One block from Covenant Community Church in Muskegon Heights, Pastor Mark Bush is walking across a grass lawn with his hands outstretched to Paula Addison, who peers over a wooden fence from her backyard. It is a reunion of celebration. “I see you have your track!” Mark says, as he gestures toward a paved path that zig zags Paula’s backyard daycare area. Mark is tall, broad-shouldered, with a neatly-trimmed beard of gray. His mustache still has the toothy crimson hairs that reveals he was once a redhead. The one word that describes him: warmth. Paula lights up as she discusses her new bike path, and both her and Mark chuckle when a small child takes a corner too fast and...
How do you develop a recipe for chai? If you’re Aldea Coffee and you’re looking for an authentic method you might use organic herbs and a hammer. Aldea Coffee is now offering chai at their shop at The Armory building in Grand Haven. No one can ever say Aldea isn’t deliberate. Despite steady demand for chai, they’ve taken their time and searched for a recipe that will fit their menu and philosophy. “There’s not a week that goes by without someone asking for chai,” says coffee shop manager Angie Stone. “We finally found an authentic recipe that we’re comfortable with.” Stone scoured various sources for a recipe that she felt right, and most importantly that tasted good. She was...
Aldea Coffee barista Elly Bollweg is gaining attention for the art she creates outside of a coffee cup. Next week she’ll have a piece of her work included in an art show in Grand Rapids alongside several regional artists. If you’ve visited the Aldea Coffee shop in Grand Haven you’ve probably seen some of Elly’s artwork. The menu cards and center pieces on the tables feature her drawings. Most menu and graphical items for the Aldea brand come from her talented hand. And of course, the barista also creates art in your favorite latte. But Elly’s gaining recognition for her use of paint not milk. One of her pieces will be on display in All Art Works Fall 2018, on...
Aldea Coffee isn’t served in Paris yet. But there’s a taste of France at Patricia’s Chocolate in Grand Haven where their coffee beans are found at the center of a few of their sweet creations in a shop that feels a lot like a European “shoppe.” Chocolate dates back more than 2,000 years (some say maybe 4,000) to when people in what is now Central America nibbled on the beans of the cacoa tree. It took hundreds of years before folks in the rest of the world even heard of chocolate or could enjoy it. Oh, those unfortunate people. The people who walk into Patricia Christopher’s shop on Washington Avenue have tasted chocolate before. But they’ve never tasted anything like...
How many people are willing to risk everything on their big idea? Raj Vable did just that back in 2013 when he promised farmers in the Kumaon region of northern India that if they would grow tea, he would buy all of it. Five years later, that decision has proved wise, as Young Mountain Tea now works with more than 600 farmers in India and elsewhere. What was Raj’s big idea? To raise the quality of Indian tea and import it to the United States. He wasn’t sure where the idea would take him, and there have been twists, but the fact that this tea importer is flourishing and the farmers in India are becoming independent and earning a good...
