An American travel television show has featured the Snowdome Laundromat / Coffee Bar in an upcoming episode on the Rocky Mountains.

The PBS station’s popular travel show Travelscope will be featuring Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper in the second episode of the third season, which has started airing on some PBS stations in the US and is set to air in border channels and in Canada in the next couple of months.

The episode, filmed last September, features host Joseph Rosendo touring the Columbia Icefields, the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, the Jasper Tramway, Edith Cavell, Maligne Canyon and stopping in to try ‘the best coffee in town’ at Snowdome.

“We were really excited to see it. It was nice to be featured, and it was nice to have Jasper in there,” says Sam Koebel, owner of the coffee-serving laundromat. “Usually Jasper kind of gets short changed on that kind of stuff, so it’s nice to see it,” he says on the topic of being overshadowed by Banff.

So why did this US station that features exotic places all over the world drop in to Snowdome?

“I think they were impressed with the way we meet the needs of the traveller quite well. People who are looking to get cleaned up, have a coffee, and do it in a comfortable environment,” Koebel says. “So they kind of liked the concept, and of course they are in those kind of facilities fairly often in their travels, so anything that you can do to make laundry less painful is probably a good thing.”

Koebel says it was interesting to be alongside the renowned Lake Louise Tea House, also featured in the episode, as well as the Chateau Lake Louise, Banff’s Bow River and Banff Springs Hotel, and some wildlife along the way.

He also said that it was good to see Rosendo and the crew enjoying the town. “It was nice that the crew and Joseph and his wife had a good time here. They enjoyed themselves. That was really nice. They said they really enjoyed the Jasper leg (of the trip). Off camera it was the same,” he says. “I think a lot of the places they visit are pretty busy, lots going on. I think they enjoyed the solitude of the Rockies. And I think that was depicted well.”

In the last five years Snowdome has upgraded all of its washing machines and dryers to be more efficient. Water and gas consumption is something that Koebel has tried to reduce. “And for our coffee water we pay special attention to that, which is part of the reason our coffee is tasty. We’ve got nice filters.”

That could be the secret, but there is likely more to it than that. To view a preview of Travelscope’s Canadian Rockies episode, visit http://travelscope.net/episodes/view/alberta_canada_-_the_canadian_rockies/.