But spring is magical here! And summer’s glory is close at hand as well. It’s the land of freshness! Bees and birds and trees and flowers and people… they’re all living in caffeinated harmony over here.
Here at RoosRoast we like to think of ourselves as the hub:  a Chamber of Commerce where the first priority is amazing coffee.  Our second priority is community. In a cafe setting where the funk flows, you’re going to meet someone new and interesting to talk with every time, whether you be a wayward traveler just passing through, or an established local who’s lived here the last 40 years.
This post is a visitor’s guide for users of Ann Arbor. We know there are a lot of new people in town for any number of camps, internships, workshops, classes, or just a visit.  You’re all going to need coffee and insider info during your stay, so choose RoosRoast. We’re right on your way into town, and we’ve got all the knowledge you need to stay on top of summer goings-on.

Ann Arbor has music, theater, movies, festivals, EVERYTHING! The African American Festival, The Dexter Ann Arbor Run, Top of the Park, the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair and great summer sales for shoppers are just a few of this city’s grand offerings. We also have the best farmers market in Michigan and a whole mess of great restaurants. Try some awesome street food at Mark’s Carts or San Street Food, or check out your fine dining options on Main Street! Martinis and bottle rockets are always nice with babes at the Black Pearl, or try some gourmet, local excellence and killer drinks at The Grange Kitchen and Bar. A couple other favorites of the RoosRoast crew are 327 Braun Court, Alley Bar, and ABC.

–> A note on the bus system: Ann Arbor has pretty excellent public transportation, but if you’re using public transit, remember to grab one bus earlier than the one you think you need. Better safe than sorry! Schedules can be found here. <–

Ann Arbor is an amazing place for outdoor activity. Our bike commuters are insanely dedicated, so no matter the weather you’ll see bike lanes full of badass riders! There are always pick-up games of soccer, basketball, kickball and more if you look around for them, and Frisbees are being tossed at the Arb 24/7.  It’s back to the basics here in Ann Arbor- good, clean, old-fashioned outdoor fun. You can even rent bikes at the university’s Center f9r Outdoor Adventure (along with a million and one other rental possibilities!) So leave your SUV behind because it’s all about green. Green grass, green rivers, green trees, green mindsets, green energy, and the freshest green coffee going into the roaster at RoosRoast.

Oh, and if you love pizza as much as the RoosCrew, you have ARRIVED. Pizza spoken and delivered here. Domino’s Pizza began in Ypsilanti, and Cottage Inn started right here in Ann Arbor! Also fantastic are Anthony’s Gourmet, NYPD,  and Silvio’s. This is pizza town. Choose from over 25 different pizza shops in a 2 mile radius- everything from Chicago deep dish to New York thin. You could do a work study program and get an MBA in Pizza Studies here, I swear.

Oh, and if you need a taxi call our friend Owl (the only pink cab in Ann Arbor!) at 734.474.1047.
Need a  burrito? Darcy’s Cart.
Need a car or a bike? Call me, John Roos. 734.222.9202. Seriously.

Our local economy is vibrant with businesses supporting businesses and people supporting people. This community votes with its dollars and supports what it believes in with word-of-mouth recommendations and in-person patronage to Michigan local establishments. Get on board! Pass this guide along to your friends, ask questions if you have them, and swing by RoosRoast for the full, deep, local experience that is Ann Arbor coffee roasting.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you soon!

I remain your roaster of fine coffee,

John Roos

Photo taken at Alley Bar by our dear friend Mark Bialek! If you want some beautiful images of Ann Arbor as further summer inspiration, check out his Ann Arbor Nights Blog.

I’m here to break it down for you.

bird friendly: In order to meet the standards of a bird-friendly label, producers must meet the requirements for organic certification first, and then meet additional criteria to ensure they are maintaing the forest cover that provides habitat for birds and other wildlife. This is the strictest of the third-party certifications, and goes through the SMBC (defined further into this article.)

carbon-neutral: A fairly new classification for coffee, the carbon-neutral label carries a claim that the practices of the company sourcing the beans sum up as a net zero emissions of greenhouse gases.  Unfortunately, there is no established international standard, so consultants are the only authoritative voice on this particular title. Additionally, purchase of carbon credits can factor into a carbon-neutral rating, making it – for now – potentially unreliable.

direct trade: Direct trade is often discusses as a “step up” from fair trade. It does not, by definition, require farmers to be members of cooperatives, and cuts out the middle man in the grower-to-buyer chain. The certification requirements of other qualifiers like fair trade – often a deterrent for farmers because they can be costly or too detailed – do not exist within direct trade. Decisions are made solely between the green bean buyer and the seller. Crop to Cup is a great direct trade organization that, because of its strong, face-to-face relationships with its central African coffee farmers, provides high quality, directly traded green beans to roasters across the U.S.

fair trade: Fair trade ensures a fair price for the product for coffee farmers around the world. Large scale companies that produce low-quality or instant coffees can easily take advantage of farmers in impoverished countries who may not be educated on the value of their own product. While there is not one, universally accepted definition, a fair trade label is a co-op certification. It does not support independent farmers. Fair trade certification is not based on quality of product, though when producers are receiving higher prices for their product, it often follows that the ability to invest further into that production will improve on quality automatically.

Farm Gate: Farm Gate Coffee is a direct trade classification unique to Sweet Maria’s (and their extension The Coffee Shrub.) So-titled because of the on-the-ground knowledge of farm conditions, bean quality, community quality of life and in-country currency value, Farm Gate prices are guaranteed at 50% over Fair Trade prices, and often go much higher. RoosRoast’s Java Sunda Pitaloka roast is a Farm Gate coffee.

FTO: This stands for “fair trade organic.”

GrainPro: GrainPro, Inc. is a self-proclaimed “not-only-for-profit” company out of Massachusetts that specializes in Hermetic storage. They have developed a series of airtight containers and bags specifically intended for agricultural products. Their technology significantly lowers the risk of seed (and other products)  loss due to insect presence, weather, flooding and other potential risk factors, which can often be the difference between life and death in rural farming communities. Many coffee bean shipments are now sealed in GrainPro bags which, among other things, assures a freshness and a complexity of flavor unavailable in coffees packaged in only burlap sacks.

microfinanced: Microfinance organizations provide small loans globally – sometimes so small they would be considered pocket change for middle class Americans – to people in rural or impoverished areas. In coffee, microloans provide the necessary funds for seeds, tools, fertilizer and other agricultural needs. In turn, the quality of product rises, as does the income generated by that product. What follows is an increase in quality of life.  Our friends at Unión Microfinanza partner with a community in La Unión, Honduras and provide us with our Marian Perez, Martir Pineda, and Olvin Tejada Honduran beans.

microlot: Within farms or farming regions, microlots are sections of growth that are singled out for particularly excellent quality and are not mixed with other beans of lesser quality. There are often very limited quantities of  microlots because of quality control. Our Kenya Kia Ora roast here at RoosRoast is a Kenyan microlot in which the coffee plants are cultivated alongside macadamia plants, giving the lot an incredibly unique flavor profile.

organic: Organic production means production that has occurred without any help from synthetic substances. For a bag of coffee beans to be officially labeled as organic within the United States, 95% of them must have been grown under organic conditions.

RFA certified: RFA stands for Rainforest Alliance, a non-profit out of New York. They certify only lots that adhere to certain environmental standards. RFA certified farms can use pesticides, cannot alter natural water sources, must pay legal minimum wage to workers, and must maintain (or restore) natural forest cover to achieve 40% shade coverage. Within that coverage, there must be at least 70 trees per hectare and at least 12 native species.

shade-grown: Too often forests are cleared in the interest of faster coffee production (coffee grown in at least partial shade matures more slowly.) “Shade-grown coffee” implies a maintenance of natural environment and habitat for scores of indigenous animal, plant, insect and bird species. There is no international standard for a shade-grown label, so it is simply up to the producer or seller to determine whether or not the beans get advertised as being shade-grown.

smallholding: Smallholding farms are usually farms supporting a single family with cash crops, while also supporting subsistence farming for that family.

SMBC: Stands for Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, the branch of the National Zoo of Washington D.C. that created the national bird-friendly standards and certifies all bird-friendly coffees.

As you search for your responsibly produced coffees, keep in mind that third-party certification does cost money in most cases. Sometimes farmers in the developing world meet all of the standards for organic certification, but can’t afford to pay for official certification. For those of us interested in development studies, this is the point where we advocate for microloans! But I digress.

Keep asking questions.

We love you all.

But not in a creepy way.

This is Olvin Tejada, one of the Honduran coffee farmers who provides us with delicious, microfinanced, direct trade beans! And for that, we thank him.

Speaking of cultivation, we have a new bar!! As if knocking down a wall and doubling our seating capacity wasn’t enough for one week. We have to keep y’all on your toes somehow, eh?
-Here’s why this is cultivation: we’re enhancing the furtherance of our cafe atmosphere and the development of our business. Italics represent synonyms of the word “cultivation.” I could really get lost in thesaurus.com.-

As a RoosRoast barista (or “RoosRista, as we call ourselves [I'm just kidding; no one says that.]) I can say with confidence that we. are. thrilled. A more spacious bar space (that’s redundant, but I cut myself off from the thesaurus after one use per day) is something we’ve needed for a long time because YOU wonderful people are keeping us so busy! So we did this:

Gorgeous, right?

I repeat: WE. ARE. THRILLED. More space for us means more space for you! We now have a station at the end of the bar for cream, sugar, etc, so the front counter space can be exclusively for more seating! And for the Buddha. We would never displace Buddha.

Stop in and check out the changes if you haven’t already! We love feedback (as long as it’s positive. Just kidding, we want it all. But seriously, no negativity. No, I’m kidding.) so don’t hesitate to tell us how the new flow is working for you. Please! Everything we do here is for you.

On a serious note, we want to thank Steve Prokos- from the bottom of our hearts- for everything he did to make the renovations in here a reality. He and John worked incredibly hard to tackle this project, and pulled it off without detriment to the business. We love and appreciate them SO MUCH.

In other news, I want a wolf-dog hybrid puppy more than I want anything else on this earth, but for the time being I have to be content with our slew of shop dogs. So here’s Lily, RoosRoast Guest Pup #1, Queen of the Shop Dogs, being cute. Just being so damn cute. I know I promised kid-friendly, but sometimes you’ve just got to drop “damn cute.” You know? Kids can never learn that lesson too early.

This is happening in the shop as I type. It’s actually taken me a really long time to write this because it’s sort of loud and I’m easily distracted. But I digress.

(We’re still open and brewing those long pulls you love to love. Never fear; we would never abandon you during open hours.)

Anyway.

What is this, you ask? This, my dear Roosians, is the start of an extended seating space in our lil cafe. That’s right, as the spring weather gets springier, we’ll not only be showcasing the picnic table and putting out lawn chairs for you, but we’ll also have more tables and chairs indoors! The call from the RoosRoast addicts has been loud and clear, and we’re listening. We want you to be able to stay here if you want to stay here, even when we’re busy!

Stop in tonight if you want to see the chaos, or come by tomorrow morning to see the brand new openness!

Boom.

Roasted.

[In the interest of honesty, the wall was actually nearly totally gone at the time of this posting. But I'll just let the suspense build until tomorrow.]

***Addendum: Big ups to all of our loyal customers who created the need for this expansion. We love you all and we are so, so happy that you love us. This is a beautiful, symbiotic relationship we have going here. I learned the word ‘symbiosis’ in high school biology, so I can’t help but think of barnacles and baleen whales every time I use it or its variants.

Thanks for being our barnacles.

Sorry for being such a geek.

Gretchen got a message about a huge pile of work that I had slammed on her, just as she rolled in on her bike from a spa treatment in K-Zoo over the Easter weekend.

Laura’s pancakes got cold because she ran outside to tell Brian that the  roaster was emitting unusual smoke after she tried to roast a batch of  Olvin Tejada and then got distracted, and, seeing that it had burned, doused the roaster with water.

Bravo! Here is to B-Money! The Girl did a great job of fooling us all this morning with various April fools jokes and we all fell for it.

Thank Bethany for keeping it real and tuning into the spirit of what makes us tick tock kooky here at ROOS.

You are really amazing!

BossManRoos

That we, RoosRoast, are supplying you film buffs with fresh, deep local coffee all day, every day… FOR FREE?

We are.

John Roos has been involved in the AAFF for eight years. The director of the festival in 2005 found RoosRoast Free Speech Coffee and decided, because the business’ First Amendment-inspired name lined up so well with the artistic values of an experimental film festival, to kick Starbucks (who had been catering the festival up until that point) to the curb and go local.

I’d like to take this moment to apologize to Starbucks for stealing their business. Go local or go home, Ann Arbor.

TONIGHT (Thursday) Ken Burns will be speaking at 5:10 in the main theater. A true story about Ken Burns: in college, two friends and I would watch segments of his Civil War documentary weekly. Just for fun. After homework. Because Ken Burns rules. Attend this talk! It’s a huge deal.

The festival will be going on for another four days. The schedule can be found here, and your complimentary RoosRoast coffee can be found in the lobby of the Michigan Theater. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get some of these babetastic faces serving it to you!

In other news, Bill’s Beer Garden will be featuring RoosRoast’s Rich French Neighbor this weekend with some deliciously festive Irish coffee! The Beer Garden will be reopening after a long winter hiatus THIS WEEKEND, just in time for Saint Patrick’s Day. Make sure your inevitable bar crawl includes Bill’s. You’ll likely run into some or all of the RoosCrew there as well.

Coming next week: it’s finally time for the Ann Arbor Film Festival! John, Laura and I went to the sneak preview last week and this year’s line up looks unstoppable. I mean come on, Ken freaking Burns is speaking on Thursday the 21st. Ken. Freaking. Burns. For crying out loud, have any of you ever seen “The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns??” It’s only the most watched movie of my college career. I wish I were kidding. This is probably why I’m single.
Okay moving on.
Some of my most anticipated films at the AAFF are “Magnetic Reconnection,” “Leviathan,” and the medley of Polish avant-garde animation showing on Friday, March 22. Be there.

Lamentably, amid all of these good things, we regret to inform you that The Exposure Series for March 20 has been canceled. BUT it’ll be back for the final night of the semester on April 17! See us there.

And finally, check out these new “deep local” stickers! We’ll be sending them out with all web orders, and we’ve also got a stockpile in the shop. Get ‘em today! All the cool MacBooks, water bottles, bike helmets, car bumpers and graffiti walls have one.

In other news, I will now be trolling Missed Connections every evening in the hopes that all you Roosians start posting things about RoosRoast baristas. Am I joking? Maybe not.

In other other news, we have yet another winter storm coming our way, Ann Arbor! As you all prepare with your canned goods and your snow bunkers, know that here at RoosRoast we have bikes, skis, snowshoes, and feet. We also have cars, but those are an afterthought. Climate change, y’all.

Anyway, the point is this: we will be here through the storm. We will be here and we will be warm and we will have coffee and it will be GREAT. We’d never dream of making you weather a winter storm in Michigan without your Lobster Butter Love fix.

Fact: lobsters love the snow.

I hope you’re all surviving the Pure Michigan winter madness out there. We’re loving the real winter, unlike that fake one we had to suffer through last year. But whether you love it or hate it, one thing can’t be denied: winter chills call for a warm-up with RoosRoast! We keep the shop cozy with you in mind, so come on in and take advantage.

In the coming days, you’ll find us all around town. Tomorrow’s venture happens at the Exposure Series over on North Quad! John himself was a presenter last semester, and we’ll continue to offer free coffee throughout the event, so stop over for Technology Night from 6-8.

Also coming up is the DNR’s Mitten Mixer. We’re a bunch of outdoorsy, active people here at RoosRoast, so we’re pretty stoked to be part of this event at Pinckney Recreation Area. We’ll be providing a killer coffee tasting from 4:30 – 6:00 for all you single folks. This is going to be so awesome that you should probably just pretend to be single, even if you’re not. Pourover city, y’all. Too good to miss.

We’ve been thinking a lot about how much we love our regular coffee consumers over here in the shop. As cafe staff, we definitely don’t take for granted the fact that we’re able to get to know the faces that come in and out of here every day. There’s a long list of people we want to thank more deeply than a simple blog post, so be watching for some more intense demonstrations of gratitude from our end. And if you’re new to RoosRoast and you’re pretty into us, introduce yourself next time! Networking is a thing that we’re good at, and the more friends we have, the more we brag. Keep us arrogant, RoosWorld.

BREAKING ROOSNEWS:

We’re all over Ann Arbor.com.

and also YouTube.

And Ann Arbor.com again.

That’s all for now, but STAY TUNED, BABES. This is only going to get better.

Social Media Monster John Roos does his Instagram thing.

We’re starting with the Valentine’s No-Brainer. Some of you may have seen our sample packs (hell, I’d be willing to bet that the existence of the sample pack is what got at least a couple of you hooked on Roos in the first place.) Those cute little 4 ounce bags o’ beans? Well for Valentine’s Day, we suggest feeling the love and giving the gift of Lobster Butter Love in miniature! We’ll wrap this little guy up for you with a festive ribbon and everything. This is a gift that goes over great by itself, or supplements others nicely. Cost for this cute little guy is just $5.

Next up is the Mug of Love giftie. Once more with the 4 ounce sample pack of LBL, but this time we’re throwing in a RoosRoast Lobster Butter mug as well! For all your home RoosRoast needs, this $10 gift idea is what we call a home run. A lobster home run. Have you ever seen a lobster run the bases? Neither have I, but it’d probably be pretty endearing. Just like this Mug of Love.

Looking for a creative way to ask your sweetheart on a RoosRoast-inspired date? Look no further! Coffee for Two is a gift certificate of sorts, good for any two drinks and any two pastries here in the shop. Let us be part of your Valentine’s Day in the least-creepy way possible. We love you, and we know you’ll love this $12 coffee date.

Last but not least, we’re bringing back the ever-popular Collaboration, this time with a Valentine’s twist! We’ve partnered with another local foodie, Nancy Biehn of Sweet Gem Confections, to bring you this: one pound of Lobster Butter Love beans alongside a delicious, six-piece variety box of Nancy’s truffles. We’ve tasted the chocolates (repeatedly. Don’t tell my personal trainer) and can vouch for their perfection. A $29 deal on this partnership can’t be beat!

These products can be found in our online store right here. Orders can always be placed over the phone (call the shop during open hours at 734.222.9202) or in person in our storefront.

Grands mercis to our awesome photographer Mark Bialek! See more of his work here.