Kicking Horse Coffee

Who is Kicking Horse Coffee?

A Canadian roaster that certifies everything and prices like a supermarket brand.

Kicking Horse publishes Certified Organic, Fairtrade and Kosher on every bag here, roasting below the Canadian Rocky Mountain peaks in a facility it says makes only coffee, and states each blend is roasted from one ingredient only, green coffee, with no preservatives, additives, fillers or flavouring. Every coffee carries a published tasting note and a published aroma.

Three certifications is the whole proposition

Almost nothing at this price carries any of them, let alone all three.

Lavazza publishes no certification at all on the bags we list, and that is normal for supermarket coffee. Organic and Fairtrade cost money at every step: audited farms, segregated processing, a minimum price paid to the grower and a separate premium on top.

Fairtrade in particular is a claim you can check. It means a floor price the buyer pays regardless of what the market does, which is the mechanism that matters when coffee prices collapse. "Ethically sourced" with no certifying body named, which several coffees on this site carry, is a statement of intent. Fairtrade is an audit.

Kosher is the one people skip past. For coffee it mostly certifies the facility rather than the bean, and it is consistent with the other thing Kicking Horse states: the roastery makes coffee and nothing else, so there is no cross-contamination from flavoured lines or other foods.

What "one ingredient only" rules out

It is a specific rejection of flavoured coffee, and it is worth understanding.

Flavoured coffee is made by spraying roasted beans with propylene glycol carrying flavour compounds. It is legal, common and cheap, and it leaves residue in grinders and brewers that carries into the next coffee you make.

Kicking Horse states green coffee is the only input and that the facility makes only coffee. That is a manufacturing claim rather than a taste one, and it is the reason the caramel and marshmallow notes on Happy Camper come from the roast rather than from a bottle. Compare it to the Black Rifle range, where flavoured coffee is a deliberate and clearly labelled part of the line.

What the range is, and what it is not

Five blends, three dark and two medium, and no single origins.

Kick Ass is the famous one and the darkest character. 454 Horse Power is the heaviest bodied. Grizzly Claw is the sweetest dark and comes ground. Three Sisters is the medium with stone fruit. Happy Camper is the sweeter medium.

These are blends. Kicking Horse publishes no origin country, no farm, no altitude, no varietal, no processing method and no roast date on these bags. If you want a named farm and a harvest, Intelligentsia is the roaster on this site that does that, at several times the price.

Kicking Horse against Lavazza

Two answers to the same price bracket, and they are opposites.

Lavazza sells consistency: a blend engineered from many origins to taste identical year after year, with no certification and no sourcing detail published.

Kicking Horse sells credentials and character: three certifications, a stated ingredient policy, a published tasting note per blend, and a roast style with far more personality. What it does not sell is Lavazza's absolute predictability, or the espresso-specific engineering of a blend like Super Crema.

Buy Lavazza for an espresso machine you have dialled in. Buy Kicking Horse for filter and press, and if where the coffee came from matters to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kicking Horse coffee organic?

Yes, Certified Organic, and also Fairtrade and Kosher, on every bag listed here.

Where is it roasted?

In the Canadian Rocky Mountains, in a facility the maker says makes only coffee.

Does Kicking Horse make flavoured coffee?

No. The maker states green coffee is the only ingredient, with no flavouring, fillers or additives.

Which Kicking Horse is the strongest?

454 Horse Power has the heaviest body. Kick Ass is the better known dark roast. Neither publishes a caffeine figure.

Are these single origin?

No, they are blends, and no origin country, farm or altitude is published.