Trueshot Coffee is set for its official grand opening this Saturday
- Oluseyi Olomodosi
- 24 Jan 2020
Kevin Lau’s coffee journey has been a years-long process with a consistent theme of growth. As Trueshot Coffee, his first foray into coffee shop ownership gets set for its grand opening event this Saturday January 25th, he is deeply appreciative of where the journey has taken him while still excited for all that is still to come.
Even as a youngster, Lau has always understood that whatever he ended up doing as a career was going to be something he truly enjoyed. He remembers his dad owning a coffee shop when he was still very young, and remembers seeing how much his dad truly loved doing it. His dad eventually sold the shop and moved on to a career he wasn’t as passionate about so he could spend more time with Lau and family.
Lau remembers seeing this and realizing that the only way to truly make the most out of life is to spend it doing things that you really enjoy. While Lau’s journey into coffee wasn’t inspired by his father’s old shop, seeing his dad close the store strengthened his determination to make sure he wound up doing something he loves.
Coffee shop ownership is a really good fit for Lau. He loves good coffee, and despite being more introverted by nature, he has always loved people and being able to do things for them. Talking to Lau, you get a really good sense of his sincerity, passion, and genuine love for community. While his path to owning a coffee shop first began in high school, where he worked at Tim Hortons and Starbucks, the theme of community and helping others has always been central to both his life and his coffee journey.
Originally going to university with the goal of becoming a child psychologist, Lau worked in accounting after finishing his undergrad in developmental psychology. He has always been interested about helping children who were bullied or experiencing rough situations, but over the course of his schooling he realized that he wasn’t eager for the many more years of school it would require. He thought about other ways he could give back to the community, and especially those at its margins, hoping to find something that allowed him to be more hands-on.
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During his time as an accountant, Lau realized that office work wasn’t something he was interested in doing forever and began to think about ways that he could turn his passions into a career. Around this time, he happened to get into coffee tasting in Vancouver and Toronto and quickly became very interested in coffee culture. He decided to learn more about coffee, so he started working at coffee shops.
His time at Starbucks and Tim Hortons in high school had taught him about speed, efficiency, and customer service, but it was the past four years of working at independent coffee shops in Burlington which really opened his eyes to how great customers can be.
Interacting with the customers at independent coffee shops allowed Lau to feed two of his biggest passions at once: coffee and community. He found the customers at independent shops tended to be people who love coffee and are generally interesting people who he likes to be surrounded by.
Over time, he began to dream of opening his own shop and started looking for locations, which led him to Hamilton, where his shop at 158 James St S is the latest addition to the city’s burgeoning coffee scene.
Opening the store has been a journey in and of itself. It was a massive learning experience, replete with intricate behind-the-scenes details he and his business partner, Chris, hadn’t anticipated. It required a lot of learning on-the-fly, adjusting, and growing, but at the end of the day every lesson taught them something valuable and they learnt them and kept on moving forward. Despite every challenge they faced or obstacle they overcame, they always knew that things would work out in the end so long as they built steadfastly towards their goal.
Looking back, the ups and downs of the journey have only made the experience even more rewarding. When going through the process of planning and investing and building firsthand, it’s easy to get bogged down in a never-ending list of logistics and things to improve, but having people come in and respond well to the shop helps them take a step back and appreciate how far they’ve come.
In the weeks since they first began serving customers, Lau has found out just how vibrant the city’s coffee scene is and has realized that Hamilton’s culture, and especially its coffee culture, is even greater than he thought. He has received an overwhelming amount of support since opening. Friends, family, old coworkers, and numerous contacts he’s made on his coffee journey have all come and visited the store and given him overwhelmingly positive feedback. After putting so much time and money into the shop, he was nervous about how things would go but it has been really special for him to see the reception he’s getting.
Since opening Trueshot’s doors, Lau has also met a lot of new people in Hamilton, and the city’s coffee scene has welcomed him with open arms. Phin Coffee Bar’s owner, Andrew, even gave Trueshot a shoutout on their first day which helped welcome and announce Trueshot to the scene.
While community is and always will be a major part of Lau’s ethos, when it comes to Trueshot, the number one focus is the coffee. Trueshot Coffee takes pride in making great coffee that is ethically sourced, fair trade, and 100% organic. Their coffee is roasted by Markham-based Hatch Coffee Roasters.
They offer the standard items such as lattes, cappuccinos, and plain coffee but also have some specialty items such as turmeric lattes, houjicha (roasted green tea leaves) lattes, and several other micro ground teas and lattes, as well as some cool items from Tea at the White House in Waterdown.
They also have some sweets and other coffee shop goodies, including gourmet items from Hamilton’s Darling Donuts, which are available at Trueshot every weekend.
The vibe of the shop is bright, vibrant, and happy. Decorated with a lot of plants and light, the store likes lively and has an upbeat air about it that makes it a great hangout spot. They operate on a laissez-faire policy: there are no hard rules – as long as people are nice to each other they can stay as long as they want.
While the store is still carving out its niche and getting to know the community, Lau and his team know what they are good at: being welcoming. And that’s what they are leaning into, with a deep emphasis on community, kindness, and being inviting.
In the short term, Lau’s immediate goal is to build roots in the community and get to know everyone within Hamilton’s coffee scene, but in the long term he still remembers his initial dreams of helping children who need it. While he won’t be setting up shop as a child psychologist anytime soon, he wants to eventually build Trueshot up and start to find ways that he can help bullied or troubled kids.
He remembers how he always found coffee shops to be a sort of third home when he was younger; he’s always loved being able to go to a shop, chill out, and relax. Coffee is a universal comforter that people of all backgrounds can come together around. In a world that can use more kindness, coffee shops are a great place for that type of community togetherness to develop. As Lau puts it, “everyone can always gather around a cup of coffee and talk.”
While the store is still growing and figuring things out, Lau also hopes to potentially lend space to community groups and nonprofits to hold meetings at Trueshot. He is incredibly passionate about coffee and is excited about the potential to use it to build community.
Trueshot Coffee’s official grand opening takes place this Saturday January 25th from 8 am to 5 pm.
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