{"id":5344,"date":"2025-01-07T19:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T19:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/?p=5344"},"modified":"2025-01-07T19:19:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T19:19:16","slug":"galts-beating-heart-monigram-coffee-roasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/2025\/01\/07\/galts-beating-heart-monigram-coffee-roasters\/","title":{"rendered":"GALT\u2019S BEATING HEART:\u00a0MONIGRAM COFFEE ROASTERS\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GALT\u2019S BEATING HEART:\u00a0<\/em>MONIGRAM COFFEE ROASTERS\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018When Graham and I first opened Monigram a dozen years ago,\u2019 Monica tells me while she and I sip americanos in the coffee shop\u2019s teeming back office \u2013 surrounded by bags\u00a0of house-roasted beans, stacks of packaged paper cups, and other Monigram-branded paraphernalia \u2013 \u2018almost everyone told us
that no business could survive this far past Main Street.\u2019 She pauses for a few seconds (something that folks who know Monica will tell you she\u2019s rarely prone to do) before adding, with deliberation: \u2018We begged to differ.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I peer past Monica, out the open office door and into the dining area. A line of cheery customers, waiting patiently to order morning coffees and breakfast items (bagels, muffins, croissants, squares) winds through the bustling\u00a0space. Behind these folks, more patrons \u2013 students kindling their minds with espressos, old friends reconnecting over breakfast sandwiches, aspiring writers journaling with hot cuppas \u2013 sit at tables set against a long, exposed brick wall. I can hear, just beyond my vantage point, in Monigram\u2019s second seating area, more guests: conversing, chortling, enjoying themselves. And I am overjoyed that Monica and Graham Braun didn\u2019t listen to the naysayers all those years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To put it bluntly, Monigram Coffee Roasters is Galt\u2019s beating heart. Or at least one of them. Named after its founders and owners \u2013 Monica and Graham \u2013 this downtown staple is where days begin, mid-morning meetings are held, after-work dates take place, and a community is fueled. By coffee, yes. But also by a creative spirit that\u2019s defined this destination for over a decade \u2013 as evidenced by the coffee shop\u2019s brightly-painted walls, its uniquely-designed wooden latticed ceiling, its telephone booth- like washroom entrance (and foot pedal water taps), its bright red branding, and its many inspired in-house roasts. Like \u2018Mr Peaberry\u2019, for instance, a roast that utilizes Kenyan beans from the Kiambu region and delivers flavours of peach and lime sorbets and cherry juice. And \u2018Starburst\u2019, a roast that uses Ethiopian beans from Guji and provides tastes of \u2018your favourite hard candy.\u2019 And \u2018Huila Hoop\u2019, a roast that incorporates Colombian beans from Huila and offers flavour profiles of peach, almond, and milk chocolate. Mostly, though, Monigram\u2019s spirit is defined by Monica and Graham themselves \u2013 two fiercely imaginative souls whose fingerprints are all over everything Monigram has been and has become.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like so many entrepreneurs, this couple got into the coffee business primarily because they were passionate about it. But the process of opening Monigram Coffee Roasters \u2013 located in what\u2019s become, after all these years, the core of Galt \u2013 was far from a direct trajectory. \u2018Both Graham and I spent decades working in other industries before we even thought about opening a coffee shop,\u2019 Monica tells me as she guides me from the back office to the one empty table at the front of house. Along the way she straightens a row of coffee bags, greets a regular, holds the door open for a patron balancing a slew of take-out brews, helps a customer with an AeroPress purchase. (Need I say more?) \u2018Graham was in IT and I worked as a pharmacy tech,\u2019 Monica continues. \u2018When he finally decided to hang it up in the tech world, we agreed to indulge our dream of launching a place like this.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monica and Graham had fallen in love with coffee culture when they had lived in Montreal \u2013 the romantic metropolis where their two daughters were born. And Graham \u2013 who was\u00a0educated as a mechanical engineer and was an avid researcher of all sorts \u2013 had the talent and curiosity for setting their plans in motion. And so he \u2013 working out of the couple\u2019s basement \u2013 began to explore the world of coffee roasting. \u2018There were more than a few instances when our smoke detector would go off,\u2019 Monica recalls with a laugh, \u2018but soon enough Graham began to hone his craft as a talented roaster.\u2019 And before long the couple secured the space Monigram still occupies \u2013 on Ainslie Street\u00a0in Galt. At the same time, they acquired a terrific used seven-kilogram roaster that, as Monica tells me, built their business over the first decade. \u2018Graham used that behemoth to roast our retail beans, build our wholesale business, and put Monigram on the map as a premier destination for fantastic roasted beans,\u2019 Monica reminisces. \u2018And we came to be known as a premier wholesaler, too.\u2019 Indeed, over the years such illustrious regional foodie destinations as Langdon Hall, Cambridge Mill and Elora Mill Hotel & Spa, as well as acclaimed Chef Jonathan Gushue\u2019s new Flesherton restaurant, The Gate, have hopped on board, using Monigram beans on location.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But it wasn\u2019t just Monigram\u2019s in-house roasted beans that built their strong reputation in Galt \u2013 and that contributed to the success of a fledgling business \u2018this far past Main Street.\u2019 It was also Monica and Graham\u2019s passion for building community at the coffee shop and around Galt in general. Over the years Monigram has hosted countless music nights, burlesque shows, comedy festivals. In fact, at one point in time Monica engaged the children of coffee shop regulars by teaching ballet lessons upstairs, in what\u2019s now a gorgeous rentable event space. \u2018It just seemed to make sense,\u2019 Monica quips when I ask how she came up with that idea. Creative. Out of the box. Like most everything at Monigram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years some things have changed at Monica and Graham\u2019s coffee business. They replaced Monigram\u2019s original seven-kilogram roaster, for example, with an even larger fifteen kilogram unit. They also built strong relationships with family farms in Nicaragua, Colombia, Ethiopia and other bean-growing nations to help fulfill the ever-growing demand for their signature roasted beans. Even as their enterprise gathered momentum, though, the couple was confronted also with much less positive news. Graham, known affectionately by everyone familiar with Monigram simply as \u2018the roaster with the suit and bow tie,\u2019 in the face of serious health issues, was compelled to take a back seat at the business he helped grow. A sort of silver lining to this devastating turn of events began to take shape when the couple\u2019s two daughters, Madison and Caitlin, rallied to support Monica around the coffee shop. Madison, a student of graphic design at OCAD, serves as a barista on weekends and Caitlin, a Conestoga grad in Early Childhood Education, helps with the roasting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I settle into the front of house table, and my TOQUE partner-in-crime Cai arrives at the coffee shop to join me for breakfast (we, like so many others, have been known to fuel up at Monigram before continuing with our workdays), I see Madison behind the espresso machine \u2013 pulling shots. As the place continues to buzz, Monica heads into the kitchen to get our food order started: a BLT on a multigrain croissant (for Cai); a ham & swiss on a baguette (for me), a house-made breakfast cookie (baked by Monica), and the most pillowy donut (to share). And two americanos with in-house roasted beans, of course. Meanwhile, Caitlin, on location at the new roaster, preps this week\u2019s Friday roast. When Monica returns, we observe that the line-up at the front counter has not slowed down. \u2018We get customers who travel here from all over this part of the province \u2013 including Toronto, Hamilton, Burlington, Collingwood, and other cities too,\u2019 Monica observes. \u2018I suppose,\u2019 she continues, \u2018it\u2019s in large part because we\u2019ve been around for quite a long time. Around these parts, we\u2019re a trailblazer in the craft coffee scene.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When our breakfast arrives, Cai and I dig right in. And while Monica joins us to chat for a few more minutes, after a short while responsibilities pull her in other directions. Fulfilling orders in the kitchen. Holding the door for customers. Cleaning tables (before they quickly turn over). Taking care of the place. Because that\u2019s what Monica does: she takes care \u2013 of her coffee shop, of course, but also of so many other things. Her regulars. Her staff (which numbers twelve these days). Her daughters. And Graham too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All from her sturdy and thriving helm \u2013 this far past Main Street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MONIGRAM COFFEE ROASTERS\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
16 AINSLIE ST S, CAMBRIDGE\u00a0<\/em>
monigram.ca<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GALT\u2019S BEATING HEART:\u00a0MONIGRAM COFFEE ROASTERS\u00a0 WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN  \u2018When Graham and I first opened Monigram a dozen years ago,\u2019 Monica tells me while she and I sip americanos in the coffee shop\u2019s teeming back office \u2013 surrounded by bags\u00a0of house-roasted beans, stacks of packaged paper cups, and other Monigram-branded paraphernalia \u2013 \u2018almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[126,2,53,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cambridge","category-community","category-food-drink","category-toque-25"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1DSC_1390.jpg?fit=1920%2C1279&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8KDF5-1oc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5379,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5344\/revisions\/5379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toquemagazine.com\/hello\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}