The Roadside Attraction Coffee Series
We celebrate our love of unique coffees, road trips, and Canada!
The names and logos of these special coffees are inspired by giant sculptures and other quirky and cool attractions found across the country.
Keep checking back here - or follow us in your inbox - to our next destination!
Here are our 2023 travels
November 2023: Beaverlodge
Yes Beaverlodge is a town, not a lodge. Though I bet they have some cute lodgings there!
Nestled about halfway between Grande Prairie, Alberta, and the BC border, Beaverlodge pays tribute to Canada’s national animal and the world’s second largest rodent with a 1500 lb statue of a BEAVER.
Some fun facts about beavers, Beaverlodge, and the giant beaver sculpture:
from the Beaverlodge website:
“The Beaverlodge Beaver is an engineering marvel. It took 90 gallons of polyurethane to coat, approx. 13 gallons of paint, and 18 blocks of foam to make the sculpture. Heavy Industries in Calgary built the beaver in two section, the beaver and the log. The site was prepared by Dick’s Sand and Gravel.”
Key stats: the beaver weighs 1500 lbs (sounds more impressive than 680 kg) and is 5.5 m long and 3 m high. It sits on a 11 m long, 680 kg log.
Real beavers are much smaller - typically a little over 1 metre including their tails and weighing 11 to 32 kg
Beavers live all over Canada. I have seen one a few blocks from my home, ambling beside the road downtown Toronto! And there are beaver dams in the Don River, close to my house.
“The world’s longest beaver dam is found in Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park and is almost 800 metres in length. The average dam is only about 100 metres in length!” (source: Canadian Geographic)
There’s a great video of the giant beaver in Dan Reynish’ report: Travelling with Dan: The World’s Biggest Beaver from ChatNewsToday.ca September 2023
BEAVERLODGE: the coffee
Our Beaverlodge limited edition coffee features a medium roast coffee from Chiapas, Mexico. It is naturally sweet, with hints of cinnamon and warm spices. Amp up those flavours by brewing it up in a Mexican cafe de olla or pumpkin spice latte.
Seasonal Coffee Selections
Each coffee in the Roadside Attraction Coffee Series is a limited edition blend (our seasonal selection) made of premium coffees roasted in Toronto and delivered to your coffeemaker.
We’ll fill you in on the specific coffee sources and roast level as they are released. The beans that go into the Roadside Attraction Series may be a single-origin (from one country or even part of a small lot from one farm) or a blend of special beans from a couple places. We don’t plan the specific coffees far ahead as we are always on the lookout for extra special coffees and grab one as soon as we find it, so we can bring it to you!
What makes a coffee extra special?
Good question! For the Roadside Attraction seasonal coffees, we are looking for:
Delicious (of course!)
A chance to try coffees from a different country or region, especially one that we haven’t visited for a long time or ever (Congo, El Salvador, or India!)
Different styles of coffee - honey processed, natural processed or other interesting ways that the coffee has been grown or processed that give it a different taste
One thing is for sure, each one is a limited edition. It's only around for a few weeks so try it out while you can!
Drink up & dream of YOUR next road trip!
Giant Fiddle - Sydney, Nova Scotia - September 2023
We’re on the road again, this time to SYDNEY, Nova Scotia.
The label features the ten ton FIDDLE on Sydney’s waterfront.
At 17m (55 feet) tall, it’s the tallest fiddle in the world and is 3 times taller than the world’s largest working violin in Markneukirchen, Germany. (Sydney’s fiddle is huge and we love it but I gotta say - a 5m tall violin that you can play is pretty frickin cool!)
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. No pic of Sparkplug people here because the fiddle wasn’t here last time we were in Cape Breton.
What’s the difference between a fiddle and a violin?
It’s how you play it. And this is an homage to Celtic music & heritage so it’s a fiddle, not a violin! The fiddle is at home at ceilidhs (Gaelic for gatherings or parties, often in someone’s kitchen) more so than at the symphony.
Sydney: the coffee
A cup of SYDNEY will get you in the mood for a ceilidh and tapping your toes to some great music.
It’s a high octane, caffeine-boosted, medium-dark roast special blend.
Sydney is a great cup of coffee - smooth and full bodied, with dried fruit sweetness balanced by bittersweet chocolate. Delicious both filter brewed and as espresso.
The World’s Biggest Muskoka Chair - July 2023
On the label is a giant wooden deck chair, currently located in Gravenhurst, one of the bigger towns in Ontario’s Muskoka cottage country.
The Muskoka Chair
There are giant versions of this wooden deck chair all over the continent. Also known as an Adirondack chair, here in Canada, it is often called a Muskoka chair (Ontario) or Laurentian chair (Quebec).
The biggest version we know of is in Gravenhurst, “the gateway to Muskoka”. Originally located at a hardware store, the giant chair is now at Sawdust City Brewing Co.
Built about 10 years ago, to replace a slightly smaller version that was destroyed by a tornado, this beauty of a chair is 6.5 metres tall. Crazy! TVO has a great story about how it was built - read it here!
If you’re in the area, stop by and pick up some beers, climb up on the chair, and take some photos. Then head to a lake and settle in to a normal sized chair with a more picturesque lake view!
Photo by Sawdust City Brewery staff, submitted to MuskokaRegion .com news story - Big move for big yellow chair, August 2015
They grow an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producing country - and it grows everything from spectacular specialty coffees like the beans we have here to tons of pretty basic commodity coffees and every quality in between.
The beans for our Muskoka coffee are a medium roast and show off the lovely, chocolatey, nutty, rich characteristics typical of a great Brazilian coffee. We think Muskoka is kinda like a SKOR bar - it has layers of flavour!
Each cup starts with a taste of brown sugar toffee, then you get a mild nuttiness, followed by a smooth chocolate that lingers on your tongue. Delicious! (no actual nuts or other flavours added)
Even Animal knows “They drink an awful lot of coffee in Brazil!”
Wawa, Ontario’s Canada Goose - June 2023
The Coffee
Our WAWA Limited Edition coffee features Wawa’s Canada Goose statue on its label.
The coffee is a single origin bean from BOLIVIA. We are so excited to offer a Bolivian coffee, especially one that is so delicious!
Roasted on the lighter side of medium, Wawa is a toasty coffee with hints of dried fruit - is it figs? currants? I’m going with figs but may update this after a few more cups…
Wawa is a single origin coffee so that you can really taste the nuances of this wonderful Bolivian coffee. (Most Sparkplug coffees are blends but we decided to be different this time.)
Wawa’s Canada Goose
When we asked for ideas for the Roadside Attraction Coffee Series, several people suggested Wawa’s giant Canada Goose.
Wawa was already on our short list - Kara and Joe love stopping at Wawa when driving to Northern Ontario - mainly for an Indo-Caribbean-Chinese-Canadian meal at Kinniwabi Pines Restaurant (how can you resist char sui and curried noodles with a fabulous view of the river?!) And after a meal, it’s mandatory to drive into Wawa to say hello to the giant Canada Goose.
Some cool facts about Wawa & the Goose:
The goose was built in the 1960s to bring tourists into Wawa after the TransCanada highway bypassed Wawa’s downtown
The first goose was made of plaster and it turns out that plaster is not a good material for northern Canadian weather.
The new goose statue, unveiled in 2017, is made of steel. It is 8.5m / 28 feet tall and has a wingspan of 6 metres / 20 feet.
The Canadian Goose can travel more than 1000 km a day! Its wingspan ranges from 90cm to 2m so the Wawa Goose is only 3 or 4 times larger than a real goose. (More Canada Goose facts at Hinterland Who’s Who)
"Wawa" means "Wild Goose” or “Land of the Big Goose" in Ojibwe.
Stompin' Tom Connors wrote a song "Little Wawa" about a goose that stayed behind when her lover Gander Goo got shot down with an arrow. Listen on youtube here: Little Wawa
The Canada Goose is NOT an official symbol of Canada. The Gray Jay - AKA Canada Jay or whiskey jack - is Canada’s official bird since 2022 and the Beaver is the official animal.
Thanks to Northern Ontario Travel for the info!
Coca to coffee:
Have you tried coffee from Bolivia before? Maybe not - Bolivia’s coffee production is TEENY compared to its South American neighbours. Why is that?
Bolivia's Yungas Valley has perfect conditions for growing coffee. And also for growing coca, which was the main crop for hundreds of years.
Like in Peru, coca leaves are chewed or brewed as tea to give energy and ward against altitude sickness. In the 1900s, Bolivian farmers amped up their coca production to supply North America and Europe's demand for cocaine. Then, about 20 years ago, the USA's "War on Drugs" plus a global surge in pricing for specialty coffee led Bolivian farmers to switch from coca to coffee.
Bolivian coffee production is still teeny, barely a blip on the world coffee charts. But it is increasingly recognized on the global coffee scene for great quality, premium coffees.
Sources: International Coffee Organization statistics, Time Magazine, Bolivian Buzz: Coca Farmers Switch to Coffee Beans
Vegreville, Alberta’s Giant Easter Egg - April / May 2023
Back by popular demand, featuring the World’s Largest Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Egg) in Vegreville, Alberta on its label.
VEGREVILLE and the giant pysanka was one of our first destinations for the Roadside Attraction Coffee Series in 2022. We have a special connection to Vegreville, and to the designer of the giant pysanka, too. Read more about it here: VEGREVILLE BLOG POST
For 2023, VEGREVILLE is made from a delicious, medium roast PERUVIAN coffee with hints of milk chocolate + caramel.
In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine and other humanitarian crises around the world, we are again donating a portion of sales from every bag of the VEGREVILLE blend to Doctors Without Borders / MSF Canada.
Moose Jaw & Mac the Moose - March 2023
Our newest destination in the Roadside Attraction Coffee Series is Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan featuring a HUGE moose statue, of course!
For over 30 years, Mac was the largest moose in the world. Then in 2015, Norway built a bigger one. After some diplomatic wrangling, Mac the Moose is again the world's biggest, though Storelgen is shinier.
This CBC Saskatchewan article has great illustrations to show the differences and how Mac regained the World’s Largest Moose title: Mac the Moose reclaims world's tallest moose title after getting new rack.
And what about our MOOSE JAW coffee?
It is a very rare and delicious arabica coffee from Vietnam. Dark roast, tasting of walnuts, the MOOSE JAW is particularly good made in a french press or as drip.
Mac the Moose photo from Tourism Moose Jaw - look at how huge this guy is!
Norway’s Storelgen is sure shiny! Photo from BoredPanda.com (not sure where they found it)
The Gimli Viking - January 2023
We start 2023 with a symbol of strength: Canada’s most famous Viking in Gimli, Manitoba.
This giant statue has been watching over Lake Winnipeg since 1967.
Icelandic people settled in the Gimli area around 1875 and the statue was unveiled by Iceland’s President.
From the Manitoba Historical Society’s Historic Sites of Manitoba website:
A 4.6 metre (15 feet) fibreglass statue of a Viking in Gimli was created as a Canadian centennial project by the Gimli Chamber of Commerce. Designed by Gissur Eliasson of the University of Manitoba, it was constructed by sculptor George Barone at a cost of $15,000. It was unveiled in 1967 by then-President of Iceland Asgeir Asgeirsson. A new Viking Park around the statue was unveiled on 5 August 2017 in recognition of the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba’s 125th anniversary and in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday. Around the pathways are stelae of various Icelandic persons and families from the area.
Canadian Geographic has an excellent article on: How Gimli, Manitoba, became the world’s biggest Icelandic community outside Iceland.
I knew that the Canadian government had given tracts of land to European settlers but didn’t realize that they gave “reserves” to specific ethnic communities. New Iceland was one of these and now, 150 years later, Gimli still has very strong connections to Iceland.
Gimli was picked partly because it would be close to the new railroad. But… then Winnipeg convinced (i.e. paid off) the railway to route further south.
Thanks Travel Manitoba for the cool pics!
A Taste of Gimli: Nicaraguan Blend Coffee
The Sparkplug limited edition coffee, the GIMLI is a medium roast Nicaraguan blend.
I have not been to Gimli but have been to Iceland. Icelanders are HUGE coffee lovers and drink even more coffee than Canadians.
With the Gimli, if you are expecting a taste similar to other Central or South American coffees, you’ll be in for a surprise. The GIMLI is a bit fruity and syrupy - with hints of molasses and orange, not the chocolates and richness that are typical of Latin American coffees.
Nicaraguan coffees are shade-grown, organic (though rarely certified as such), and very high quality. Check out our Facts About Nicaraguan Coffees and impress your friends with coffee trivia.
Visit our previous destinations:
2022 Roadside Attractions Coffee Series
Send Us Your Fave Roadside Attractions!
We have shortlisted a number but are open to your suggestions. Send them in and tell us WHY it would be a good pick for the Roadside Attractions Coffee Series! Your suggestion has a much better chance of being selected if you share photos of you with it &/or personal stories of why you love it.
Here are some photos of Canadian Roadside Attractions shared with us by Sparkplug coffee lovers. Will one of these be featured in our Roadside Attraction Coffee Series? Stay tuned to find out!
Don’t miss out on our next seasonal coffee and other coffee news: