December 20th. That’s the day Stone City Coffee Roasters will stop producing their wildly popular Merry Christmas Blend for 2023.
Whole bean and ground packages of the Steinbach roasting company’s seasonal offering have been flying off the shelves at local retailers, and it’s been a regular request at their Coffee Bar in Sobeys the last few weeks. There have been line-ups for it – perhaps not surprising, given the limited-time offering.
“Creating it was a labour of love,” says Colleen Wohlgemuth, who owns and operates Stone City along with her husband, Jay. “People have been enjoying our Merry Christmas Blend, and we’ve been busy roasting it. They’re loving the other holiday drinks at the Coffee Bar, too, so it’s been busy.”
Merry Christmas, she explains, uses only specialty-grade coffee and is a post-roast blend of dark, medium and light roasts. After Jay has skilfully roasted the beans, they take it and use specific ratios and blend it all together to create the flavour profile.
“It’s a very unique coffee, and it’s a little bolder than a medium because it has a little bit of dark roast in there, and subtle tasting notes of maple and cocoa,” says Wohlgemuth. “People just go crazy for it. They often ask us in July when we’ll be roasting it again. I laugh and say, ‘it’s not Christmas yet’!”
Customers have also been going crazy for the other holiday feature drinks at the Coffee Bar, such as the Gingerbread Caramel Macchiato and the White Chocolate Chai. Stone City has several of their own custom syrups, made in Steinbach, one of which is the Irish Cream they use in their Irish Cream Eggnog.
They also collaborate with Chef Peter Fehr of Gourmet Inspirations and offer all his gourmet, locally-made syrups.
“What we love about his syrups is they’re so flavourful but also very low in sugar, with no preservatives,” explains Wohlgemuth. “A medium latte with any of our syrup offerings will only add four grams of sugar and 25 calories to the drink. That’s 75% less sugar than most other coffee syrups. They elevate your coffee experience to a whole new level.”
Aside from Fehr’s well-known expertise, Wohlgemuth explains that Stone City makes a point to keep things as local as possible.
“Local is the reason we’re around,” she says. “We will only use Gourmet Inspirations syrups, or our own syrups, and all our coffee is roasted right here in Steinbach, and our employees are from here, too.”
Recognizing the expertise of Stone City’s personnel, Wohlgemuth asked her baristas to help suggest and create special Christmas drinks. It’s where the eggnog idea came from, for example.
“I personally would never have picked an eggnog drink, but it’s my favourite drink at the Coffee Bar right now,” she says. “I loved having our employees help us make all these yummy things. They know their coffee and they’re amazing in so many ways. We’re a team, and we’re so thankful for them.”
Wohlgemuth is taking extra delight in providing the community with Stone City’s small-batch, hand-crafted coffee this holiday season – joy she’s sharing through seasonal events such as the Toy Drive.
“I’m just so thankful that we’ve been blessed so greatly by our community, and I want to give back,” she says. “A cup of coffee is a small thing that brings people joy, and we just love seeing them smile and their eyes light up over a cup of specialty coffee.”
Stone City Coffee Roasters can be reached by calling (204) 371-9489, and their products can be browsed and purchased on their website. Social media users can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
The Coffee Bar, at Sobeys in Steinbach, is open Monday to Wednesday from 9 am to 2 pm, Thursday and Friday from 9 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm. In the week leading up to Christmas they’ll be open 9 am to 5 pm every day from December 18 to 22, and December 23 from 9 am to 4 pm.
