Monkey Joe’s stocks approximately 30 varieties at any one time, each with a particular profile. The African coffees “have higher acidity and a fruity and floral kind of flavor,” Cicale noted. “They’re lighter in the mouth, brighter,” compared to Central American varieties, which tend to be “more balanced, and heavier.” In contrast, theIndonesiavarieties have “lower acidity and a heavier body.” The beans are stored in burlap bags and then roasted in Monkey Joe’s red-enamel roaster. The fact that you can buy the coffee at the same place it’s roasted is a huge plus for those looking for the optimal flavor and freshness, both of which decline the longer beans go between roasting and brewing. The amount of roasting depends on the variety. Contrary to popular opinion, “you can have a light roast coffee with more flavor.” (Examples of varieties that shouldn’t be dark-roasted, said Cicale, are the Brazilians and Kenyans.)
Julie Wehmeyer of Edelweiss Soap Co. (Photo by Lynn Woods)
About half of Monkey Joe’s business is wholesale — a portion of the business that has been growing steadily, with the roaster supplying restaurants, specialty supermarkets, and cafes and theaters from Beacon to Hunter. Business fell off for the first time in 2010, but picked up again splendidly in 2011. All the coffees it sells are specialty-grade (the highest rating, which means it was grown at least 2,500 feet above sea level, which improves the flavor), and many are also shade-grown. (Originally a shade plant, coffee grown under trees is a huge factor in helping save migratory populations of songbirds.) Their beans are also obtained under fair-trade agreements and sustainably grown.
The café and coffee wholesaler sells a variety of loose teas and baked goods, including muffins, biscotti, cookies, scones, bagels, crumb cakes, and pies, much of it baked locally; the Italian goodies come from the Bronx.
The store also stocks an intriguing array of brewers. A glass device branded “Aerobic Aeropress,” which resembles a bong, can make any kind of coffee — drip or espresso, and has a portable container. There are good-quality Chemex brewers, which come with a special paper filter; butane brewers; a brewer that uses cold water for low-acidity coffee; single-cup brewers; and a portable espresso maker, which costs $135. The store also sells a glass water kettle that you can pick up with your hand after the water boils (it’s included in the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art).
Monkey Joe’s, 478 Broadway, is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. “Midtown is a very successful area of Kingston,” said Nealis, overturning the usual thinking. “It has businesses with longevity.”
The Edelweiss Soap Company
Julie Wehmeyer, owner of The Edelweiss Soap Company, has had a varied career: she attended Berklee College of Music and worked as a songwriter, then got jobs in finance and was a licensing coordinator in product development for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. This last experience was particularly valuable when she started pursuing her passion, soap making, a decade ago, while living inDallas. She researched it for two years, focusing on goat’s milk, which has purported health benefits, as her prime ingredient. When she got laid off from Goldman Sachs, much of her severance pay was spent on traveling to festivals and crafts shows in the South and Midwest to showcase her soap.
With her daughter attending college in New York City, Wehmeyer decided to move back East. She discovered the Mid-Hudson Valley after reading an article about Saugerties, after it was dubbed one of America’s coolest small towns in Budget Travel magazine. In February 2010 she moved with her three dogs to a circa-1800 rental house, on Green Street. (She had located it on the web and had never been inKingston before her move.)
Wehmeyer has been commuting to a day job in New York City, but last year she made more money from her online sales of soap than from her finance gig, and she soon plans to devote herself to soap-making full time. Last month she opened her storefront on John Street, painting the walls a bright lime green. While currently she is open only on weekends (from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.), she plans to open weekdays in the spring.
