From what Ive experienced, Canada is has a dark-roast culture.
I’m from Canada and I never really went out for coffee (just made standard drip coffee with cheap pre-ground) so I remember my first exposure to espresso drinks. I worked shipping/receiving in a small, high-end retail store that had an espresso machine in the back. One of the ladies there used to own a coffee shop and would make me lattes occasionally. One day I was tasked with buying more beans and was specifically told dark roast. The brand they prefered had a medium-roast on a really good sale so I called them up to present the option. I was very sternly told no and when I returned to the store had the idea of a non-dark roast shot down by a couple more employees. It seemed everyone there, ex-coffee shop owner included, were all under the idea espresso was dark roast only. Medium and light roasts were too weak for espresso. Since this was my pre-snob days I just assumed they were right.
We also have a very popular roaster in town that has close to a dozen dark and very dark roasts, one medium-dark, one medium, and no light roast.
From my conversations with people in my pre-snob days I’d say 100% of people I’d brought it up with only purchased dark roast for at home.
At one point I switched to medium-roast in a French press and whenever I had guests I was told the coffee was too weak.
Tldr; from my experience non-snob Canadians see a strong tasting dark roast as “proper” coffee. I feel like a lot of people think they’re getting more caffeine from it.
From what Ive experienced, Canada is has a dark-roast culture. I’m from Canada and I never really went out for coffee (just made standard drip coffee with cheap pre-ground) so I remember my first exposure to espresso drinks. I worked shipping/receiving in a small, high-end retail store that had an espresso machine in the back. One of the ladies there used to own a coffee shop and would make me lattes occasionally. One day I was tasked with buying more beans and was specifically told dark roast. The brand they prefered had a medium-roast on a really good sale so I called them up to present the option. I was very sternly told no and when I returned to the store had the idea of a non-dark roast shot down by a couple more employees. It seemed everyone there, ex-coffee shop owner included, were all under the idea espresso was dark roast only. Medium and light roasts were too weak for espresso. Since this was my pre-snob days I just assumed they were right. We also have a very popular roaster in town that has close to a dozen dark and very dark roasts, one medium-dark, one medium, and no light roast. From my conversations with people in my pre-snob days I’d say 100% of people I’d brought it up with only purchased dark roast for at home. At one point I switched to medium-roast in a French press and whenever I had guests I was told the coffee was too weak.
Tldr; from my experience non-snob Canadians see a strong tasting dark roast as “proper” coffee. I feel like a lot of people think they’re getting more caffeine from it.