I need coffee. If this is your first conscious thought before you even roll out of bed, you are not alone. Fifty-four percent of Americans drink coffee every day.
The $ 40 billion-a-year coffee industry has made it practically a national pastime in the U. S. and this winter coffee drinkers will warm their frozen bodies with an average of three cups per day. Its roots in American culture go back as far as the birth of our country. The British government’ s high tax on tea and the subsequent Boston Tea Party pretty much guaranteed coffee’ s place at the table in the Colonies.
In 1824, Thomas Jefferson called coffee“ the favorite drink of the civilized world.”
In the new millennium, according to the National Association of Coffee, after crude oil, coffee is the most sought commodity in the world.
We can thank Starbucks for introducing the masses to the world of coffee vernacular like grande, frappe and macchiato, and for addicting the next generation of hot beverage drinkers to the roasted bean’ s alluring aroma.
We also can thank the caffeine conglomerate for the surge in cozy coffee houses— like Out of the Grey Coffeehouse on West Lake Road in Fairview— where we can quench our cravings.
This coffee establishment is for the hardcore coffee lover. It has 54 organic coffees from around the world that is roasted in-house at the peak of freshness.
Owner and Fairview resident Jack Barton says,“ We are constantly roasting, creating flavors or helping customers create new coffees.”
In a process that Barton describes as very hot and laborsome, he can roast up to 30 pounds of beans in about 12 minutes, but it requires close attention, adding organic spices and oils to flavor the beans.
Out of the Grey Coffeehouse roasts coffee for many local corporate clients but the staff’ s passion lies in including coffee house and online patrons in the coffee making process by allowing them to create their own flavors.
If you visit outofthegreycoffee. com, you can play around with flavor combinations, name your creation and ship it anywhere or pick it up locally. Think how fun it would be to make a unique blend for each of the coffee drinkers you know. You can even share your concoction with other coffee connoisseurs.
Don’ t stress if naming your own coffee gives you anxiety, there are plenty of flavorful combinations already available listed in the café“ flavorites” with fun names like Hunk a Hunk a Burning Love, Glacial Groove, Oreo Golden Thunder, and the cheeky Penn DOT Rocky Road.
Tea toters, do not be dismayed. Out of the Grey offers over 280 types of loose-leaf teas as well.
“ We make our own chai and you can add your own flavors. Once, someone created an orange creamsicle chai, and then we had 14 others order it that weekend. It was a hit,” says Barton.
Since the roasters are busy doing their day job of roasting the beans, the coffee house and café are only open in the evenings, Thursday through Saturday, but you can grab more than a nameyour-own hot beverage. The menu also includes light fare like soups, salads, pizzas and paninis.
If you like your java with a side of sweets, Main Street Cakery Café on West Ridge Road in Fairview has the market cornered. The famous cinnamon stick buns are pull-apart goodness baked in butter and brown sugar.
“ We are constantly roasting, creating flavors and helping customers create new coffees.”
Owners Sam and Cindy Ring opened the café in 2013 when they decided to expand from their Albion location. They’ ve since shut down the Albion location to focus on the Fairview restaurant.
The Rings’ three daughters, Morgan, 17, Courtney, 15, and Alexa, 14, also help at the café, waitressing, baking and working in the kitchen.
The location used to be a coffee shop so the Rings decided to incorporate coffee into the menu. They even have a drive thru window so you don’ t have to leave your car on those blustery winter days to pick up your coffee and muffins on the way to work.
“ I am not a coffee person. I like tea but we had people say,‘ I want a double black eye,’ when we opened. I said,‘ Oh man, you need to tell me what that is.’ I don’ t know all that lingo,” jokes Cindy Ring.
A woman in Girard roasts the coffee and Port Java supplies the flavored coffees.
“ We always have two specialty flavored coffees per day. Southern Pecan is really popular, so we try to always have that plus another flavor. We have had flavors like snickerdoodle, pumpkin pie, French vanilla and chocolate raspberry,” says Ring.
All of the baked goods, from banana bread to chocolate chip cookies, are made from scratch. Main Street Cakery Café also has a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. As an added bonus, breakfast is served all day. n
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