Local Roaster Sources Coffee from Community Minded Farmer Using New Coffee Lab

Local Coffee Roaster, Muggswigz, has designed a new Coffee and Tea Lab at their Downtown Canton location at 137 Walnut Ave NE. The Lab s used by the company's wholesale department for QC, training, and R&D. The lab hosted a National PreliminaryCoffee Competition in the summer of 2018 and has since been a setting where tea and coffee blends are created and final roasts and blends are established. The most recent coffee the Lab has discovered has been one grown by Juan Pena, one of Ecuador's most innovative coffee producers.

Juan Pena, was a long stem rose producer, but when Juan's flower fields were devastated by bad weather, he turned to growing coffee on his farm named, "Hacienda La Papaya." Experimenting with different fertilizer amounts, he tracks the development and health of the coffee plants. Juan cares greatly for his community, as he provides his community and neighborhood with plots on his farm so they can grow their own coffee plants. His innovative tactics caught the attention of Muggswigz and the fruits of his labor are soon to make an impression on the palates of Canton.

Muggswigz Coffee and Tea Co , established in 2003, has three coffee and tea bar locations at 137 Walnut Ave, NE in Canton, 5854 Fulton Dr NW in Jackson Two., and 3452 Manchester Rd. in Akron. Muggswigz Coffee and Tea Co is locally owned and operated and roasts coffee for its retail and wholesale customers at its Canton location. For more information on the culinary cuppings, visit: www.muggswigz.com.

Muggswigz at CoffeeFest NYC

       For years, Muggswigz has been competing in national coffee competitions. Having competed in NYC, Chicago, Baltimore M.D, Durham N.C, etc, the company has taken the title of 3rd place for 'America's Best CoffeeHouse', a semi-finalist for 'America's Best Espresso', and a semi-finalist for 'America's Best Cold Brew.' This year, Alex, the President of Muggswigz, Jeremy, a Lake Cable Barista, and Anthony, a Portage Lakes Barista, made the trip to NYC to compete in multiple competitions again. This year, Alex kept Muggswigz on the map by finishing as a semi-finalist for 'America's Best Espresso.'  Our Cold Brew won a Popular vote, meaning the attendees voted for our cold brew as their favorite, although the judges chose another cold brew to take the title of 'America's Best Cold Brew' in the end. Overall, it was a great experience, filled with workshops to attend, competitions to compete in, and fellow coffee aficionados to meet and share information with.

Our Coffee & Tea Roots

     In the beginning, April of 2003, Muggswigz opened its doors and downtown Canton had it's only coffeeshop. Alex Haas had just graduated College in Rochester, NY,  and returned home to Canton, OH. Having fueled college with coffee and tea, he wanted his home town to have a place to find a good cup. Both for the sake of his hometown and for coffee and tea! Going off of a suggestion from a friend to start his own coffee shop business, and in pursuit of revitalizing downtown Canton, he did just that. Using his background in science and honing his culinary skills, Alex created Muggswigz (like taking a swig from a mug)  Coffee and Tea Company.

     Remodeling the space on Walnut and 2nd st. took a village, or in this case, helpful family and friends. What used to be an office suit is now a full coffee and tea bar as well as a performing stage for open mic nights. When the company first opened, Alex couldn't even afford an ice machine and had just started roasting coffee on a popcorn popper from the thrift store.

     Fast forward fifteen years and you have a 3rd Best Coffee House in America, USA Today's top ten pick of coffeehouses in America, etc. You have a company that roasts all of it's coffee, competition grade baristas, directly imports tea, a thriving wholesale department, baked goods and syrups made in house, and, of course, an ice machine.

     Muggswigz has educated the area in coffee and tea and has proudly seen many of the staff it introduced to coffee make coffee their career. The training the staff receives is second to none. Some of the staff Muggswigz has inspired go on in the industry to make waves at other companies or even start their own! Our positive impact on the industry spreads through all those Muggswigz Baristas as well as though the coffee and tea farmers we are fortunate enough to work with. Many other coffeeshops and boutiques have popped up since our doors have opened. A brewery has been built. People are finding more reasons to make Downtown Canton their destination, and they should. We are proud to call downtown Canton our home!

 

Muggswigz Team Makes Generous Donation

            This year the team at Muggswigz Coffee & Tea co. have generously chosen to donate about $3,000 to the National Parents Organization.

             Last year, Muggswigz donated to the National Inventors Hall of Fame: Project Invention, which encourages the use of S.T.E.M for kids in Middle School . This year’s organization is the National Parents Organization, or NPO. The NPO strives to bring about Family Law Reform and encourages the normalization of shared parenting in every state of the U.S. The organization seeks to allow children to have equal access to both parents after a divorce or separation.

https://nationalparentsorganization.networkforgood.com

 

Charleston Tea Plantation

This past November, 2018, Alex, Morgan, and Bristsin Haas traveled to Charleston, S.C., to visit the Charleston Tea Plantation. The 127 acre property is currently growing 93 acres of tea. On site, you can visit a gift shop before going on a factory tour. There, you can see the withering beds where the freshly harvested tea leaves are dried to a desired percentage. There is an oxidation bed where the leaves turn color. You can also take a trolley around the plantation with a tour guide. There was a large, man-operated harvesting machine currently at work; driving though the tea plantation's perfectly manicured rows of tea plants. There is a green house on site where trimmings of the current tea plants are kept to grow until they are mature enough to be planted out in the fields.