Get Out of the Fog and into more original cafe
Rebecca Wilson Emerald
Located at 839 Lincoln St., Out of the Fog offers a full line of organic and socially responsible pastries, coffee and espresso beverages.
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■ Offering organic products
and an ardent atmosphere,
Out of the Fog goes beyond a
typical coffee shop
By Rebecca Wilson
Oregon Daily Emerald
It is Wednesday afternoon, and
Out of the Fog is packed with cus
tomers needing a caffeine fix. Peo
ple in business suits juggle coffee
mugs and briefcases as they hurry
off to work, while customers with
more time on their hands read,
chat with friends, munch scones
or banter with baristas.
This scene is familiar to coffee
enthusiasts throughout the Pacific
Northwest. However, Out of the
Fog, going on its sixth year, offers
an out-of-the-ordinary coffee
drinking experience for its clien
tele.
Christina Edmunds and
Everetta Butler come here for the
food, coffee and especially “the at
mosphere,” Butler said. “The peo
ple are really relaxed. They don’t
care what you look like.”
“They love you no matter who
you are,” Edmunds said.
And, “everything is organic,”
added Butler. “Even us.”
Owner Brad Lerch also empha
sized the organic philosophy of
his business.
“We want to give people the al
ternative of eating organic ... to
show that it’s possible,” he said.
Out of the Fog uses Cafe Mam
(pronounced “mom”) coffee,
which is grown in Chiapas, Mexi
co.
Lerch is part-owner of Cafe
Mam and guarantees the coffee
growing process fits organic stan
dards from start to finish.
Cafe Mam beans are also shade
grown, which means the beans are
planted around native bushes and
trees, rather than in deforested ar
eas.
“There’s a lot of [organic] coffee
imported and sold by people who
don’t know squat about organic,”
said Lerch, who lives on an organ
ic farm near Eugene.
He explained that many cafes
offer organic coffee, but “it’s a
waste of organic coffee to put
bovine growth hormone milk in
it.”
In addition to organic cow milk,
Out of the Fog offers organic rice
and soy milk. But unlike most cof
fee shops, customers don’t pay for
alternatives.
“We’re not going to charge indi
vidual people extra for being
dairy-free,” Lerch said.
Out of the Fog also offers a vari
ety of organic pastries and a full
espresso menu. The flavored
syrups and chocolate mix are 100
percent natural, as is the extensive
selection of vibrant loose teas. The
spicy homemade chai comes in
caffeinated and herbal varieties.
But Out of the Fog is known for
more than tasty organic beverages
and pastries. The little cafe, which
is located in an old house near the
train tracks, received national
publicity last year when it was
mentioned in the May issues of
Harper’s Magazine and Rolling
Stone.
Evan Wright wrote a profile of
We’re not contributing
to capitalistic
consumerism, [but the
media] made us seem like
we all wear black.
Chris Callahan
manager
Out of the Fog
an anarchist for Rolling Stone, ti
tled “Swamp’s Last Day on Earth.”
In the article, Wright called Out of
the Fog “ground zero for Eugene’s
thriving anarchist population”
and “a place where Santa Claus is
just another capitalist oppressor.”
Manager Chris Callahan ex
pressed disdain toward media
portrayal of the cafe.
“We’re not contributing to capi
talistic consumerism,” he said.
But the media “made us seem like
we all wear black.”
Dazzia Szczepaniak, another
Fog manager, agreed.
“People don’t know the differ
ence between activists and anar
chists,” she said, emphasizing that
the roots of the business stem from
activism.
Owner Lerch attributed the
cafe’s unintentional anarchist im
age to its free speech policy.
“We’re not Nazis about bulletin
boards, and a lot of local business
es are very conservative [in com
parison],” he said.
Tree Free Sunday is one mani
festation of the business’s activist
attitude. Every Sunday, baristas re
fuse to use paper cups. People
may drink beverages from glasses
or mugs they bring from home. On
every other day, customers are
charged 15 cents for paper cups.
“Most people think it’s crazy for
a business not to give people what
they want,” Callahan said, but so
cial conscience takes precedence
over profit for Lerch and his em
ployees.
The occasional disregard for
customers’ preferences hasn’t af
fected customer loyalty, especially
customers such as Butler and Ed
munds.
“They let us sell our wares
here,” said Butler, who is an artist.
“They don’t mind if we make
things in the shop.”
“It’s a second home,” Edmunds
said.
Out of the Fog is located near
WOW Hall at 839 Lincoln St. It is
open Monday through Friday
from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Pick up an Emerald, at 12 0
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