Collection: Ethica 🇨🇦

Ethica Coffee Roasters takes its name from Spinoza's Ethics, which explores the conditions of inner freedom and happiness. The company opened in Toronto in November 2019, three months before the pandemic. Its founder, Gregory Koifman, was born in Moscow, grew up in Israel and worked in the food industry for many years. The idea came to him in West Palm Beach, Florida, when he discovered Subculture, a neighbourhood café that had built a real community.

Single Origins Only

Ethica roasts only single-origin coffees, never blends. Gregory compares a blend to an artist's painting with another artist's work stapled to it, then presented as a joint piece. At the café, every pour-over costs eight dollars, however rare the lot. The milk comes from Sheldon Creek, the ceremonial matcha from Hokusan and the pastries from Bakery Pompette. On Sunday mornings, local musicians play live.

From the Junction to Symes Road

The café is at 213 Sterling Road, in the Junction. Until April 2023, coffee was roasted on site; production has since moved to a workshop on Symes Road, equipped with a second Giesen roaster. At 100 Symes Road, the Ethica Coffee Training Centre runs classes for groups of four, from an introduction to specialty coffee to latte art. Coffee Director Denis Sigulin discovered specialty coffee in 2011 while working as a bartender in Russia, before becoming chief technologist at a green coffee importer. For Gregory, the goal is simple: "to be a benchmark; a place people can rely on for consistency, quality, and a genuinely good cup of coffee, without pressure or pretension."