Pre-cut, side view.

Last week, we participated in All Over Albany’s “Lunch Week” by sharing a sandwich concoction that included almost everything on our menu in one bagel sandwich.

You can see our submission among a bunch of other fun submissions here.

After much deliberation and brainstorming, we decided that the sandwich would be hereby named “MEAT MOUNTAIN“.

If you want to climb Meat Mountain, you’ll have to pay for it.

It’s a little costly (~$12.90), but for someone who’s really hungry?

Priceless.

Meat Mountain Weighing-in.

Twins...

Did you know?: Uncommon Grounds travel mugs are a great way to reduce waste and save money at the same time!

This cheap ($3.00 no coffee, $3.50 with first time coffee in-store) 16 oz. mug offers you $1 fill-ups on brewed coffee or tea and 8 oz. prices on 16 oz. of specialty espresso drinks.

Say you’re a regular customer and you buy a large cup of coffee every business day of the week.

REGULAR PRICE -> $1.98 (including tax in Saratoga County) for 16 oz. Large coffee in a paper cup X 5 = $9.90 / week.

vs.

UG MUG PRICE -> $1 (including tax in Saratoga County) for 16 oz. Large coffee in your UG mug X 5 = $5 / week – a savings of $4.90/week, $19.60/month, $254.80/year.

Or, if you’re an obsessive daily latté drinker (each weekday) ->
REGULAR PRICE -> $3.48 (including Saratoga County sales tax) for 16 oz. Large latté in a paper cup X 5 = $17.40 / week.

vs.

UG MUG PRICE -> $2.46 (including Saratoga County sales tax) for 16 oz. Large latté in your UG mug X 5 = $12.30 / week – a savings of $5.10/week, $20.40/month, $265.20/year!

Pretty compelling, if you ask us!

Mugs are available online or in either store. Pick one up and start saving today!

Illin'...

‘Tis the season to not feel so great.

It happens.

You wake up not feeling yourself.

You know it’s coming.

Stuffy head, congestion, sore throat — all the signs are there. You’ll be under the weather for the rest of the week.

What can you do to stop this incoming ill?

Mom’s chicken soup?

Feed a cold?

Sure, the usual remedies will help you get to feeling better, but we’d like you to consider adding a different route.

This might be a scary proposition for some, but…

Have you tried replacing your daily coffee with tea?

How about an aromatic tea such as Hibiscus which will help to break up congestion?

Maybe a tea that’s infused with echinacea which some say will reduce cold symptoms?

Have you tried a tea that contains slippery elm like our Throat Tamer tea? Teas with slippery elm are known to soothe inflammation and throat irritation.

A sign of health!

An Ounce of Prevention…

What about preventative measures involving tea? Green teas should be considered for regular consumption since they are a great source of antioxidants. Over time, experts say that drinking green tea will reduce the risk of heart disease, decrease the chance of hypertension, and generally introduce healthy regular elements to your overall existence.

How do I make it taste better?

If you’re not a regular tea drinker or even dislike the taste of tea, here’s a few suggestions for improving your tea experience:

• Sweeten your tea with honey, not sugar or artificial sweeteners. The natural honey will blend with the tea better for a more flavorful experience.

• Squeeze some fresh-cut lemon into your cup to add dimension and balance to the tea. (Lemons have health benefits of their own!)

Do you have any miraculous recoveries brought on by including tea in your cold-ridding process? Share them with us in the comments below!

The Extreme BLT Salad at Uncommon Grounds in Albany!

The salad creation above – “The Extreme BLT” is one of a few different suggested salads created by Uncommon Grounds Albany employee Lauren! It features bacon, greens, grape tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, fresh mozzarella, and your choice of dressing (oil & vinegar pictured). Ask for it by name the next time you visit us on Western Ave.

How do you like your salad? Let us know and if we feature your creation, your next salad is on us!

Two shots of espresso... plus...

...another two shots of espresso... plus....

 

... hot chocolate... plus...

...your choice of coffee... plus...

...whipped cream, if you'd like...

... and chocolate-covered espresso beans, if you'd like!

Warning! A Moodswing is not for the faint at heart! We often see folks running up and down Broadway (or Western Ave, depending on which store) after consuming said beverage.

When developing our menu many years ago, we tried to steer clear of kitsch-y sandwich names. While some restaurants are good at coming up with creative names for their food offerings, we felt that our angle should be to allow our customers to build their own version of what a sandwich should be.

That said, the “Healthy Harvest” is one sandwich (vegetarian) that we put together and named for the menu that stands alone in its excellence, yet can be modified for maximum food pleasure. We tried to start at the top so that you could only make it better!

A Healthy Harvest with cheese in its natural habitat.

Ordering a “Healthy Harvest” at either Uncommon Grounds location will get you lettuce, green peppers, sprouts, cucumbers, red onion and tomatoes on your choice of bagel. Your server should ask you what kind of dressing you’d like along with asking you if you’d like to add anything to it. As pictured above, a delightful add-on is cheese. This particular specimen above is sporting a cheddar cheese top.

Some other ideas for your Healthy Harvest are cream cheese, hummus, roasted red peppers, jalapeños or even bacon (which we call the UN-Healthy Harvest *wink*, *wink*).

Do you have any Healthy Harvest modifications that you like? Let us know in the comments!

BONUS: Check out Notes on a Page’s Healthy Harvest in the wild! (pics 5 & 6 — looks like a bit of cream cheese on there! YUM!)

If you’re new to the wiles of brewing-at-home, here are some tips on how to help keep your coffee tasting as delicious and excellent as possible.

1. Source: Purchase whole bean coffee from a source that you can trust to be offering you the freshest beans possible. A bean’s shelf-life decreases exponentially as soon as it is ground. Even in whole bean form, coffee that is more than two weeks old has lost essential flavor characteristics that cannot be regained by any method.
2. Container: Find an air-tight container; preferably ceramic or glass to avoid any flavor contaminations that plastic or metal might incur. It is crucial that the coffee beans are kept away from oxygen since it is the prime source of flavor erosion in coffee.
3. Placement: Store your coffee in its air-tight home away from light, heat or extreme cold. The old “coffee in the refrigerator/freezer” location is one of the worst places one can store beans since the cold air oxidizes and condensates on the beans, quickly sapping precious flavor from the coffee.

Taking these few simple steps will help preserve the shelf-life of your coffee beans and allow you to savor the enjoyment of a fresh cup whenever you please.

Do you have any special containers you store your beans in? We’d love to see them! Please share in the comments section below…