These guys should be the New Canadian Roaster of the Year if there were such a reward.

I spent a bit more time with the people from Social Coffee Company - namely Steve Soupathong - and checked out their booth a bit more. It was one of the better designed booths at the show (at least small booths) and definitely had some of the best espresso at the show outside of the Barista competition.

"Social Coffee Company was incorporated in 2009, but we didn't launch our brand until April 2010," Soupathong said. "We are mainly an online store, but we're working on getting more wholesale customers, and this show is bringing a lot of those customers to us."

I asked Soupathong how he got his start and how he seemed to come out of the gate with such great coffee so early on. "I went to a lot of the training and classes the SCAA and other organizations offer really learning as much as I could. I took barista courses, attended the Roaster's Guild Retreat, and did a lot of practice - a lot of practice" Soupathong said, "The retreat was especially good for me - we met a lot of great people, and I learned a lot, just through talking to people, hearing their expertise and then coming home and trying to take some of that (learned expertise) to heart as we worked on our coffees."

I asked Soupathong about the future plans, and they want to concentrate on constantly improving their coffee, and at the same time get the brand out there more. He put a lot of investment into having a polished brand right from the get go, but believes firmly that the brand means nothing if he can't back it up in the cup.

Social Coffee Co brought their in house Slayer machine to the show to pull shots with, and the few times I dropped by the booth there was a lot of traffic of people trying both pourovers and espresso shots.

Social's a great addition to the Canadian Roaster market, and especially for Ontario, which needs more true specialty coffee roasters.

Social Coffee Co Steve Soupathong (left) at the booth at Social. Slayer machine in the foreground.

The Wall Part of the overall booth design. My photos don't do it justice.

Multiple brews The staff at the booth give your choice of different types of brewing methods - aeropress, pourover, espresso. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a syphon around somewhere as well.