Ascent Coffee Roasters
This story doesn’t begin where you’d expect. It’s not the journey of a coffee lover who turned her passion into a thriving company. Instead, this is the story of a tea-loving marketing whiz who surprised herself by becoming a bean enthusiast and roasting aficionado.
Yes, this is good coffee. Yes, Aleksa pours her heart and soul into each small batch. But this is also a brand built on more than just a quirky antique roaster in her backyard. Community, mountains, and bikes remain driving forces behind this entrepreneurship.
Let’s back up to the beginning.
In 2017, White Goat Coffee came into existence. Aleksa and her coffee-enthusiast business partner started the small-batch roasting company in Terrace, British Columbia. It didn’t take long for word of this new company to make its way throughout the province’s mountain bike communities and beyond.
“We have a lot of makers in Terrace, and it’s cool how the community rallies behind them and supports them,” says Aleksa. “I am proud to be one of them.”
From campfires to nerdy-home coffee stations, lodges and retreats to travelling mountain bike events, and donations and prizes to good old-fashioned gifts and bribes, White Goat Coffee started popping up everywhere.
Just two years later, in 2019, Aleksa became sole-proprietor of this coffee-roasting part-time-but-really-full-time-but-actually-all-the-time gig, and that’s when some more significant shifts started to happen. A fully recovered tea-drinker and happily adjusted and educated coffee-snob, she began thinking about big things, creative projects, and new ideas.
Enter the pandemic, and the year everyone stayed home. Hold, please.
The pause allowed Aleksa’s plans plenty of time to percolate (pun intended), and what was born is Ascent Coffee. The same quality beans, the same coffee everyone already knows and loves, the same community support and involvement, but a new, more expansive way of being in the world.
Whether it is a big day of climbing on skis or bikes, standing on a mountain peak, or the limitless potential felt from a one-person bean-roasting operation in a small BC town, Ascent captures it all.
“Ascent is that feeling of moving forward and up and always trying to be better,” explains Aleksa. “I feel like it encapsulates a lot of things about me, how I run my business, and how I operate in my day-to-day life as well.”
Ascent Coffee remains deeply rooted in the world of outdoor advocacy and community support. Aleksa continues the tradition of slowly and carefully roasting only the finest beans and is passionate about sharing her small-batch magic with friends and strangers around the world.
Inspired by trails, snow, and incredible people – whether around a table in a warm kitchen or bundled against the weather on a mountain top – Ascent Coffee is for making memories.
Meet Aleksa Havelaar
Meet Aleksa Havelaar
Owner Aleksa often spent time thinking about what owning her own business would be like while she worked jobs in product management and marketing. When she moved to Terrace she was able to make her dreams a reality! Living in a small town, Aleksa loves how supportive everyone is, and how she is able to be part of the fabric that makes up her diverse and growing community! One of her favourite things about being her own boss is the ability to let her creativity soar. Aleksa is happy to take her creative visions and run with them, embracing every part of her entrepreneurial journey!
Terrace, BC V8G 0B6
Hours
Our facility is not currently open to the public, but we can arrange pick up for orders placed online.