Volume 13 • Number 15
The Voice of the Catalina Foothills
July 26, 2023
Back to School Special Section Inside!
INSIDE
| Page 2 Cowboy Junkies ride into town to perform on Thursday, July 27 | Page 6 This doula will see you to your last door | Page 26
Senior Resource Guide Inside!
Coffee is a tradition to Savaya founder BY KAREN SCHAFFNER Tucson Local Media Staff
Spend time with old friends when ‘The Muppet Movie’ screens
www.tucsonlocalmedia.com
W
hen Turkey native Burc Maruflu moved to town, he went looking for a cup of coffee. He didn’t find exactly what he wanted, so he founded his own coffee shop on Broadway and Craycroft. Seventeen years later, six Savaya Coffee Markets testify to Maruflu’s success with producing not just a good cup of joe, but an excellent cup. “At the time, I was teaching entrepreneurship at the university when I came here, and I always source and drink good coffee,” he said. “When I came to town, I just needed to source what I am comfortable with. The specialty coffee was not how it is today. I’m, in a way, a curious person and I’m not usually satisfied with what we have so I look for ways to improve the conditions. We do
matter to the trade that we have and also to the people who are making it happen. (Those) people’s reality is very important to me.” A morning cup of joe is more than coffee, he said. At Savaya, it’s coffee’s history, culture, farmers and farmhands, importers and exporters, and brewers and tasters that are in that cup. Maruflu is acutely aware of how important each person is in the line of getting coffee to his stores. “My concentration in the field of entrepreneurship is in social entrepreneurship,” he said. “It’s not about how you’ve made it but the skill of how you give it back… when I look at the coffee supply chain, this is a product that starts in the farms and farm work is not easy. There’s a lot of risk that the farmers take, as a result, when Burc Maruflu shows off the equipment he uses to score coffee quality, something he is licensed to do. See SAVAYA Page 5 (Karen Schaffner/Staff)
Make classrooms memorable at Treasures 4 Teachers BY KAREN SCHAFFNER Tucson Local Media Staff
K
elly Caruso, homeschool teacher and Girl Scout Troop 350 leader, knows where to go when she needs school and troop supplies. On any given afternoon, she can be found at Treasures 4 Teachers, a “store” aimed at making teachers’ lives easier by offering supplies
at heavily discounted prices. Teachers pay $5 for a brown paper shopping bag and stuff it as full as possible after paying a $35 membership. Caruso took advantage with a bag full of plastic coins and paper money, real animal skulls for science classes, marbles and colored plastic animals. Caruso said Treasures 4 Teachers is a blessing, a place where she can make the most of
her money. “All the (educational) resources are so expensive, and you provide them yourself as a teacher,” she said. “By coming here, it really helps out because your money is stretched and goes so much further… I can spend $200 here, which elsewhere would be over $1,000. It really, really helps.” See TEACHERS Page 4