Coconuts, coffee beans and exotic spices were among the goods that once arrived in Canada on wooden sailing ships. During the long voyage, the salty sea breeze infused the coffee beans, giving it a smoother, sweeter flavour. However, as the shipping industry transitioned to steel-hulled ships, the coffee beans lost that distinctive taste. What happened to the traditional flavour of coffee? Would people still remember how it used to taste? Enter Saltwinds Coffee.
Recreating the Taste of Coffee in the 1800s
Founded in 2022 by Dr. Laura Richard, a New Brunswick native with a PhD in chemistry, the company draws inspiration from the historical journey of coffee to this continent. Driven by her chemistry background, Richard set out to recreate that unique flavour.
Saltwinds Coffee created the way coffee used to taste when it came to Canada on wooden sailing ships in the 1800s. By infusing their products with ocean air in a patent-pending process, it makes the coffee smoother, less bitter and richer than other coffees. This approach has led to a product range that is truly unique in the crowded coffee space and has attracted attention from retailers. These products have won awards, including the bronze medal in the International Cold Brew Championships in El Salvador in 2023.
"I put my chemistry hat on and went down to the laboratory in my basement...I wanted to get the science behind how salt and temperature affected the taste of the coffee bean"
- Laura Richard
From Farmers Markets to Major Retailers
Initially, Saltwinds Coffee started small, selling at local farmers markets and shops. When Sobeys and Hudson Group (owner of Hudson News, a chain of duty-free stores in North America) approached them, Richard realized she needed to obtain GS1 barcodes.
Navigating GS1 Barcodes
“Originally, I started looking into GS1 Canada because Sobeys and Hudson News both had a requirement for GS1 barcodes. We got the GS1 Canada subscription through the Small Business Trade-Readiness Certification Program. We had been looking at GS1 for a couple of months before, and it just happened that the certification program was discussing the barcode...And we thought it was the right time to buy it. I had my eye on GS1 for a while,” said Laura Richards.
The Trade-Readiness Certification Program is a GS1 Canada initiative that was funded by the Government of Canada's Agri-Assurance Program. The Program educates small businesses on how to meet trading partner requirements across grocery and food service channels and provides resources to Canadian small food businesses to support the product listing process.
Preparing for National Expansion with the Help of GS1 Canada
Richard started with the Limited subscription package of barcodes at GS1 Canada, which laid the foundation to efficiently grow the company in the future. She also expressed interest in using GS1 Canada's data management tool. She recognized that as Saltwinds Coffee scaled nationally, high-quality accessible data would be crucial. The tool enables brand owners to load their data and efficiently share it with multiple retailers from a single, secure location.
Future Aspirations
Looking ahead, Richard is excited to expand into the U.S. market. Their products are already available on Amazon Canada, and they hope to launch on Amazon U.S. soon.
To learn more about the products, you can visit their website www.saltwindscoffee.com (opens in a new window).