Ember "setupController" in route does not work

I am having the following code in a route mixin, in my ember up ( cofee script )

setupController: (controller, model)->
 @._super(controller, model)
 controller.set('total_items', this.store.metadataFor(@get('resource'))['total'])

The value is returned properly, but then if I try to access the "total_items" in a controller, I get "undefined". Why could be the reason behind that?