About Us

The Amherst Island Coffee Company is a true multi-generational family affair, co-founded by Graham,Tagget, Gayla and Scott.

Gayla and Scott run a large pasture-based sheep farm on the east end of Amherst Island. Originally from New Zealand, they moved to the island in 2019 to purchase the farm from Gayla’s grandparents—who are also Tagget’s parents. Gayla and Scott’s one-year-old daughter, Cherry, is often along for the ride, helping deliver orders and charm customers with her budding "customer relations" skills.

Tagget is a teacher with the Limestone District School Board, and Graham recently retired from a career in consulting. Tagget raised her three children on Amherst Island, and last year she and Graham took over The Lodge—a beloved community gathering space on the island with a long history of hosting events and celebrations. It’s also where we began roasting our coffee, in one of the Lodge’s large, open rooms, looking out over Lake Ontario. 

Over the winter, we dove deep into research, visiting other roasters both here in Canada and back in New Zealand, taking coffee courses and learning all we could.

Eventually, we took the leap and purchased a small 1.5kg roaster, simply aiming to roast coffee we loved. It didn’t take long before we were fully hooked—experimenting with different beans from around the world, tweaking our techniques and drinking a lot of coffee! 

After launching our first batches right here on Amherst Island, we asked our friends and neighbors to be our tasters and critics. It quickly became clear, we’d need a bigger roaster! 

Today, we continue to produce delicious, fresh coffee using the highest-quality and fairly traded beans we can source. We’re still experimenting, still learning, and still completely in love with the world of coffee.

Join us!