Eastern Market and Germack Coffee

I visited the Eastern Market in Detroit on Tuesday 23rd with my daughter Kylee. Though we started later than I wanted, the drive was easy and there wasn't much traffic. Plus, the weather was nice. Arriving at 11 am, I had some parking issues: I drove around the same block three times, parked in a spot I quickly learned was only for merchants, and turned down a road that was barricaded off. I'm not blaming this on the market itself - it was a "user" error (aka. my fault). Luckily, where we eventually ended up parking was right next to the Visitor's Center. My daughter and I went and chatted with the ladies at the front desk, finding out I was qualified for the market's "Double Up Food Bucks." After getting some silver and gold tokens, we got a map and was off to explore the market!
But first, coffee.

We followed the music into Shed 2, finding a man playing to the xylophone. We ran into my classmate Darrell and his friend Allison, who took pictures and a video (thanks again Darrell!) of the musician letting Kylee to play the instrument. She was hesitant at first with the mallets, but really got into the hang of it after a few missteps. As we went our separate ways, I showed Darrell and Allison the map and pointed to the building we got it at before Kylee and I continued our coffee mission.
Finding the coffee location on the map - number 26 - we walked North of Shed 2. Kylee told some people waiting at a bus how she had gold coins in a bag. It's always nice when people entertain my social butterfly. After walking a couple blocks, I realized we went the wrong direction. Turning around, we followed along Russell Street, window shopping businesses we passed. We finally made it to our coffee destination: Germack Coffee Roasting Company (http://www.germack.com/)

The shop was longer than wide, with three little tables and a few stools for seating. I inquired about a few drinks, settling on a Mocha - a mixture of espresso and chocolate milk - over ice. To my dismay, the cafe does not do blended beverages, so I was unable to create my favorite type of drink. I also attempted to order from an advertisement on the counter, only to be directed to the back area. Another business, Batata Shop (http://www.thebatatashop.com/), is renting the back area of Germack on Tuesdays during the Eastern Market hours of 9 am to 3 pm. Batata means sweet potato, and the company specializes in making sweet potato waffles with a brown sugar pecan spread on top. Kylee and I each got a waffle square, mine with only the spread and Kylee's with some strawberries from the market. After ordering from Batata Shop, my drink was ready. The tables were all occupied, leaving only stool seats left (which aren't good for children under 4 ft). I asked a gentleman if we could share the table with him, since there was four chairs and only one of him and he said yes. The rest of our time at Germack's, I was unable to fully enjoy myself because the table was wiggly and I didn't want to irritate the guy who was at the table first. The drink wasn't the greatest; the espresso "sat" on top of the chocolate milk. Even my attempt at blending them together didn't seem to help. But the Batata Shop waffles were delicious!

After getting caffeine in my system, we headed back to Shed 2 to find produce to spend our gold and silver tokens on. The first place we stopped at had all sorts of produce from California. The salesman told Kylee she could sample the grapes and cherries, so we ended up buying a few pounds of each. Directly across from this business was a Michigan-grown produce. I bought three bunches of green onions, a couple sweet onions, a basket full of red potatoes, and a dozen free-range chicken eggs. Moving down another business, we purchased some ripe tomatoes, broccoli, and snap peas. As you can imagine, my arms were quite tired! Kylee spotted a "pie man" and we just had to check out what pies he was selling. The business was Love's Custard Pies (http://lovescustardpies.com/). There were many varieties of fruit pies, but I wanted to try the vegetarian Southwest Texan pie - with cheese, black beans, and jalapenos. So adding one more bag to my arms, we only had $5.00 in tokens left. Kylee and I came across a small table with a young lady selling ginger teas. Nikki's Ginger Tea (https://www.facebook.com/nikkisgingertea) gave Kylee a free sample and she decided that would be what we spent our last tokens on. So with a Ginger Apple Tea in her hand and a smile on her face, we left the market. And not one bag broke!