Colin’s Coffee | Columbus, OH

Colin’s Coffee (Facebook)
3714 Riverside Dr. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43221
(614) 459-0598
Open daily 6a-3p
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/N/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Friday, April 18, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

These days, you hear a lot of people talk about the local. Shop local. Eat local. Buy local. Support local. But what does that mean? Sometimes it’s geographically defined, sometimes it’s by municipal borders, sometimes it’s more of a mentality. I’m fully in support of it. I think local isn’t the only way to go – there’s a lot to enjoy and support globally – but I think there’s a great power in meeting and supporting and interacting with the local, in turning what is usually a business transaction into something personal and human. All across Columbus there are many opportunities to shop local. In this case, supporting local means supporting a guy named Colin.

Colin Gawel is known to many in the Columbus music scene. He’s long been a mainstay of local music, playing in the bands Colin Gawel and the Lonely Bones, as well as Watershed, which was the subject of a recent book by one of its band members.

On top of his busy touring and playing schedule, Colin owns and runs a coffee shop in Upper Arlington, right at the intersections of Fishinger and Riverside. It’s the epitome of the local coffee shop, and he runs it that way. Signs in the windows and on the walls plainly state, “Friends don’t let friends drink Starbucks.”

The shop is ideally situated on the corner of a small strip mall. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of light to the long, thin space. There are rows of tables, good music playing (you would expect that), a shelf of books to borrow, and free wifi. Everything you want in a coffee shop, minus the corporate ownership.

For our mid-morning snack, I opted for two Colin’s Coffee signatures. The first is the McRoy Breakfast Sandwich. It’s about as simple and loveable as you can get: egg, cheese, and bacon on a Block’s everything bagel. (Side note: Colin also serves locally made scones that arrive on Wednesdays. We missed out on them, visiting on a Friday.)

The second signature was the Deluxe Coffee. It’s $2.50 for any size. Colin said he created it after watching customers dumping sugar and creamer into his coffee, thus masking the flavor and overloading the drink. Instead, he added the Deluxe to the menu: he steams milk into the coffee and adds dashes of vanilla and cinnamon. The drink is lightly sweetened and doused with a little milk, while still being distinctly a cup of coffee. I recommend it.

And that’s about all there is to the shop: a comfortable atmosphere, a welcoming owner, good coffee and good eats. Colin’s Coffee is the epitome of the local. Almost any time you’re there, you’ll be talking to the owner as he makes your coffee or your sandwich. Even for the short time we sat in the shop, I watched Colin greet numerous customers by name and chat with them.

Colin’s makes me think of the now-gone Coffee Table in Short North. I lived across the street from the Coffee Table for a couple years and miss it sorely. There’s something a little imperfect (in a good way) about it, the way it has the character that’s lost through slick corporate advertising and branding. If Upper Arlington is your area, make Colin’s your regular coffee shop; if not, make sure you stop by for a Deluxe when you’re in the neighborhood.

Photos: North Market Coffee Roast 2013

Saturday was the second North Market Coffee Roast. Last year’s event was an overwhelming success, and with a few additions and re-organizations, this year saw sold-out crowds lining up to taste the fares of Columbus’ amazing coffee culture.

It’s always hard to fault an event for being popular – especially those events at North Market like the Microbrew and the Ohio Wine Festivals. North Market is a central location, and their continued role as an incubator of small businesses makes them ideal for showcasing a cross-section of Columbus specialties. I arrived about fifteen minutes after the event started and found pretty long lines already. But I think the key to going with the flow is to have good company with you. That way you can chat and enjoy each other while waiting to sample everyone’s roasts.

I started in the southwest corner and sampled a decent amount of the coffees available.

I got to start with one of my favorites: One Line Coffee. I first discovered them at last year’s festival, and I look for any excuse to stop by their Short North shop.

You can almost think of One Line as coffee scientists, with their bubbling, steaming glassware and Kyoto-style cold drip towers. Soon enough they’ll begin selling the cold brew in bottles. They had it at the event, too – I enjoyed a small mug of it over ice. The Kyoto-style is a 12-hour process that results in rich and concentrated cold coffee, usually served on the rocks almost like a coffee cocktail.

Next to One Line was Upper Cup Coffee with a smaller (but no less impactful) setup. I still have not been to their shop, but my chat with owner Michael and his sister reminded me that I’ve been missing out.

The Impero table was swamped with eager coffee drinkers.

Most of the roasters had whole beans available, too.

Jason from Thunderkiss was busy, as you might expect. One of the best parts of the event was experiencing the passion of all of these roasters and brewers. They wanted you to like their coffee, of course, but even more importantly they wanted you to like coffee.

I got sample LTown Coffee out of London, Ohio. They were keeping the pour-overs rolling.

Another of my favorite roasters, Hemisphere, had a table, too. It was hard to get a picture of Hans and Joelle, as they never stopped moving!

One of the busier corners included Backroom Coffee Roasters and Silver Bridge.

The main event space of the Market was split in two. One end was dedicated to different talks, presentations, and demos about coffee. Here’s Jeff Davis of Cafe Brioso and Mark Swanson from Stauf’s/Cup O’ Joe discussing coffee sourcing.

The other end of the room featured two carts pulling shots of espresso and making lattes and cappuccinos. This showcased the work of Columbus’ great baristas. It seemed like a collaborative effort, although I saw coffee evangelist J.J. (seriously, that’s what his business card says) from Brioso overseeing things. They also had a table with self-serve coffee from Boston Stoker. This was a smart addition: if someone just wanted a cup of coffee without having to wait in line, they could help themselves.

Overall, another great event. It demonstrated again how awesomely well Columbus does coffee. I’ll be there next year. I think what’s most telling is that when I went home I was craving even more coffee (despite having more than enough at the Market), so I brewed up a French press of Hemisphere beans. That’s the point of the Coffee Roast: you’ve discovered these new places, now go visit them for a cup of coffee or a bag of beans.

Boston Stoker Coffee | Columbus, OH

Boston Stoker (Facebook / @BostonStokerOSU)
1660 Neil Ave. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43210
(937) 890-6401
Open Mon-Fri, 6:30a-7p; Sat & Sun, 8a-2p
Accepts cash & credit/debit

Date of Visit: Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 12:30pm

Coffee on Ohio State’s campus – or any college campus, for that matter – can be a dubious affair. Students in need of caffeination are surrounded by shops hawking extra large lattes and towering cappuccinos. And let’s face it, as a student you’re usually focused more bang-for-your-buck caffeine stimulation rather than the true coffee experience. And that demand is met by places like Brenen’s Cafe, Starbucks, Panera, or any of the OSU food service run coffee shops.

So if you’re someone like me, and you want coffee, but something beyond a sugary iced chai or a grande cup of acidic dark roast, you’re usually out of luck. Until about a year ago, when a Dayton-based chain called Boston Stoker opened a store on Neil Avenue near the center of campus. Like the Brenen’s Cafe that previously occupied the space, Boston Stoker fills the front half of the building, while the back half is dedicated to a bank branch. So in some ways the coffee shop feels like a glorified bank lobby, but it’s got enough personality to be a real coffee shop: couches for chatting, outlets for laptops, plenty of tables for studiers.

The Boston Stoker company roasts their beans in Dayton, where they have nine other stores. In Columbus, menus are printed daily with the coffees available for espresso, French press, or pour overs.

They also serve tea, plus munchables like bagels and muffins.

The real feature of their coffee service is the brew bar, where cups of coffee are prepared individually using the pour over method.

Pour overs provide a little song-and-dance routine for the customer, as it’s slightly more involved than just shooting coffee out of a press pot. This process includes pouring hot water over the coffee grounds in a funneled filter.

This maximizes the appropriate contact time between water and grounds, and it allows you to do it one cup at a time.

The result allows you to best feature the roast’s flavor profile. Seriously, you don’t need cream or sugar with it.

I tried a cup of the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe on the recommendation of the barista, and I loved it. Clean, rich, a little fruity.

This is why I’m so happy to have Boston Stoker on campus: no one else nearby is making coffee like this! Sure, maybe not all college students are looking for the ideal coffee experience, but there’s got to be a crowd for this. Especially given that the closest places preparing coffee well are further south in Short North or up in Clintonville. I know I’m going to create some slight detours to Boston Stoker on the walk between my office and my classrooms.

Rowster New American Coffee | Grand Rapids, MI

Rowster New American Coffee (Facebook / @RowsterCoffee)
632 Wealthy St. SE (map it!)
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
(616) 780-7777
Open Mon-Fri, 7a-7p; Sat, 8a-8p; Sun 9a-5p
Accepts cash & credit/debit

Date of Visit: Saturday, December 29, 2012 at 11:00 a.m.

My hometown of Grand Rapids just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Why does this always happen after you leave somewhere? Following a breakfast at nearby Trillium Haven in Grand Rapids, we were in the mood for a little more coffee. We had noticed on Trillium’s menu that they served Rowster coffee, and when we asked our server about it she told us the roaster was just down the road. Very fitting for Trillium’s locally-driven menu.

We found Rowster’s corner storefront down Wealthy Street, a budding, brick-lined district that’s quickly filling in with new shops, bakeries, a theatre, and restaurants. Rowster has taken up a solid place in the neighborhood; their decor is a mix of old building wood floors and plus angular metallic accents.

The whole space has a very casual, open feel to it. There’s nothing of the tightly organized coffee shop tables with plugs for every laptop. Instead, there’s a high counter in the window, a short one overlooking the actual roaster (a clear centerpiece of the space), then a long bench against the right wall with polished wood stumps for tables. There’s no menu scrolled in chalk on the wall – you simply amble up to the counter and a barista asks what you’d like. If you’re not well versed in coffee shop menus, you might be at a loss for words. Or you just have to be bold enough to ask, “What do you serve?” The answer is that they serve the coffee roaster basics: shots of espresso, cappuccino, machiato, pour-over brews, and the like.

While you wait, you can browse the extensive shelves of bagged coffee, the brewing equipment that’s for sale, the small line-up of baked goods, or the charming collection of glasses holds spoons, sugar, stir sticks.

Coffee beans are available by the pound as well.

Their branding is pretty solid. I’m told this is called a propaganda-style: bold, square lettering, stars, patriotic coloring. It’s everywhere: the mugs, the coffee bags, the wall, the outdoor signage.

Except for their to-go cups, it would seem.

My wife and I ordered just a couple drinks. She had a cappuccino and dubbed it very good, while I tried a pour-over of their daily roast. They use a Chemex pour-over, which is one of the best methods for highlighting a coffee’s flavor profile. I forget the exact origin of the beans they brewed for me, but the result was – like every pour-over I’ve had – a rich array of flavors, foremost of which was a dark cherry or blueberry. I love the reminder that my cup of coffee originated as a berry.

Although Rowster is a younger company, they’ve established a solid brand and identity, and the busy space shows that the customers are finding them. Coffee and coffee education is at the forefront of their game, as you can see from the equipment and the highlight of their roaster in the dead center of the space. I’ve only experienced Rowster at one restaurant and at their store, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in more places around the city, and the region, soon.

Pirate Coffee | Columbus, OH

Columbus loves its coffee, and it loves its coffee to go. That’s why over the past few months, we’ve had three separate mobile coffee operations start bringing fresh roasted caffeine goodness to the masses. There’s the Solar Cafe and their trikes. There’s Hemisphere Coffee set up in Clintonville. And there’s Pirate Coffee.

Pirate Coffee is the brainchild of Heather Wirth, who’s known to many as the creator of the Columbus Artmobile. The idea for the cart was born out of the decided lack of available coffee at the Columbus Arts Festival this past June. I know some of the backstory because Mrs. Bfast With Nick was there when the idea came about. In fact, she supplied the name for it!

The goal of Pirate Coffee is simple: providing good brews of local coffee at the various events and festivals around Columbus. I finally got a chance to try it at the annual Igloo Letterpress Bazaar.

They make a solid cup of coffee. It’s all ground and French-pressed on the spot.

Heather ended up choosing Backroom Coffee Roasters as her supplier. Score one for good local roasts!

Their setup will vary depending on the event, but if you run into Heather and the Pirate crew, get some coffee from her! If you want to find out where Pirate Coffee will be set up next, follow along on their Facebook page!

Hemisphere Coffee Roasters | Columbus, OH

Hemisphere Coffee Roasters (Facebook / @HCRtrailer)
3825 Indianola, at Northridge  (map it!)
(614) 427-3457 – you call or text orders ahead of time

Just this week we’ve been hearing from Clintonville friends that Hemisphere Coffee Roasters set up their truck along Indianola. Regular pictures of espresso and pour-overs started showing up in my Facebook feed, so Mrs. Breakfast With Nick and I stopped by while on the way to work.

Today is a bright and cool morning, perfect for coffee outside.

We spent some time chatting with Hans Hochstedler, the barista running the trailer. Hans’ in-laws started Hemisphere in Mechanicsburg, Ohio about ten years ago. They source their beans directly from the farmers. “We shake the hand of the coffee farmer,” their sign says.

As you can see from their menu, they offer a wide range of coffee drinks from the truck. Everything hot or iced, from mochas, cappuccinos, lattes, pour-overs, shots of espresso, and more.

Mrs. Bfast w/Nick ordered an iced chai with a double-shot of espresso. This is a favorite summer drink of ours, and Hemisphere’s was one of the best we’ve had in a long time. Beautifully pulled double-shot, very rich chai that isn’t cloying. Hans used Hartzler Dairy milk (from Wooster, OH).

I tried a pour-over of the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. It’s a light roast with soft earthy notes punctuated by tart fruit.

For the uninitiated, the pour-over method involves making single cups by pouring hot water from a kettle into a filtered cone. The cone shape and the thin spout optimize the contact time between the water and the fresh grounds, which then drips into the receptacle below.

This allows you to make single cups of any beans, and to fully feature the coffee’s flavor profile.

More coffee is always welcome in Clintonville! I’m already planning when we can re-visit to get more iced chai. Has anyone else been this week?

The Koffee Kuppe | Fremont, MI

The Koffee Kuppe (Facebook)
46 W. Main St. (map it!)
Fremont, MI 49412
(231) 924-1046
Open Mon-Fri, 6:30a-10p; Fri, 7a-9p; Sat, 8a-9p
Accepts cash & credit/debit

Date of Visit: Wednesday, July 31, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.

IMPRESSIONS: Chalk this up as one of those simple, I-just-had-to blog posts. But I’m always excited to find THAT coffee shop, the one that’s bustling with activity, filled with locals, and smack dab in the middle of a smaller downtown.

The interiors are always new and nicely appointed, and they serve the full range of coffee drinks well. On our recent vacation in western Michigan, we stayed in Fremont and enjoyed a week of boating in the lake, tubing down a river, and other good family times. While jetting around town, we stopped in Koffee Kuppe a couple times. My guilty pleasure is an iced chai with a shot of espresso, and they did this very well.

But I was surprised to find a fairly comprehensive breakfast menu, including breakfast sandwiches, burritos, and paninis. They also had a peanut butter apple crisp (PB, apples, and granola in a honey wheat wrap) and the Jam ‘N’ Bananas, with cream cheese, strawberry jam, bananas, and granola in a flour tortilla.

One fascinating bit was the omelet bar. In a coffee shop. At first it seemed like a crazy idea, but after a moment it made more sense: you load up your ingredients, just like at a salad bar, then turn them over for the kitchen to whip into an omelet. Brilliant!

Overall, Koffee Kuppe made for a welcome respite and some delicious iced coffee on a busy vacation. Always nice to discover these places!

OTHER LINKS:

One Line Coffee | Columbus, OH

One Line Coffee (Facebook / @OneLineCoffee)
745 N. High St. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 289-2939
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Open Mon-Thurs, 7a-7p; Fri, 7a-1op; Sat, 8a-10p; Sun 8a-7p

Date of Visit: Monday, July 23, 2012 at 10:30am

IMPRESSIONS: When my wife and I first moved to Columbus, we lived in Short North across the street from The Coffee Table, a ramshackle little corner coffee shop that served good espresso. We used to judge the weather based on how many of their white plastic tables they set out each morning. Alas, Coffee Table is now gone, but Short North is still well caffeinated what with Cup O’ Joe, Impero, and Travonna opening their doors up and down the district (while a Starbucks did not survive – ha ha!). And now a new roaster has set up shop, right in that central part of the neighborhood, around the corner from where Coffee Table once stood: One Line Coffee.

ATMOSPHERE: One Line has roots all around Ohio – Granville, Newark, Heath – but this is their first permanent spot in Columbus itself. In my mind, they’ve found a good location. Large exposed brick walls are complemented by a nice wood floor and rustic chalkboard signage that can be rewritten to feature the day’s roasts. The room feels nice and bright, with big windows facing right onto High Street. The main counter is in the middle of the space, with thinner counters running along some of the walls.

One of the most enjoyable parts of our visit to One Line was interacting with the owner Dave and his employees. They are enthusiastic about coffee, and about informing their customers and including them in that excitement. The best coffee shops around town are able to educate you while still serving you as a customer and not intimidating you. All of One Line’s signage (and there’s a lot of it) goes toward explaining what you’ll get with each roast and each preparation.

FOOD: We ordered a couple drinks. My wife opted for an espresso out of one of their daily roasts (a Burundian coffee). The shot was expertly prepared, and had such a pleasant, surprising flavor. It was sharp, nutty, and fruity. Really a delight.

I ordered  Kenyan coffee prepared in what’s called Kyoto-style. It’s a cold preparation that involves slowly dripping ice water over a matter of several hours through the grounds.

The glassware keeps the water in contact with the grounds for an extended period.

The water drips at a slow rate. Dave said he was aiming for one drip every one-and-a-half seconds. It’s a fascinating setup to watch. Like a big chemistry set.

The result is a concentrated coffee liqueur that’s served over ice in a tumbler glass. Dave said the drink is meant to be sipped like a glass of scotch or bourbon served on the rocks. The cold brew certainly did retain a lot of flavor while losing a lot of the bitterness. Very strong notes of citrus fruit.

Their hot coffee is served with a pour-over cone (I think these were Hario V60s). This apparatus allows the barista to prepare a single cup of hot coffee in a way that ideally brings out the coffee’s intended flavors. A few other shops in town use this method at their brew bars, too.

SERVICE: Dave and his crew are very welcoming. They weren’t busy when we visited mid-morning Monday, so they took extra time to chat with us and show us around the shop. So far, they’ve created a pretty low-pressure way to explore and enjoy coffee.

It’s also nice that One Line (like many other shops around town) is serving their own roasts. Which means they can serve coffee that fits their preferences; they’re controlling nearly every step of the process.

They sell coffee beans and roasting equipment at the store, too. We picked up a bag of the Kenyan peaberry.

OVERALL: It’s great to see another high-quality coffee shop in town. Columbus’ coffee scene is very strong indeed, as evidenced by the huge turnout at the North Market Coffee Roast (where One Line first made an appearance). Already I’m a fan of One Line’s space, roasts, and hospitality. I look forward to returning, and hope others go explore it, too.

OTHER LINKS:

Photos: North Market Coffee Roast

In case you weren’t one of the 1500 people who descended on the North Market this past weekend, I snapped some pictures of their first (hopefully of many) Coffee Roast. The Coffee Roast was designed to feature over a dozen Columbus roasters (plus two Ohio dairies). Many people have been championing the excellence of Columbus coffee culture, and this event went a long ways towards exposing our incredible roasters, brewers, and baristas to new audiences.

The excitement of the roasters and brewers was palpable. Every single table was run by people passionate about what they’re doing. They spoke with customers. They described flavor profiles. They demonstrated brewing techniques. They advocated. I ran into J.J. from Cafe Brioso, and when I asked him how he was doing, he said he was right in the middle of what he always wanted to do.

The event took place on the upper floor of the Market. In the main event area, a series of speakers discussed and demonstrated coffee brewing techniques, origins, and roasting. A handful of roasters were situated there, too, along with the home roasting competition. Pictured here is head roaster Jeff Davis from Brioso speaking.

The rest of the roasters were spread out around the upper floor. There were some long lines, but that’s to be expected with an event like this. Especially the first time around.

Each roaster had a table. All of them sampled their coffee, mostly hot, some iced. Some were selling whole beans as well. Here’s Backroom Coffee Roasters tucked into a corner.

The joy, of course, was getting to sample so many different brews. This is the brew bar from Stauf’s.

Most of them were serving pour-over coffee. This generally meant smaller batches of coffee (and slower lines), but it also meant that guests got to taste coffee properly. This sample above is from the Bexley Coffee Shop.

Here’s the crew from Brioso sampling both a Columbian and an Ethiopian blend.

They kept the coffee a-flowing.

Of course, milk goes well with coffee. And if we’re talking milk in Ohio, of course you’d expect Snowville Creamery’s Warren Taylor to be there. He was preaching the Snowville gospel.

Jason Valentine from Thunderkiss Coffee was there, too, serving up the good stuff and selling small batches of his coffee. His story is a great example of the strength of our coffee scene. In addition to our established coffee shops, small roasters are working hard, many of them without storefronts to sell their beans, and yet they are succeeding admirably.

And if you’ve tasted their coffee, you know why.

Overall, this event amounted to more than a hill of beans (sorry, had to). The crowds were big, but that just showed that Columbus loves its coffee and is willing to get to know it better. I hope that the festival was successful for all of the roasters and brewers, and that they see a rise (not just a spike) in sales from it. And I know for sure I’m looking forward to next year’s event, too!

Cafe Brioso | Columbus, OH

Cafe Brioso (Facebook / @CafeBrioso)
14 E. Gay St. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 228-8366
Open Mon-Fri, 7a-4p; Sat, 9a-4p
Accepts cash & credit/debit
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free? Y/N/N
Kid-friendly? Y

Date of Visit: Friday, November 18, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

IMPRESSIONS: Ah, Brioso. It’s both easy and difficult for me to write about them. It’s easy because seasoned food and coffee fans of Columbus will already know about Brioso and their amazing roasts, their passion for coffee brewing, and their enthusiasm for sharing and teaching coffee culture. But it’s difficult because there’s not much to write beyond saying that they do coffee, and they do it really well. So maybe I should aim this review toward people who haven’t visited Brioso.

In short: you should go. Brioso is one of downtown Columbus’ premiere coffee stops. It’s conveniently located on the corner of High and Gay Streets. Parking is easily found on Gay Street, in both long- and short-term meters.

ATMOSPHERE: Brioso does all of their roasting on premises, so at the front of the store facing High Street you’ll often find roaster Jeff Davis hard at work, making anywhere from 15-20 different roasts. It makes the whole cafe, and the street outside, smell lovely. It’s particularly inviting in the colder months.

FOOD: In addition to their coffee, they serve a wide range of fresh-baked goods, from scones to cookies to muffins. Their scones rotate from sweet to savory flavors, often incorporating seasonal fruits. One of their top sellers are the blueberry muffins. It’s hard to go wrong when you pair that with a coffee drink.

You can order coffee however you like it: lattes with beautiful art, cappuccinos, cubanos (one of my wife’s favorites), or pour-overs featuring any of their roasts. They usually have a featured pour-over each day, so even if you’re a daily fixture there, you can work your way through the full menu of beans.

They serve much more than just coffee and muffins. Stop in for lunch especially, where they rotate soups, salads, and sandwiches.

SERVICE: The staff at Brioso keeps busy – they have to with the active downtown crowd – but they’ve always been friendly to me, and willing to chat about coffee. Their baristas are also some of the best trained in town, so you know that they’re pulling shots of espresso, pouring latte art, or foaming up your cappuccino the right way. Brioso often hosts regional latte art competitions, so they’re also doing a lot to raise Columbus’ coffee profile.

OVERALL: Whether you have time to stop or are in the to-go mood, the Brioso breakfast serves you well. If you work downtown, or are just bumming around seeing the sights, the cafe is a must-see for a drink and a snack. But if you want to take your love of coffee a stop further, they can lead the way. J.J., one of the managers, has a business card that reads, “Coffee Evangelist,” and that about says it all.

OTHER LINKS:

-> my (614) Magazine write-up about coffee shops, including Brioso