nourish: Monigram Coffee Roasters

Darling, old flames die hard. Sometimes relationships implode or fall apart on their own, but other times we need to make a conscious decision. In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you no longer need it. Face it, things are stale, aged, musty and flat. It’s time to break up with your local coffee fix. Because there’s a new charmer in town who’s gonna treat you right.

It’s a beautiful, authentic roastery standing proud in the Cafe 13 parking lot. Meet your new best friend, Monigram Coffee Roasters - the brainchild of coffee lovers and dreamers, Monica and Graham.

Monigram coffee is made with quality beans, fine machinery, careful hands and true love. True, delicious love. Your favourite coffee classics reside here as well as some more eccentric concoctions in the array of Pour Over, Full Immersion and Pressurized brewing techniques.

Monigram has the air of an urban roastery while showcasing the classic century-old details of Cambridge architecture that UWSA students know intimately. The transformation of this charming building’s interior was an exciting process of discovery for Monica and Graham who uncovered untouched wooden floors, exposed finally crafted brick walls and freed robust wooden posts from their painted finishes. The bar counter is a beautiful Cedar of Lebanon number from your favourite wood shop, A&M. Sweet wood to steel details, too.

Our adventure began with a Chemex brew, producing a full body, clean-in-the-cup coffee. For a more delicate brew accenting the nuances of the bean, Graham recommends a Hario V60 Pour Over brew.

To Monigram, the art of brewing is to follow a path that leads to the best, personal enjoyment of a cup of coffee that you can find. The combinations and permutations can be exhausting, explains Graham, and the trick is to narrow it down significantly rather than knowing everything there is to know about coffee. It’s all about sharing the love: you will find no shred of coffee snobbery here but you will find plenty of wisdom, passion and patience. For Graham, coffee is an iterative process of discovery and he openly invites customers into his whimsical laboratory to test ingredients, methods, temperatures, and timings for themselves.

Perhaps you’ll treat yourself to the sweet little performance art piece that is the Siphon brew, a combined Pour Over and Immersion technique that serves up a hot, smooth cup.

Behind the slow bar you’ll find the coffee chemists Kyoto Dripper, a slow drip brewing method that produces one litre of coffee over a period of 8-12 hours. The result is a cold, delicate, low-acid coffee that still has the strong caffeine kick you crave. A great base for ice coffees.

We ended our adventure with a sweet little macchiatto.

There are even more reasons why Monigram is a dream come true for UWSA students. It is open on Sundays, armed with free, stable wifi, and equipped with an ample supply of USB outlets stationed at each table. Plus, the event space up-top is just waiting to host our coffee houses, exhibitions, Pecha Kuchas…

Come enjoy single-origin and microlot coffees sourced from from Ethiopia, Kenya, Indonesia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil and Mexico. Monigram will officially open next week.

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nourish is an ongoing review series of food purveyors within reach of UWSA students. If you are interested in contributing to this series or have related inquiries/concerns, please email [email protected]