Laura Richard felt spellbound while listening to a story her partner, Brad Rideout, told her about growing up on Campobello Island. That story involved his grandfather who, as a boat pilot, often reminisced about when products had been shipped from tropical places to ports in Eastern Canada.
This story talked about how that journey infused these food products, coffee among them, with an ocean-air flavour which, according to Rideout’s grandfather, made each product taste different from those shipped during modern times via container ships, trains, and trucks.
These stories inspired Richard, who has a PhD in chemistry and whose studies began with an undergraduate degree from the University of New Brunswick (UNB), to find an explanation. Rideout was also curious, as he’d always wondered if these “ocean-infused” flavour tales were true. Pairing a scientific—and also creative—approach with critical thinking, Richard thought, “We can mock up something that would recreate that,” she says. “And so down into the basement lab I went.”
It turns out they were onto something, and found a way to bring that flavour back to life. Four years later, the couple now operate Saltwinds Coffee, where they roast and sell ocean-infused coffee blends from their Fredericton facility. The award-winning business now has a team of 10, and is selling its coffee online and in stores like Sobeys across the Maritimes, Ontario, and soon the United States. They’re engaging with the world, right from Fredericton, one ocean-infused cup of coffee at a time.
Richard is the company’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, and was named one of Atlantic Canada’s 25 most powerful women in business in 2024. Her life and business partner, Rideout, is co-founder and CEO and fellow UNB alum, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science, Computer Science degree from the university.
It’s been decades since both graduated from UNB, but their connections to the university and its community remain strong as they employ and mentor UNB interns through Saltwinds, and work with other UNB teams to examine novel technologies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coffee roasting process. This work also involves scientists at RPC Science & Engineering.
Richard’s studies continued after graduating from UNB, when she moved from her native Fredericton to study in Oxford, United Kingdom, where she later received her PhD. She credits UNB with kickstarting her career, and recalls how she loved its small class sizes and the connections they fostered. One of her professors at UNB had gone to Oxford and gave her a recommendation, which she says was a crucial part of gaining admittance there.
Richard says her UNB journey always felt special, thanks to the university’s size and location. She chose it over a larger school that had offered her a full scholarship, because she knew the experience would be worth it.
Decades later, she stands by that decision.
“I felt like the more intimate experience at UNB would be better for me,” she says. “That kind of experience is harder to get at a bigger school where you're just a number.”
