Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/131835
G ridiron, meet the grinder. Canton, Ohio, located an hour south of Cleveland, is known more as the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame than as a hotbed of specialty roasts and blends. But recent years have seen the rise of a handful of independent shops that are primed to tackle the local scene. Leading that landscape shift is Muggswigz, a quality-focused roaster-retailer with a thriving downtown café and a recently opened second location in a nearby suburb. The flagship Muggswigz, seated in an unpretentious place in a gritty area of town, is reminiscent of a college coffee joint. The shop's motto is "relax … savor … conquer … repeat," and many Canton residents have been happy to follow those instructions. M uggswigz's founder is Alex Haas, a shaggy-haired 33-year-old who holds a degree in molecular genetics. He worked on a vaccine for the anthrax virus while studying at the University of Rochester, and though he'd planned a life in the lab, a trip to Italy steered his interest toward coffee. Using a savings account he started building at age 18 and some funds he earned in the stock market, Haas opened Muggswigz in 2003, less than a year after graduating from college. "I had just enough money to open the doors," he says. The name comes from a line in the Lewis Carroll short story "The Walking Stick of Destiny," but Haas also likes to point out the café connection, "a swig from a mug." 58 COFFEE ALMANAC • June 2013 The company's original location has a cozy, eclectic feel with small tables and community seating, and its primary clientele includes downtown workers and college students from nearby Malone University. Many folks hunker behind laptops, but just as many people are engaged in conversation. C offee-wise, Muggswigz stocks about a dozen singleorigin selections and four blends at any time. Haas, who also serves as Muggswigz's roastmaster, says Italianstyle roasting is still the preference among Canton coffee drinkers. "People can't get enough of our darker roasts," he says. He roasts beans several times a week on the shop's Diedrich IR-12. Though coffee is Muggswigz's focus, significant shelf space is devoted to loose-leaf-tea tins and accouterments for steeping— the shops carries around 30 types of tea and tisanes. "Most of the tea blending we do ourselves, although there are a few [pre-made] blends that are really good," Haas explains. "We can't do better, so we just buy those. I think tea is in a similar place that espresso and coffee were when Starbucks was in its original high-growth era." The owner is also passionate about house-made syrups, and the shop offers a rotating selection of seasonal flavors including fresh lavender and sage. "Nobody else does this," Haas says. Also unique to Muggswigz is a breakfast and/or dessert item regularly stocked in its pastry case called Morsi; it resembles an extra-large, golden-brown doughnut hole and is made with whole-wheat flour, peanut butter and honey.