Interview with Phillippe Carrier & Erfan Majd, Co-Founders of Philo Coffee Co.
Erf and Phil, you both come from very different professional worlds (trades/business vs. coffee/socio-economics). What was the specific moment when you realised those two worlds should combine to form Philo Coffee?
PC. For me, the seed was always there; it just needed the right soil. Coffee had already become something much bigger than a drink in my life. It was a lens through which I understood culture, history, trade, injustice, and human connection. I was deep in the specialty world, roasting and thinking constantly about the socio-economic threads that run through every cup. But, I was also an IT guy and a musician; someone who understood systems, both technical and human. I had the passion and the philosophy, but I knew that passion alone doesn't build something that lasts.
EM. I've always believed that when someone works from love rather than necessity, it produces something of completely different quality. Phil wasn't someone who stumbled into coffee; it consumed him in the best way. When I looked at the specialty coffee world, what struck me wasn't just the beauty of what was being made—it was the fragility of it. Great coffees, great roasters, but businesses that couldn't endure. And when a business collapses, it's not just the customer who loses: it's the farmer in Colombia, the smallholder in Rwanda, and everyone across that supply chain who built a relationship on trust.
PC. Erf brought the clarity I needed: that purpose without structure is vulnerable. My passion for coffee—its culture, its politics, its people—that was the why. Erf's grounding in trades and business was the how. Together, we realized we weren't just building a roastery; we were building something that could actually hold the weight of what we believe in: that coffee should be a vehicle for resistance, for real relationships, and for radical and lasting change. Philo Coffee was born from the realization that the two worlds didn't just complement each other; they needed each other.
What is the one industry standard you are most determined to disrupt or change?
PC. Since we're a very small roaster, we don't have the volume or the reach to claim we're disrupting anything in a measurable way yet. But, the industry standard we are most determined to challenge is anonymity—the deeply normalised practice of buying and selling coffee without really knowing who grew it, under what conditions, and at what human cost. Every coffee we source is tied to a name, a face, a relationship—not as a marketing angle, but as a genuine commitment to transparency and mutual care.
What is the one thing you hope a Roasters Pack subscriber feels or discovers when they open a bag of Philo for the first time?
PC. That behind every sip, there's a name, a face, and a farmer who chose to grow something extraordinary—and a roaster who refused to let that go unnoticed.
Want to try three new coffees every month?
Take our quiz and you'll receive three new coffees from three new Canadian roasters, freshly roasted just for you!
Change your profile, upgrade or downgrade your sizing, skip a shipment or cancel at any time.
