Uncommon Blogging

2010-01-02T14:05:00.003-05:00

OUR EFFORTS TO BE EARTY FRIENDLY

we recycle

we use energy efficient cfl lightbulbs

we painted our walls with eco-friendly paint and primer

we switched our plastic cold cups to a bio-degradable cornstarch based product

we are forming partnerships with plantations and directly purchasing our coffee beans from the farmers

we are purchasing greens from local farmers

we are growing organic herbs in our garden

we will continue to save coffee grounds and food scraps for compost which will be available come spring

2009-12-23T11:43:00.003-05:00

Partnership Coffee
The People of Finca Matala

In the late 1990’s after the Salvadoran Civil War, the government gave each of the 186 families that make up the Finca Matala a manzana (3 acres) of land. Each family had to either be a veteran of the war or the widow of a veteran. Finca Matala is an area of dense vegetation and steep mountainsides. The roads in the region have been constructed by the hands of the family without the help of modern technology or machinery.

The growers live in villages in and around Finca Matala. There are 30 separate villages consisting of between 15 and 70 families. Families are large and many have more than 10 children. There is no running water or electricity. Homes are makeshift and made of sticks and corrugated steel with dirt floors. Each home consists of one room.

Despite the living conditions, the families seem happy. The people are hard-working and family is very important. They take great pride in their work.

During harvest time they work from sunrise until sunset. The whole family participates in harvesting the cherries. Harvesting requires climbing steep mountainsides while filling their baskets and maneuvering the steep terrain. Older men carry a machete to trim the weeds that surround the tree and to get to hard to reach trees. The pride that they show of their coffee is extremely apparent. They will proudly show you that they only pick the ripe cherries. One man approached us, he had badly crippled hands from arthritis, but wanted to show us that he had picked 100 pounds of cherries throughout the day. They are also proud of the way that they maintain their coffee plants—they trim the trees a certain way in order to strengthen the tree and produce more cherries.

The people were very welcoming and took time out of their work to greet us. They continually offered food. Along with their food they always served coffee. They took great pride in their coffee. They were more than happy to show how they roasted their coffee over a wood fire in their kitchens.

The Coffee Growing Region
The coffee is grown in western El Salvador, in a region called Canton El Naranjijo Concepcion de Ataco. The coffee is from a co-op (official name is Asociacion cooperative Santa Cruz de Ataco) which covers an area of approximately 245 manzanas (1 manzana= 3 acres). The coffee is grown at an altitude of 4000-4700 ft about sea level. The coffee is shade grown and organic. Coffee is harvested between mid-November and January. Tree types are primarily Bourbon and Pacamara.

Harvesting
The coffee is picked over a period of 3 months. It is grown along the steep mountainside in dense vegetation. In order to reach this region it is a 2 hour plus trip on hard to navigate dirt roads. Once the cherries have reached their peak ripeness they are hand picked by the families of Finca Matala. The whole family takes part in the harvesting including the children starting at about eight years old. The families pick the coffee and place them in wicker baskets. They pick only the ripe cherries making a minimum of three passes by the same tree throughout the harvest time. These cherries are then placed in large bags and hauled to the roadside. A truck then comes and delivers the coffee to the processing plant. The truck then takes the coffee to the weigh station on the manzana where each person’s coffee is weighed and logged. At the end of the harvest season the growers will be paid according to the amount that they picked which is defined by what is recorded in the log book.

Each manzana will produce between 600 and 1,200 pounds of cherries, only 20% become green coffee. So each manzana or family only produces 120-240 pounds of coffee per year. They have sold the cherries to the processing plant for as little as $.50/lb in some years.

Preparation and Processing
The coffee is processed by a coffee processing plant, J.J. Borjavin Ataco. It is processed using the wet hulled method. This processing method removes the outer skin of the red cherries by a pulping machine. The beans are then mechanically sorted by size and weight and then put into fermentation thanks for four hours. The beans are then sun dried fro about 7-10 days.

We met with the general manager of this processing plant, Atilia Zededa Magawa. He is a gracious man who had been in the coffee business for over fifty years. We toured the facility and cupped 10 different coffees. After the tour we returned to this facility again at 11 pm. This is the time that the trucks start coming in from the plantations. The men at this plant will work until 6 in the morning. Harvesting and processing coffee is truly an around the clock event.

We were able to see the coffee from Finca Matala being processed. Once this coffee was unloaded from the truck, we wre able to see the difference in the quality of the cherries picked from Finca Matala compared to the other fincas. Only dark red cherries were present in Finca Matala’s crop compared to the green and overripe cherries from the other fincas. Their dedication is a testament to the commitment of quality from the growers of Finca Matala.

Uncommon Ground’s Partnership with Finca Matala
The growers of Finca Matala are good hard working proud people trying to provide for the families. They live in remote villages in one room homes with dirt floors and no electricity or running water.

The combination of their hard work and the location of their land, they produce exceptional coffee. However, they do not have the means to sell their coffee at a fair price.

Uncommon Grounds has committed to purchase their coffee at a price 50% more than they would receive otherwise. Uncommon Grounds will make an initial purchase of 10,000 pounds of coffee from Finca Matala. Our goal is to purchase their entire crop (40,000 pounds) in the future. We will visit annually monitoring their progress and invite others to join on a coffee tour of Finca Matala. We hope through our love for coffee we can improve the living conditions of our cohorts.

Click on the link below to view pictures from our recent trip to El Salvador.

http://www.uncommongroundscafe.com/v1/gallery

2009-11-24T07:40:00.002-05:00

Holiday Drinks are here!!

Gingerbread Man - a mocha with a shot of gingerbread syrup topped with our house made marshmallows

Cider Italiano - hot apple cider with amaretto syrup

Frosty the Mocha - a mocha with a shot of frosted mint syrup topped with whipped cream

Candy Cane Hot Chocolate - white hot chocolate with a shot of peppermint syrup topped with whipped cream

Shoppers Delight - a sweet latte with espresso syrup and an extra shot to keep you going!

Butterscotch Cookie - a white chocolate and butterscotch mocha topped with our house made marshmallows

U.G.'s Flu Shot - fresh juiced ginger and lemon with a touch of honey and a shot of echinacea finished off with hot water

2009-11-03T13:42:00.002-05:00

Stop in and try some of our Must-Try Fall Drinks!!

UG's Flu Shot - ginger, lemon and hot water with a touch of honey and a shot of echinacea

Spiced Cider - hot apple cider with cinnamon and hazelnut

Mexican Hot Chocolate - hot chocolate with a kick of cinnamon topped with whipped cream

Kicking-Leaves Hot Chocolate - hot chocolate made with white chocolate and maple spice topped with our house made marshmallows

Butternut Latte - a delicious blend of Toffee Nut and Butterscotch in a latte topped with whipped cream

Pumpkin Patch Mocha - a white chocolate and pumpkin spice mocha topped with our house made marshmallows

SUMMER THEME DAYS!

2009-05-13T12:47:00.002-04:00

AS MANY OF YOU KNOW WE USUALLY HAVE THEME DAYS ON HOLIDAYS THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER. THIS YEAR WE HAVE DECIDED TO GET EVEN CRAZIER AND HAVE THEME DAYS EVERY SATURDAY FROM MEMORIAL DAY THROUGH LABOR DAY!! STOP IN AND CHECK OUT THE CRAZY BARISTAS OF UNCOMMON GROUNDS!

Saturday May 23 - Hip Hop Day
Saturday May 30 - Crazy Sunglass Day
Saturday June 6 - Pajama Party
Friday June 12 - Sunday June 14 Hollywood Weekend (Waterfront Film Festival!)
Saturday June 20 - Zombie Day
Saturday June 27 - Beach Bum Day
Saturday July 4 - All American Day
Saturday July 11 - Christmas in July
Saturday July 18 - Hippie Day
Saturday July 25 - Sailor Day (Venitian Weekend!)
We'll add the rest soon!

2009-02-19T08:18:00.002-05:00

Below are some reviews we found on Uncommon Grounds online.

The best coffee in townFirst to Review - August 22, 2007 Gay owned cafe that offers the best coffee in town, roasted in-house. Made to order fruit smoothies, too. Live music in the garden on the weekends. You can also pick up a copy of "Between the Lines," the local gay newspaper.

Ande H.Carmel, IN5 star rating8/27/2008 Just when you think you've had the best coffee Uncommon Grounds shows up. I had the Sugar Daddy = Latte with Caramel, Hazelnut & Whipped Cream. After my first sip I felt my eyes rolling back into my head. That just sounds so wrong ... but it was oh so right. Hubby had some chilled drink that had ginger in it. VERY TASTY. We were both so glad we stopped by to grab a drink, walk about town, and venture down to the water. Thank you UG for making our trip to Saugatuck a memorable one. We'll be back.

Delilah D.Saugatuck, MI5 star rating4/18/2008 The best coffee in town!!! Seriously. UG roasts their own beans, and brews up a great cup of coffee. They also feature light meals, egg scrambles, and tons of yummy sweet stuff all made from scratch. Open at 6am. Friendly staff, and free WiFi. The central bulletin board is the place to find out what is happening around town. Seating is featured indoors, out on the front porch, and also in the lovely garden out back. Occasional featured musicians during the summer, and local art is also shown inside.

Becky M.Chicago, IL5 star rating7/21/2008 This is a great place-especially if you're a Starbuck's addict stuck in a town with no chain establishments of any kind (a great thing in my opinion.) They laughed when I accidentally ordered my drink "tall" instead of small. The coffee was great! They have a TON of options and creative coffee drinks. Also-smoothies, juices blends and a small breakfast, lunch, snack menu.

Kayla S.South Haven, MI5 star rating5/12/2008 This is the best place to get any sort of coffee. They also have wonderfull hot chocolate and the best smoothies. The desserts are really rich and even have vegitarian snacks. The staff is great and if you need a place to slow down after a day of shopping this is the place. There is endless things (all good) to say about this place. And sitting outside and watching all the people go by is great too!

3 Responses to “Reflections :: Saugatuck, Michigan” 1. Jenny Says: July 15, 2007 at 12:06 am Saugatuck is also home to Uncommon Grounds, one of the best coffee shops pretty much ever. 2. farlane Says: July 16, 2007 at 5:28 am Gotta love distributed intelligence! Here’s the Uncommon Grounds Cafe web site. 3. becca Says: March 20, 2008 at 9:45 am very pretty

Uncommon Grounds adds Douglas roasting facility!

2008-12-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

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.