Uncommon Grounds adds Douglas roasting facility!

Uncommon Grounds Coffee Roasters & Cafe of Saugatuck is opening a stand-alone coffee-roasting facililty at 2948 Blue Star Highway in Douglas. The 600-square-foot-plus facility, in the same building as the Blue Star Antique Pavilion and Saugatuck Brewing Company, will have a Probat Drum Roaster more than twice the size of the roaster used at the downtown cafe site. The new machine can roast up to 100 pounds per hour. "The cafe and roasting business have been competing for space at the cafe location," said manager Casey Boeve. "Adding a separate roasting location allows us to expand our wholesale business without sacrificing service at our cafe." "We chose the Probat because we feel it produces a superior roast," business co-owner Stephen Keye said. "It is the same make and type of roaster that we have in the cafe. We will continue to roast smaller batches at our cafe." Uncommon Grounds, in business for more than 15 years, is an increasingly well-known micro-roaster of mostly organic and fair trade coffees. It supplies custom-blended and varietal coffees to restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries and lodging establishments in southwest Michigan and Chicago, and an increasing number of accounts across the United States. The new facility is scheduled to open in January.