Situated comfortably among 

the name-brand shops that line 
the streets of downtown Ann 
Arbor lies a cafe that prides 
itself on originality. There are 
no chains in foreign cities nor 
a neon sign that electrifies 
the door — only a reputation 
that whispers across campus 
and city streets alike. With 
the lightest of touches, the 
country screen doors open into 
a coffeehouse like no other, 
as well as a place where the 
mainstream is turned away 
faster 
than 
decaffeinated 

coffee. 

At 
least, 
this 
was 
the 

establishment 
John 
Roos 

might have envisioned while 
he 
brewed 
his 
signature 

coffee from a job at a local 
car 
dealership. 
And 
when 

customers eventually started 
coming 
around 
for 
their 

daily caffeinated fix, the idea 
behind RoosRoast Coffee was 
birthed. Since its conception, 
RoosRoast has been operating 
on Rosewood Street, where 
they continue to brew their 
own coffee made with beans 
purchased direct from the 
origin.

However, this past March, 

the company took over a 
spot on East Liberty Street 
in downtown Ann Arbor and 
became a sort of successor 
to Elixir Vitae. With closer 
ties to downtown and the 
University 
of 
Michigan 

campus, RoosRoast has been 
the talk of the semester among 
coffee fanatics and caffeine 
addicts alike, and the company 
has enjoyed their newfound 
popularity under the stress of 
a city that never sleeps.

To 
learn 
more 
about 

the 
newly 
opened 
second 

establishment, The Michigan 
Daily spent a sunny Monday 
afternoon on a coffee date 
with 
Katherine 
Weider-

Roos, co-owner and wife to 
RoosRoast founder John Roos.

The philosophy at RoosRoast 

is simple — to brew the perfect 
cup of coffee. Whether through 
AeroPress, steeping, cold brew 
or a rigged nitro experiment, 
Roos is always looking for 
the perfect balance of natural 
flavors 
against 
caffeine 

intensity.

“People treat coffee a little 

bit 
different,” 
Weider-Roos 

said. “If you’re doing a lighter 
roast, it’s just a taste thing. 
You’re sipping it a little more 
like wine — it’s a little bit 
lighter. Especially if you have 
a really good quality cup (of) 
coffee.” This partially explains 
the reason their loud and busy 
cafe is set up in the style of a 
bar, sporting high-tops over 
quaint little tables. 

“You want to roast a coffee 

just the right amount so you 
don’t blow out all the notes. 
That’s why when we get single 
origins in, we usually have a 
more medium light treatment 
to it. It’s a delicate dance to do 
those delicate roasts right so 
they all don’t taste the same.”

As far as similar tastes go, 

RoosRoast 
has 
more 
than 

outdone themselves. With a 
selection of coffees and teas 
that range from the dark, 
electrifying 
“Portland 
in 

the ’90s” to the organically 
supplied 
“Spicy 
Ginger 

Lemon” tea, the cafe caters to 
all tastes and preferences. The 
detail that goes into catering 
to needs of their customers is 

down to a fine point, brewing 
their drinks organically and 
allowing patrons to customize 
their drinking experience to 
their own taste.

“We have a big thing about 

not making sweetened drinks, 
letting people add their honey 
or their sweetener. But when 
you go around to all the cafes, 
everything is sweetened — 
they 
hand 
you 
something 

sweetened,” Weider-Roos said. 
“We wanted to have something 
(where people) can add their 
(own) level of sweetness.”

This includes their one-of-

a-kind “AeroPress Bar,” which 
brews their specialty coffee 
faster than most other large-
yield means and in a way that 
really lets you taste all of the 
natural flavor that’s made their 
name in the coffee business.

“You can try any of our 

coffees with the AeroPress 
… and it just brews a more 
complex, rich cup of coffee 
than a drip would. It allows 
you to really taste our coffee.” 
Of course, their AeroPress is 
second only to the excellent 
cold brew that is produced 
by the gallon on a day-to-day 
basis at RoosRoast.

Over the past few years, 

cold-brew coffee has worked 
its way up into the hierarchy 
of 
caffeinated 
beverages, 

overtaking 
iced 
coffee 
in 

a debate that has sparked 
mixed opinions on both sides. 
Critically 
acclaimed 
and 

favored 
for 
its 
wholesome 

flavor and smooth finish, the 
cold brew is rapidly gaining 
popularity in cafes worldwide. 
However, since the process of 
steeping a cold brew can take 
up to 24 hours, iced coffee 
is often served as a quick 
alternative. 
Hailed 
for 
its 

strength and caffeine-to-water 
ratio, RoosRoast produces cold 
brew daily, and never seems to 
run out of the stuff that keeps 
us running.

“It’s 
like 
a 
concentrate, 

RoosRoast sets up shop 
in downtown Ann Arbor

MEGAN MITCHELL

Daily Arts Writer

Cozy new coffee shop delivers locally made beans, brews

so it’s meant to withhold the 
melting of the ice so you still 
have something drinkable after 
the ice melts. So it’s a really 
good cold brew,” Weider-Roos 
said with a smile, citing the 
numerous comments that their 
Instagram page has received 
regarding the sheer caffeinated 
strength of their cold brew.

“The cold brew kind of jacks 

you up. The whole process is an 
immersion … it never touches 
hot water. You let it soak in the 
water for almost 24 hours — 
cold water — so it never touches 
hot water. It cools out all the 
caffeine in this totally different 
way. It’s kind of like a drug.”

The opportunity to sample 

their brew only further proved 
that the rumors are, in fact, true 
— it’s strong as hell.

The experience of drinking 

the one-of-a-kind coffee and 
specialty 
drinks 
served 
at 

RoosRoast’s newest location is 
certainly memorable. With loud 
Cuban jazz playing through 
the speakers and the amicable 
barista-to-patron interactions, 
it’s easy to get lost in the good 
ambiance. 
And 
though 
the 

storefront has changed in the 
gutting 
process, 
what 
once 

stood as the second location of 
the Elixir Vitae coffeehouse on 
East Liberty is now RoosRoast. 
However, 
patrons 
of 
the 

previous venue would be remiss 
if they didn’t recognize the 
flavor.

“This was (Elixir Vitae’s) 

second location — he served 
RoosRoast,” Weider-Roos said. 

The rumor circulating around 

the 
coffee-addicted 
forums 

of Ann Arbor that RoosRoast 
supplied Elixir Vitae with their 
roasts is, in fact, true. So when 
the owner of Elixir gave up their 
second location, patrons were 
thrown for a little bit of a shock. 

“This was becoming too much 

for him to manage (the two 
places) I think,” Weider-Roos 
said. “So he wanted to get out of 

his lease … I think it was a great 
gift. Like saying, ‘Hey I want 
you guys to take over my lease, 
what do you think?’ So it was 
more sort of handing it to us, in 
a way.” 

It was, in a way, like choosing 

RoosRoast as the successor to 
Elixir; passing on the torch to a 
new generation of roasting and 
opening the door to the third 
wave coffee movement. “He 
was serving RoosRoast and that 
way (the people) can still get 
RoosRoast,” Weider-Roos said.

So far, business has been 

booming at the second location 
of 
RoosRoast, 
which 
is 

conveniently closer to campus 
and thus more readily accessible 
to students than their base 
location.

“It’s like your whole world 

changes, 
because 
of 
the 

complexity of it … almost like 
being in newborn crisis mode,” 
Weider-Roos said. “The vibes, 
the people and the demand for 
it — it’s like having a party. It’s 
so fun to be down here. It gives 
us exposure here to people 
who aren’t able to go out to 
Rosewood.”

Being this close to campus, 

coffee shops are often utilized as 
a fresh study space for students 
who need a caffeine fix to stay 
up that extra three or four hours 
to finish an assignment. So with 
its high stools and standing 
room only, RoosRoast carries 
the ambiance more of a grab-
and-go shop versus a hot study 
space.

“We wanted to be more like 

a neighborhood bar, it’s about 
having a meeting and talking. 
Stand and go … it’s not like a 
quiet little library. It’s like a 
moving thing: we’re going to 
be shouting, we’re going to 
be doing things. It’s kind of 
like a place — a social, vibrant 
community place rather than a 
library place.”

With a smile, Weider-Roos 

described their newest location 

as “a little bit like performance, 
crazy (and) social. It’s not like 
this all the time, but we’re just 
loud people and we also like to 
have a good time while we’re 
working. It’s like a neighborhood 
bar, but with coffee. Where 
people are getting jacked up, not 
drunk.”

Another feature of RoosRoast 

is commonly shared by cafes 
worldwide: food. Not just any 
food, but a specific brand of food 
that leans towards organic and 
healthy, kept across the move 
from Elixir Vitae.

“We wanted an element of 

light food. Not a full-service 
kitchen but something with 
your 
coffee: 
small 
bites.” 

Weider-Roos said. “You go to a 
lot of cafes and it’s just sugar, 
white flour — we have that too 
(laughs). But we also have other 
options: protein and things we 
would eat at home.”

So, even if you’re not in for 

an 
early-morning 
cramming 

session, RoosRoast is still an 
available stop to come in to get 
your most important meal of 
the day with some of the best 
coffee and service this side of 
Michigan.

Of course, we saved our most 

important question for last: “If 
you could have one item off of 
the entire menu, what would it 
be?” 

“Personally, we have to have 

espresso,” Weider-Roos said. 

“Our 
espresso 
blend 
is 

amazing right now. That’s a 
personal (choice). I would have 
to say, from a consumer point of 
view, I would be outvoted and it 
would be Lobster Butter Love. 
Maybe it has crack cocaine in 
it? It’s a bit of a cult; like, it’s 
50 percent of our sales. I send 
it to Portland, Ore. You’d think 
they’d have good coffee in those 
places, but I ship Lobster Butter 
Love there.”

If 
it’s 
good 
enough 
for 

Portland, it’s good enough for 
us.

GRANT HARDY/ Daily

RoosRoast recently opened on East Liberty, replacing the Elixir Vitae storefront.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the b-side
Thursday, September 22, 2016 — 3B

 As if being bodied by Drake 
wasn’t enough for the man, 
Meek Mill finds himself in the 
midst of yet another one-sided 
beef, this time being served 
rapacious, insulting bars by 
L.A. rapper The Game. This 
comes after The Game accused 
Meek Mill of telling the police 
that The Game was involved 
in the theft of Sean Kingston’s 
jewelry. It’s a messy, dramatic 
and somewhat childish feud, 
but the material coming out of 
it all has been providing the 
rap zeitgeist plenty of fodder 
to feed on — and The Game’s 
latest escalation is no excep-
tion.
 “Pest Control” itself con-
tains verses targeting a variety 
of individuals besides Meek. 
On Beanie Sigel, a Philadelphia 
MC who hopped on Meek’s 
only diss track in the feud thus 
far, The Game harshly bellows 

“Take Beans 
back to 
rehab / On 
Instagram 
looking like 
a moth-
erfucking 
bean bag” — 
but he saves 
most of his 
airtime 
stringing 
together 
whatever 
insults he 
can to convey his superior-
ity over Meek. He raps “You 
jumped Quentin Miller and 
now you don’t scrap / It was 
time to go at Drizzy and now 
you don’t rap” in reference 
to his laughable “beef” with 
Drake; he cites that “This 
n***a taking Ls every time 
he go viral” and “Keep it 100, 
you a Nicki Minaj sideshow.” 
He spits fire and harsh truth 
alike, fostering Meek’s contin-
ued fall from grace. It isn’t a 
feud with much explanation or 
rationale, but out of it all, The 
Game is able to flex his bread 

and butter by verbally body-
ing those who cross him with 
finesse and mastery.
 There’s probably more to 
come out of this beef, but as 
time goes on, the spotlight 
shines brighter and brighter 
on The Game and his crew. 
“Pest Control” is one of many 
examples of The Game’s abil-
ity to convey his worth to the 
rap game, and if Meek con-
tinues to prolong this feud, it 
won’t be long until he’s fin-
ished digging his career’s own 
grave.

- ANAY KATYAL

SINGLE REVIEW

A-

“Pest Control”

The Game

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

“Maybe it has 
crack cocaine in 
it? It’s a bit of a 

cult.”

