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/59523
BEST OF THE BOONIES continued from page 41 have also been instrumental in creating the current thirst. "The first thing customers are buying is the place and the product they can get there," says Roberts. "Only after they trust you and you've become a part of their day do they look deeper into what you're using and what you're doing." WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR BREW METHOD Last fall, Sanford Bledsoe went looking for the perfect place to take the next step in his coffee career. The 28-year-old had spent several years as a barista at a quality-oriented shop in the Midwest, and he knew he wanted to land somewhere he could serve micro-lot coffee to customers more interested in great product than big sizes and flavored syrups. He ended up choosing the very city he left in the first place: Ann Arbor, Mich. The home of the University of Michigan, it turns out, is starting to take its cup qual- ity just as seriously as its college football and SAT scores. Well-educated, eco-minded stu- dents and professors who were some of the first adopters of the fair trade and locavore movements have transitioned seamlessly into the brew-by-the-cup and coffee seasonality concepts that have become central to a number of local roasters and shops. What's more, the town is one where independent businesses that foster community tend to thrive. "Ann Arbor is kind of like 'Cheers,' where you walk in some- where and everyone is like, 'Hey!'" says Bledsoe, who last month opened a pop-up café called The (Espresso) Bar in his hometown. "It's really nice to be a part of it." At the center of Ann Arbor's specialty coffee scene—and its quality-food scene in general— is a 30-year-old company called Zingerman's, which started as a deli and fine-food store that focused on sourcing its own products from across the globe. The company's ethic caught on, and the entity has since turned into a "community of businesses"—eight sepa- rate companies, each of which serves a differ- ent culinary category while still carrying the Zingerman's name. "They laid the footwork for other local businesses to really thrive," says Lisa McDonald, who opened the premium loose-leaf-tea store TeaHaus in Ann Arbor in late 2007. "It definitely helped in cultivating a 42 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com ANN ARBOR, MICH. THE (ESPRESSO) BAR local pride and foodie network. To survive here, you really have to give a crap about quality." In 2003, Zingerman's Coffee was born, with a man named Allen Leibowitz leading the way. The Zingerman's protocol of going to source was a natural fit for a roasting operation looking to bring great brews to the college town. Other small, source-minded rosters such as RoosRoast Coffee and Mighty Good Coffee have since sprouted in the area. "Early on, the coffee com- munity was maybe lagging the country a little bit," says Leibowitz. "Then the espresso culture really picked up. People started caring about quality and carrying single-varietal beans." The Ann Arbor scene was propelled further forward when indie café Comet Coffee opened in 2009. Owner Jim Saborio, who grew up in the area and had spent years as a barista both in Ann Arbor and other cities, opted to feature a variety of well-regarded roasters from across the nation in his shop. And he and his staff began offering handcrafted brews on pour-over, siphon and other single-cup methods. The shop has settled into a routine of offer- ing a handful of different coffees every day, featuring roasting superstars such as Ritual, Intelligentsia, Terroir and Square Mile as well as the local guys. "We don't feel like there's a single roaster that's offering the best of everything," says Saborio. "And customers have really sub- scribed to that point of view. They're willing to try something new because we stand behind it." Bledsoe, who worked at Comet before his cof- COMET COFFEE fee soul search led him to open his own spot, says his business isn't necessarily an attempt to take Ann Arbor coffee to a new level. It's more just fulfilling demand in a town that now has a big taste for great shots and brews. The (Espresso) Bar, which Bledsoe opened on ZINGERMAN'S a shoestring budget with his girlfriend, Anna Foster, occupies a section of the bottom floor of a high-end cocktail spot called The Bar. Bledsoe and Foster serve coffee from Detroit-area roaster Anthology, and thus far, they've been able to find a customer base that shares their coffee- purist views: To-go orders are served in Mason jars (with a $1 deposit) to discourage the use of disposable cups, and the largest drink size available is eight ounces. "We're trying not to be pretentious about it," says Bledsoe. "It's just cof- fee. But I think you can be enthusiastic about it and allow other people to be enthusiastic about it when they come in." continued on page 44