If you've read my earliest posts on this blog, you'll know that one of our goals/challenges was finding some replacements for great bread, great granola, and great coffee so that our mornings could continue to achieve the apex of taste, refinement, and profound gustatory satisfaction we had enjoyed in the Adirondacks thanks to the Dogwood Bread Company of Wadhams!, NY.
The solution: we found a way to bake crusty, no-knead artisan bread in a 7-quart dutch oven; make our own delicious granola; and I started roasting my own coffee beans. There is some great artisan bread available regionally - coffee and granola, too - but it largely emanates from Logan at the Crumb Brothers bakery. Logan is far away by my standards, and though amazing, I wouldn't consider the Crumb Brothers an Ogden local.
Also, roasting coffee in a variety of semi-failing popcorn poppers at 5AM in 10-degree weather twice a week all winter long (I do it in the garage to contain the massive amount of smoke it produces) wears a little thin after awhile. Fortunately for me, I have discovered Mason Jar Coffee Roasters right in here in Ogden (well, Washington Terrace, really).
Tom, the owner/roaster is a great guy. He's got a great staff. The place was established in August 2012, and at the time of writing, they're still developing some ambiance - but way in the plus column, the place is spacious, friendly, plenty of seating, sofas, a scrabble game, and my 3-year-old feels pretty at home cruising around in there.
They have a drive-up window, and they sell jars of amazing, freshly roasted coffee. Mason Jar also features loose-leaf tea (another very hard to find item in Ogden - Union Station Fermentation has some, too). Mason Jar usually has a nice plate of donuts and fritters on the counter if you need a snack. But the main feature for me is the shiny coffee roaster in the back of the main room, surrounded by all the lovely sacks of coffee...
I'm a black coffee drinker, but if you like a latte, make sure to ask for the Cinnamon Honey Soy Latte - using real honey and real cinnamon. Somehow, it magically almost tastes like chocolate. And if you want to skip the magic and go straight for the real thing, the house hot-chocolate is soul-satisfying and worth the trip. They're not open Sundays, but they're open daily from 5:30AM-7:00PM (double-check for current hours).
