Uncommon Coffee

When Uncommon Grounds, a Burlington institution for the caffeine crazed, announced it was closing its doors in 2019, Maya Crowley had a decision to make. As the shop’s manager, Crowley was ready to take the business over from its retiring owners, but was uncertain about maintaining the Church Street location.  

Essex became the perfect home for the new venture — Uncommon Coffee. Crowley grew up there, her father joining the community, moving as a refugee from Vietnam. From the excitingly purple Ube latte, created to celebrate the 2022 Lunar New Year, to CBD drinks and delectable baked goods and customizable breakfast sandwiches, Crowley and her staff strive to make everything sold in-house.  

She pays homage to Uncommon Grounds while putting her own spin on things, a semi-distant identity that serves as a wink and nod to the in-the-know customer. Even the coffee roaster, while larger and more modern looking, is reminiscent of the beloved machine that greeted Church Street visitors at the door.  

Essex has a different demographic, which Crowley embraces — the community was thirsty for a gathering place and Uncommon Coffee, with its library aesthetic, comfy seating and plants galore, offers just that.  

“This is my place,” Crowley said, “this is my community.”  

At the time of the move, the Essex Experience “glow up” was in its infancy, and moving to the outlet mall was a risk, but for Crowley it also offered an opportunity to help reinvigorate the community. That risk paid off — the neighborhood is now filled with new businesses and a new sense of vibrancy. Crowley is grateful for her peers — including other Church Street graduates at L'ivresse and Magic Mann — plus Nusantara, Addie & Grace, ArtHound Gallery, Purple Sage, Salt and Bubbles and more.  

Despite the bustling, cool-kid vibes filling the area now, Crowley’s move came about right before the COVID-19 pandemic reared its destructive head. At a time when people everywhere were feeling hopeless and isolated, she said, the collaborative nature of building a business was all but squashed.  

“It was pretty bleak,” she said.  

At the same time, business had to keep moving. Wholesale clients needed their coffee, meaning Uncommon Coffee had to keep roasting. The thermal afterburner machinery used is loud, so it happens after hours. While grateful for the continuance of wholesale, Crowley admitted it’s not the most lucrative part of the business, and, without in-store customers, times were growing tougher by the minute. Curbside service opened only in September 2020 and, while a relief for the masses in need of a maple latte, it wasn’t what Crowley and co. were expecting when they decided to build a new brand.  

“Why am I doing this, will it ever end?” Crowley remembered thinking at the time. Curbside service was “a slog to say the least.”  

When VEDA was able to provide a much needed cash infusion through its Forgivable Loan Program it allowed Uncommon Coffee to continue its path to opening up. VEDA is very plugged-in to the challenges small businesses face, Crowley said, and the level of care — not just detail, but true care and concern — has stuck with her.  

“They don’t owe us borrowers anything but act as if they owe everyone everything,” she said. “It’s so magical.”  

Crowley explained that, as a new business there were no prior year’s sales to show. Most COVID relief funding options didn’t fit with the unique situation.  But, loan officer Eun-Young Denny went above and beyond to make things work. Using data from Uncommon Grounds — the parent company of sorts — she was able to incorporate foot traffic data and scaling for the Essex location.  

This data — and a lot of mutual trust — opened up doors, literally, for the shop.  

Funding received helped with operational costs. While not the flashiest usage, it was the most valuable for Crowley. In the business world, Crowley explained, a small business is competing with large corporations, either in reality or in perception. People assume when a coffee shop is busy that it is in excellent financial condition, when the truth is larger companies with inherently more power are more attractive to coffee farmers, for example, meaning they are often prioritized as customers — and perhaps cut deals the “little guys” aren’t.  Small businesses on the other hand are working much of the time to satisfy the risks they had to take to start — and stay — running.  

She and other locals also have benefits that consumers may not be able to see — like hiring community members, giving back to the economy and more. “We’re just trying to do the best we can for Essex,” Crowley said. For the parents of her former classmates who live nearby, for the young families putting down new roots, and for the other entrepreneurs working to make the small city a great place to be.  

Through funding from an earlier Small Business Association PPP loan from VEDA, followed by  VEDA’s Forgivable Loan Program (FLP), Crowley is working to revamp Uncommon Coffee’s outdoor space and to implement compostable packaging, taking the shop’s already sustainable packaging to the next level.  

Asked what things might look like had VEDA not entered the picture, Crowley said, “I can’t even imagine it — and I don’t want to.”  

The VEDA Short Term Forgivable Loan Program was made possible in part by a grant from the State of Vermont through the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Department of Economic Development.