By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Town of Berlin’s On What Grounds? has officially transitioned to Cafe Berlin with new ownership and new items, like macarons.

Christina and Michael Ewing, who moved to Worcester County from Carroll County in the fall of 2022, officially purchased On What Grounds? on Main Street last month. The couple wants to maintain the cafe’s coffee and breakfast tradition while incorporating their personal touches. These changes include the notable addition of macarons.

Christina Ewing said the couple’s seven-year-old daughter inspired the pastry inclusion.

“[My daughter] was like, ‘I want to learn how to make macarons, can we make macarons?’ so we started making macarons,” the new owner said. “It was a little bit of a disaster at the beginning, but once I started honing it … people asked, ‘Are you selling them? They look so pretty, they’re so good.’ I was like, ‘I need to get a commercial kitchen.’”

Ewing said the couple then began shopping around for a location to kickstart a new Berlin establishment. Sara Gorfinkel, executive administrative assistant to Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall, let the husband-and-wife team know the On What Grounds? operators were looking to sell. The parties struck a deal, and the Ewings will now serve Berlin residents and visitors their own coffee blends, pastries, breakfasts and lunches. The new owners have also changed the eatery’s name to Cafe Berlin and selected a sun to represent their business.

“We reached out, we started talking to them, and it all kind of blossomed from this macaron thing and became what it is, us taking over their business and creating a vision for what we wanted, Cafe Berlin,” Ewing said. “We are renaming and rebranding and just doing things a little differently, so we are excited about some changes to come.”

According to Ewing, the new owners hope to make the updated establishment a community favorite and a “heartbeat of Berlin.” As such, Jeff Smith of Cast 26 created Cafe Berlin’s signature for the business’s drip coffee and espresso, which they just rolled out late last week.

“When Jeff decided to come in and meet with us, we were looking for something more full-bodied, robust,” Ewing said. “Just something cozy … we wanted to find something a little more palatable to a wider range of people. It has that feeling when you smell coffee, like what a good cup of coffee smells; we want it to taste like that and have that full-mouth feel.”

The Cafe Berlin operators are also looking to expand the coffee shop’s food line. Ewing said the new menu will roll out in April once the spring and summer seasons are closer. The new menu items are expected to be a bit more “elevated,” such as a line of gourmet toast with sweet options and more savory choices, like avocado toast and cream cheese and lox toast. The new owner said she also intends to offer seasonal and event-themed selections, like during the annual Peach Festival.

Once established, the new eatery plans to host events like macarons and wine pairings. Some macaron flavors include salted caramel, cookie butter, pistachio strawberry, Aztec chocolate, birthday cake, and fig and goat cheese. Ewing noted that she plans to experiment with the pastry selections eventually.

“We just want to do some cool stuff, some fun stuff that people and the community would love doing, whether it’s the summer or the off-season,” Ewing said. “We want to appeal to both locals and tourists.”

Aside from the food offering alterations, Cafe Berlin is updating the interior look of the space, including painting, replacing the old chalkboard with a new electric menu sign, and obtaining some new chairs.

“We just kind of want to spruce it up a little bit,” Ewing said.