Vereda

[beˈɾeda] noun

From Colombia; a small remote village, connected by footpaths, home of the best coffee in the world.

Founded in Colombia. Roasting in Oakville.

  1. 2012

    A website in Bogotá

    Vereda Central started as a way to get genuinely good Colombian coffee to people who wanted it, sold directly and bought directly from the growers. It grew into supplying restaurants, hotels, cafés and bakeries across the city.

  2. 2018

    Kerr Street, Oakville

    Juan and Laura brought the company to Canada and chose Kerr Village for the first café — a converted house with room for a roaster in the basement. It still roasts for every location we've opened since.

  3. Today

    Six cafés

    Two in Oakville and four in downtown Toronto. Still owned by the same husband-and-wife team. Still entirely Colombian coffee.

Juan and Laura, the founders of Vereda Central, standing together outside the Kerr Street café, Juan holding a Vereda Central cup.
Juan and Laura, who started Vereda Central in Colombia in 2012 and brought it to Kerr Street in 2018.

We buy straight from the farmer

Most coffee passes through several sets of hands between the farm and the café. Each one takes a margin, and the grower — who did the hardest part — ends up with the smallest share of it.

We deal directly with Colombian farmers instead. That means the people growing our coffee are paid better for it. It also means that when they have something exceptional, we're the ones they offer it to first, so we get the pick of the crop rather than whatever is left once everyone else has chosen.

It's the same reason we can tell you which farm your coffee came from. Every bag carries the farmer's name, the farm's name and where it is.

Between the farm and your cup

  • The farmer
  • Village co-op
  • Mill
  • Exporter
  • Broker
  • Handler
  • Another roaster
  • Us
  • You

Removing the middle isn't only better for the grower. It's how a small company in Oakville can afford beans this good.

2012founded in Colombia
2018first Canadian café
80+Colombian farms we've worked with
6cafés across the GTA
100%Colombian beans

Roasted every weekday, downstairs on Kerr Street

Our roasters work five kilograms at a time on a drum roaster, every weekday of the year. Nothing sits waiting.

The roast date is printed on every bag we sell, and our baristas know the roast date of the coffee in the cup they're handing you. That sounds like a small thing. Ask the same question at most cafés and see what happens.

A blend of scientific process and artistic process.Ryan, head roaster

A cooling tray of freshly roasted coffee beans turning under a metal arm, below the roaster drum.
Five kilos at a time, every weekday, in the basement on Kerr Street. Beans drop onto the cooling tray so the roast stops where it was meant to.

Colombian things to eat, alongside the usual

You'll find flat whites and almond croissants, because of course you will. You'll also find the things we grew up eating.

EmpanadasCrisp corn pastries, fried to order.
Pan de quesoWarm cheese bread, soft in the middle.
RoscónA sweet bread ring, filled.
TequeñosCheese wrapped in pastry and fried.
PanelaUnrefined Colombian cane sugar, in drinks.

We come from hospitality

Before Vereda Central, Juan and Laura both worked in hospitality management. They built this company on the belief that how you're treated matters as much as what ends up in the cup — that the welcome is part of the coffee, not something bolted on beside it.

So we hire for warmth first, and train hard on everything else. Our baristas can tell you which farm a bean came from, how it was roasted and which roast suits what you're drinking. Ask them anything; they like being asked.

And they're genuinely happy to see you walk through the door.

A barista at the Kerr Village counter handing a bag of coffee across to a customer, with the pastry case alongside.
Ask our baristas anything about what is in the cup. They like being asked.

Come and try it

Six cafés — Kerr Village and Upper Middle in Oakville, and four in downtown Toronto. The coffee for all of them is roasted on Kerr Street.

Find your nearest café