we are the first ones as of 2020 to offer this unique species of coffee to Saskatoon. We separate ourselves amongst the other coffee companies in our exceptionally unique offerings. See more details on Liberica Coffee in our post on everything you would like to know about liberica coffee.

We’ve incorporated our liberica coffee into various coffee cocktails including using local Saskatoon spirits as per our recipe posts