Row & Roast Coffee Co.

Muskoka Roastery at the centre of the bar

The counter at this Huntsville café inside Deerhurst Resort is built around Muskoka Roastery coffee, with espresso drinks on the bar and retail bags from the same local roaster on the shelf. Row & Roast Coffee Co. is not trying to be a multi-roaster tasting bar with a chalkboard of processes and brew recipes; it keeps to a direct programme, with americano and cappuccino named by the house as the drinks to expect. The roaster gives the bar its local weight. Muskoka Roastery is Canadian owned and operated, B Corp certified, Bullfrog powered, and known for sustainability work that includes Rainforest Alliance sourcing and compostable pods. At the café that translates into an easy order rather than a lecture: espresso, milk, brewed coffee, and a bag to take back to the room or home. The food follows the same resort logic, with baking and snacks made by the Deerhurst kitchen.

A resort counter that works like a public coffee stop

The room has two jobs and does both plainly. It serves the guest who wants a coffee before the day starts, and it gives Huntsville locals a public-facing counter inside the resort rather than a members-only hotel amenity. Service is at the counter, with an on-the-go rhythm for takeaway and enough of a sitting, reading or working brief that it is not simply a kiosk. That matters in a resort setting, where coffee too often ends up an afterthought between breakfast service and the lobby. Here the café is part of Deerhurst’s dining programme but keeps its own identity as a daytime gathering point. The best use of it is simple: come when the bar is moving, order at the counter, and let the place be what it is: a practical coffee stop with local beans and resort-made food rather than a street-corner espresso bar.

Order the cappuccino with something from the day’s bake

Start with the cappuccino if milk coffee is your usual. It is one of the two drinks the house names, and it makes sense of Muskoka Roastery’s role here: familiar, steady, and suited to a counter serving resort guests, meetings, readers and passers-by at the same time. If you take coffee black, the americano is the cleaner order, especially if you are deciding whether to carry a bag of beans away with you. Add whatever fresh baked good or snack is in the case that morning. The café does not trade on a named signature pastry; the point is that the Deerhurst kitchen makes the supporting food internally. That makes the order less about hunting a famous item and more about pairing a classic espresso drink with the day’s bake. Watch the retail shelf too, since the take-home bags are the quiet pointer for regulars who want the same coffee after they leave.