Being new to Columbus (and Ohio in general), I thought it would be handy to catalog all of the various shops in the area in one place a la the Balto/DC thread. Please feel free to post additions to this list; I will update this post. Reviews of individual establishments are certainly welcome.


Columbus and I-270 Area:

Backroom Coffee Roasters
http://www.backroomcoffeeroasters.com/

Cafe Brioso
http://www.cafebrioso.com/

Crimson Cup
http://www.crimsoncup.com

Ethyl and Tank
http://www.facebook.com/ethylandtank

Fox in the Snow Cafe
https://www.facebook.com/foxinthesnowcafe

Impero Coffee
http://www.imperocoffee.com/

Luck Brothers
http://www.luckbroscoffeehouse.com/

The Market Italian Village
http://www.themarketiv.com

Mission Coffee Co
http://missioncoffeeco.com/

One Line Coffee
http://www.onelinecoffee.com

The Roosevelt Coffeehouse
http://www.rooseveltcoffee.org

Stauf's Coffee Roasters
http://www.staufs.com

Thunderkiss Coffee
http://www.thunderkisscoffee.com/

Upper Cup Coffee

Toast Bar
http://dan-the-baker.com/toastbar/


East of C'bus

River Road Coffee House (Granville)
http://www.riverroadcoffeehouse.com


Dayton Area:

Boston Stoker
http://bostonstoker.com

Ghostlight Coffee
http://ghostlightcoffee.com

Press Coffee
http://www.pressdayton.com

Proto Build Bar
http://www.protobuildbar.com

Warehouse 4 Coffee
http://www.yelp.com/biz/warehouse-4-coffee-vandalia

Add Ghostlight to the list. Its in Dayton, about a mile south of Press. With Boston Stoker you've got to be careful, though. Some stores are much better than others, and their espresso is more traditional (read: dark). Some baristas know what they're doing, others don't. The coffee is good though. Check the roast date before buying, they deliver from the Vandalia warehouse once a week. Their Englewood store is pretty consistent in serving good drinks.

Warehouse 4 is new, but is now my favorite shop. Chris Merritt (the owner) is a great barista, as are all of his staff. Warehouse 4 sells and serves Counter Culture.

Ghostlight has a nice atmosphere, and serves from several roasters. I haven't been there in a while, but as I recall the quality was somewhere between Boston Stoker and Warehouse 4. Definitely worth a trip, especially if you intend to stay for a time.

Press has been around a few years, and serves Dogwood Neon as espresso, and coffees from various roasters on brew. Recently they started roasting for drip.

Thanks, Brandon, for the contribution and information: original post updated.

I haven't tried all of the places/roasters in Columbus yet. I want to give a few that I have a second shot (no pun intended) before I post impressions. I can at least say that Mission has been consistently good. They just got some coffees in from Handsome today, too; I bought a bag of their Deri Kochoha Ethiopian to try on this long weekend. Might be time to break out the siphon....

I've heard good things about one line, but I've never been there. I don't make it into Columbus all that often. If you're talking about Ohio roasters, Deeper Roots in Cincinnati is excellent. Ghostlight serves their alchemy blend as house espresso. Its very punchy, with a deep beery character. They also won some roaster awards at the SCAA this spring.

In the past few months Press (most established and arguably the progenitor of the Dayton third wave) started a secondary company called Wood Burl, which is their roasting brand. Apparently Press Coffee Roasters exists elsewhere. Warehouse 4 has started experimenting with roasting, but is yet to sell anything done in house. They have, however, started carrying Deeper Roots. Ghostlight has been experiencing a decline in coffee quality as they expand their business model to be more atmosphere-focused and include food. I have also heard their whole bean stock is often older than preferable. I have not been able to confirm this, but I have heard it from multiple sources.

Hello guys. I can recommend one near my Alma Mater in Granville. It's called River Road Coffee. They roast part or all of their coffee on site.

I've been making Mission my regular away-from-home coffee place. Deeper Roots is their house roaster and they always have a guest roaster which of date has rotated between Counter Culture, Handsome, and Madcap. The whole beans are fresh (Deeper Roots deliveries arrive every Tuesday AM; guest roasts usually come in every Thursday or Friday).

Around the corner is One Line. I've had mixed experiences there depending upon who's working the bar. Ditto ambivalence for their roasts: some are fantastic, others just okay. But they're definitely a solid choice, just one that so far falls short of exceptional. (That said, whole beans are always fresh.)

Luck Bros in Grandview has been more mixed. I had a decent espresso pulled by the owner, but have also been served coffee on par with *$. They probably fill the neighborhood joint niche nicely, but isn't a destination for me.

Stauf's roasts like *$. 'nuff said as I have nothing positive to share at this point.

And I need a few more experiences with Brioso before commenting.

skittles_s wrote:I need a few more experiences with Brioso before commenting.

A relative of mine works in a shop supplied by Brioso. She says the coffee is excellent, and at least one staff member has competed before, I believe it was their trainer. I have no experience with their coffee or beans though.

Thanks for putting this list together. I'm visiting my wife's relatives near Columbus over the holidays and was looking for decent coffee recommendations.

I'll try and check out Mission while I'm there.

FYI, Columbus made a Sprudge article about underrated coffee cities:
http://sprudge.com/5-underrated-coffee-cities.html

FWIW.