Ann Arbor bookstore collaborates with Flint coffee roaster on special coffee blend

Ann Arbor bookstore Booksweet recently partnered with Flint-based coffee company Rootless Coffee to create "Booksweet Blend" coffee. The light-medium roast developed by the partners is available in Booksweet’s store or through Booksweet's website.

Truly Render, who co-owns Booksweet with her husband Shaun Manning, says the idea of partnering with a coffee company has long been on their minds. The couple are longtime fans of Rootless.

"We started trying out Rootless because some of Shaun’s comic artist friends were designing labels for the different roasts," Render says. "We really wanted to support our artist friends and a Michigan-based business, and then we really liked the coffee."

Rootless partners frequently with businesses, nonprofits, and even bands and wrestlers to produce bespoke branded coffee. "Booksweet Blend" became a reality when Render’s brother, now an apprentice roaster at Rootless, approached Rootless Creative Director Jono Diener with the idea for the collaboration. Render says Rootless offered a variety of existing roast options to package as Booksweet Blend.

"We loved working with them, and their mission aligns with our values as well," she says.

Booksweet’s website describes the blend as having "hints of hazelnut, rich milk chocolate, granola and raisin." Render suggests serving it in a Booksweet coffee mug, produced with the Ypsi Marketing and Print Company, alongside "a book of your choosing."

"We’re here for whatever people like," Render says. "Everything in business is an experiment, but if readers like the coffee, we’ll partner with Rootless again. And if they like it a lot, we’ll do it more often."

To learn more about Rootless Coffee, visit Rootless' website. To pick up your own bag of Booksweet Blend, visit the store's website or drop in to the store at 1729 Plymouth Rd. in Ann Arbor.

Rylee Barnsdale is a Michigan native and longtime Washtenaw County resident. She wants to use her journalistic experience from her time at Eastern Michigan University writing for the Eastern Echo to tell the stories of Washtenaw County residents that need to be heard.

Photo courtesy of Booksweet.