Every Monday the café stays closed. People ask whether business is bad, and the honest answer is the opposite. Mondays are the reason the other six days work.

On Monday we roast, we fix the grinder that has been making that sound since Thursday, and we taste every coffee on the menu side by side. It is the only day nobody is waiting for a cup.

What a slow day pays for

A roast that sits for three days tastes rounder than one that sits for one. Bread dough that rests overnight needs half the yeast. Most of what makes a place good is time that nobody sees.

Closing one day a week costs us about a seventh of our revenue. It saves us the mistakes we would make when we are tired, and those cost more.

See you on Tuesday

If you come by on a Monday and the door is locked, look through the window. Someone is probably inside, tasting, cleaning or just sitting for a minute. On Tuesday the first cup is ready at seven.