Monigram Coffee Roasters
The summer of 2013, Monica & Graham Braun opened the doors to their very own café. After significant renovations the husband-wife team transformed the century building into a beautiful roaster & café that showcases the buildings past –keeping the rustic bricks and removing flooring that revealed elegant hardwood from the 1920s. Besides the locations’ significant transformation, this was a personal one as well, as they were taking the plunge to follow their passion by starting a roaster and café.
The warm and charming personalities of the owners are evident with the character of the place. The coffee roaster is the first thing noticed when you walk in the cafe, with a coffee slow bar (siphons & drip brewers) and a ballet studio above the café. Even on their business cards they took the opportunity to crack a few jokes – next to Graham’s phone number he writes “Text my cell – I might answer if I remembered to charge it.”
Monica, is a ballet teacher and has a space above the café where she continues to teach ballet classes. Despite the odd combination of services, occasionally there is a serendipitous sale.
“I’ve actually had people come in here around the time when the adult ballet classes were about to start. I’d ask ‘are you here for Ballet?’ and they would say ‘No… we were just here for coffee’ but they came and joined the whole hour ballet class… and then I got them coffee after.”, Monica explains.
I think that coffee roasting appeals to both that creative side and that analytical side.
Graham is a former engineer and former drummer who’s artistic yet scientific background allows him to succeed as a roaster. Part creative, he has the focus to discover each bean for their potential roasting profile but part engineer he meticulously ensures its consistency with his temperature graphing analysis. Graham describes “I think that coffee roasting appeals to both that creative side and that analytical side. There’s engineering in terms of the science of what’s going on and there’s also art in terms of the exploration of what should be possible with the products you’re working with.”