Our Story
The Road Back to Coffee: How My Coffee Roasting Journey Began
Learning from experienced coffee roasters helped shape the craftsmanship, attention to detail, and passion that go into every batch roasted on Folly Mountain.
Why Fresh Coffee Matters
Folly Mountain Coffee Roasters was born from a belief that coffee should be treated like fresh food, not something roasted months ago and forgotten on a shelf.
For years, I traveled the highways of North America as a long-haul truck driver. Like a lot of drivers, my days often started at 3 AM with truck stop coffee that was burnt, bitter, stale, and made simply for convenience.
Somewhere along that road, I started searching for something better.
That search led me into small coffee roasters across Canada and the United States. I learned from experienced roasters, listened to their stories, and discovered the care, timing, and craftsmanship that go into roasting truly fresh coffee.
I discovered coffee that was alive with aroma, full of flavour, and completely different from anything found sitting on a supermarket shelf.
It changed the way I looked at coffee forever.
Coffee Has Always Been About Community
Long before I climbed into a big rig and spent years travelling the highways of Canada and the United States, I worked as a business and marketing consultant and had the privilege of serving my community as an elected municipal councillor. But coffee had already become an important part of my journey.
Long before Folly Mountain Coffee Roasters existed, I created and operated three award-winning themed Fair Trade Community Cafés in central Nova Scotia, along with a weekly presence at the Truro Farmers' Market.
Those cafés became gathering places filled with conversation, music, laughter, and community. Coffee was never simply a beverage to me, it was about creating a place where people felt welcome.
Those cafés also reflected another passion that has stayed with me throughout my life: building sustainably.
Rather than constructing my cafés with new materials, I built them almost entirely from reclaimed lumber, reclaimed building materials, recycled fixtures, furniture, architectural salvage, and repurposed decorations. Even the authentic-looking Rumford fireplaces were handcrafted using reclaimed fieldstone and old bricks, becoming warm focal points that reflected the character of each café. Every piece had a story, giving the cafés their own rustic charm while keeping thousands of pounds of usable materials out of the landfill.
That commitment to sustainability and creating a truly unique atmosphere earned one of the cafés an honourable feature in the 2007 - Costco Connection magazine, where it was recognized as "A Café with the Right Environment."
That commitment was also recognized in 2010 when one of my cafés received the Cool Truro Business Award for Creating a Caring Environment, recognizing the environmentally responsible practices that had become part of everything we did.
The Mountain Called Me Back
After years away from the café world, the mountain called me back.
The cafés may be behind me, but my passion for building and creating never disappeared. Now retired, I wanted to create a small home-based cottage business, much like the people who proudly make homemade preserves, crafts, and other artisan products. Over the past year, I poured my heart into transforming a freight trailer into a one-of-a-kind mobile coffee roasting space on wheels. Built using many of the same reclaimed materials and environmentally responsible building practices that defined my award-winning cafés, it became the perfect place to handcraft fresh coffee in small batches, one roast at a time.
Just like my former cafés, the roasting space was built using approximately 99% reclaimed building materials, fixtures, and decorations, carefully chosen to create the same warm, rustic mountain atmosphere that people remember from those earlier days.
Every reclaimed board, every vintage fixture, and every decoration, every handcrafted detail reflects the same philosophy I've believed in for years:
Build with purpose. Waste less. Create something people will remember.
While customers across Nova Scotia can conveniently order and securely pay through our Shopify e-commerce online store and have freshly roasted coffee delivered right to their door, many also enjoy making the trip to beautiful Folly Mountain to pick up their orders in person or purchase our coffee at one of our growing number of retail locations.
Our one-of-a-kind mobile coffee roasting unit was built almost entirely from reclaimed building materials, fixtures, and décor, creating a warm, rustic mountain atmosphere. Here, customers can experience the sights, sounds, and unmistakable aroma of coffee being roasted fresh, while seeing firsthand where every batch is carefully handcrafted.
Freshness Matters
Today, Folly Mountain Coffee Roasters is built around one simple idea:
Freshness matters.
Every batch is roasted in small quantities on Folly Mountain using traditional drum roasting methods to bring out the unique character of every coffee.
We believe you deserve to know when your coffee was roasted, not simply when it expires months—or even years—from now.
That's why every bag is proudly marked with its roast date.
This isn't mass-produced coffee sitting forgotten in a warehouse or on a grocery shelf.
This is handcrafted, small-batch coffee, roasted with care, packaged fresh, and meant to be enjoyed at its very best.
From quiet mornings on Folly Mountain to the first cup that starts your day, our mission is simple:
Never Drink Stale Coffee Again. 
A commitment that didn't start yesterday.
In 2010, one of my Fair Trade Community Cafés received the Cool Truro Business Award – Creating a Caring Environment for its environmentally responsible building and operating practices. Today, that same commitment lives on inside Folly Mountain Coffee Roasters, where our mobile roasting space was built almost entirely from reclaimed materials.
That creates a wonderful connection between your past and present. Visitors don't just see someone selling coffee, they see someone who has spent decades building places with care, craftsmanship, and purpose. For a small independent roaster, that's exactly the kind of story that helps people remember your brand and choose to support it.