About the Coffee Fernando "Fer" Vindas grew up with coffee farms in his family but didn't set out to be a farmer. He trained and worked as a veterinarian. When his father passed away in 2006, Fer and his siblings had to decide what to do with the family land. Fer chose to take it on, and along with running the farms, he started milling his own coffee. He named the micromill Cerro Alto, which translates to "High Hill," after the terrain where the farms sit in Costa Rica. His background in veterinary science shapes how he runs the operation. Fer approaches the mill with the same measured, methodical thinking he brought to his medical work: tracking variables, running controlled processes, and not cutting corners. That precision shows up in the consistency of what comes out of Cerro Alto. The farms sit at high elevation in Costa Rica's Central Valley, where cooler temperatures slow cherry development and give the beans more time to build density and sweetness. Phil Robertson, one of the two founders of Phil and Sebastian, first tried Fer's coffee in 2020 and has since spent time at the farm and mill in person. That on-the-ground relationship is how Phil and Sebastian sources much of their coffee, especially in Central and South America, where co-founder Sebastian Sztabzyb travels regularly to buy green coffee and maintain direct ties with producers. About Phil & Sebastian Phil Robertson and Sebastian Sztabzyb co-founded Phil and Sebastian in 2007 in Calgary, Canada. Phil came in with an engineering background and applied it directly to the roasting side of the business, eventually designing their own roasting machine and writing the software that runs everything from roast profiling to order fulfillment. Sebastian brought a focus on the business and cafe side, while also taking on sourcing trips to Central and South America to buy green coffee. Both have been running the company together for nearly 20 years. Their sourcing approach is built around paying above the industry average for green coffee and investing directly in projects at origin, rather than buying through intermediaries at arm's length. Phil travels to Africa to buy coffee, Sebastian covers Central and South America, and both have long-term relationships with the producers they work with. For a roaster based in Calgary, that level of direct sourcing is uncommon, and it's central to how they maintain consistency across their lineup. "Phil & Sebastian is a favourite of mine from my time in Calgary. My wife swore by their "Hartmann Honey" beans, and we stocked it (or, maybe "hoarded" is a better word) for as long as they sold it. It feels like a 'full circle' moment to finally have them in our rotation." - Dean, Director of Coffee
