Photos: Experience Columbus
September 29 is National Coffee Day, and the day that Ohio's Experience Columbus tourism organizaiton will launch its new Coffee Trail.
The trail is designed to introduce visitors and locals alike to the city's hot coffee scene, which features more than a dozen local craft coffee roasters (most single-origin) and even more specialty coffee shops. All of them share a passion for quality, but each has its own intriguing personal story about what launched their love affair with the bean.
Visitors can get a Coffee Passport at any of these eight stops or at one of two Experience Columbus visitor centres, in the Arena District or at Easton town centre. After visiting just four of the eight featured stops, coffee lovers will receive a special Columbus Coffee t-shirt from Experience Columbus.
In addition to the city's many artisan coffee shops and roasters, an annual Coffee Roaster's Festival (held every March at Columbus' North Market) and Columbus Food Adventures' Coffee Tour highlight the city's exploding micro-roaster culture.
Fueled by a number of enterprising entrepreneurs, the eight stops on the new Columbus Coffee Trail include:
Café Brioso
Café Brioso, which roasts a wide variety of coffees crafted by owner-roastmaster Jeff Davis. Brioso customers enjoy the process as much as the product, as expert baristas concoct the perfect cup. The ever-changing, made-from-scratch soup and sandwich menu is designed to perfectly complement the brew. cafebrioso.com.
Impero Coffee Roasters
Impero Coffee Roasters, which treats the act of coffee roasting as an art form. This family-run shop is a hit in Columbus’ trendy Short North arts and entertainment district. Entertaining baristas, quality coffee, perfect espresso and a locally sourced food menu draw crowds, even late into the evening. imperocoffee.com.
Mission Coffee Co
Mission Coffee Co. is the new kid on the block, helping coffee aficionados interact with their java. Mission taps every imaginable brewing technique, from the most traditional to the most modern, including: pourover, Chemex, Clever, siphon, drip, woodneck, French press and espresso. missioncoffeecup.com.
Stauf's Coffee Roasters
Stauf's Coffee Roasters, the senior member of Columbus' coffee club and big daddy to Cup o' Joe and MoJoe Lounge coffee shops, opened in 1988. This pioneering coffee roaster imports the highest quality Arabica beans from 20 countries, then hand fires them in a gas-powered roaster. staufs.com.
Cup o' Joe
Cup o' Joe has been pouring great brew for two decades, consistently being voted by locals as the city's best coffee house. Getting its fresh-roasted beans from big brother, Stauf's, Cup o' Joe is obsessed with the perfect cup of coffee, carefully ensuring it sells no bean past its prime. cupojoe.com
One Line Coffee
One Line Coffee’s superb roasts are a natural consequence of its father-son owner team's dedication to tracing each cup of coffee back to the farm where its beans were cultivated. Mark and Dave Forman have been sourcing and roasting fine coffee for nearly a decade. Their Columbus coffee house opened in 2012 and features a one-of-a-kind cupping lab where coffees are profiled, roasts perfected and each brew's subtle notes experienced and charted. onelinecoffee.com
The Roosevelt Coffeehouse
The Roosevelt Coffeehouse, opening this fall, pours by the motto, "Good coffee, for good," as it plans to use profits from its coffee shop, cafe and concert venue to help provide clean water and fight hunger and human trafficking. rooseveltcoffee.org
Boston Stoker
Boston Stoker, which serves some of the world's finest coffee and tea, including single-source coffee beans from African, American and Asian-Pacific roasters. A robust retail store and knowledgeable staff offer great education and coffee and tea accoutrements. bostonstoker.com