Columbus, Ohio's craft coffee scene

Wendy Pramik | Special to USA TODAY

A cooperative spirit among entrepreneurs has led to a buzzing coffee scene in Columbus, Ohio, that’s steeped in tradition and fueled by creativity.

Columbus is a melting pot of enterprisers, its residents a blend of locals, transplants and newbies drawn by business and academia. People here are willing to take risks if they think those risks will lead to something great.

Or at least something hot.

In Columbus, you’ll find coffee from well-established roasters, such as Café Brioso and Stauf’s Coffee Roasters, incorporated into specialty drinks throughout the city, with newcomers such as One Line Coffee and Mission Coffee Co. also supplying shop owners with unique roasts.

“There's a great coffee culture in Columbus,” says Tom Griesmer, who founded Stauf’s in 1988. “We care about each other and support one another. Competition isn't competition. It just raises awareness."

Once business owners have secured the beans they like, their ideas start to percolate.

In Columbus you can find a latte topped with hand-whipped vanilla bean cream, a coffee served with sweetened condensed milk that's inspired by drinks in the Canary Islands, and a playful espresso that's made with activated charcoal, honey and lavender.

A few years ago, several representatives of the specialty coffee community teamed up with Experience Columbus, the city’s visitor’s bureau, to establish the Columbus Coffee Trail. The eight founding members have seen their group more than double. Today there are 17 establishments on the brew route, including roasters, coffee shops and retailers.

And there’s significant know-how in the local industry, including longtime Stauf’s president Mark Swanson and Greg Ubert, founder of Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, which supplies 1 million pounds of coffee annually to shop owners and customers around the country.

In many cases, success builds upon success, and the industry players encourage each other to reach for the crème de la crème.

“We have such a surprisingly deep heritage in the specialty coffee business,” says Andy Dehus with Columbus Food Adventures, which runs a coffee tour. "Columbus has a lot of independent coffee shops that I believe are putting out specialty coffee drinks at a level of quality that is indistinguishable from cities that are far more acknowledged for their coffee scenes."

See for yourself in the photos above, and explore more flavors of Ohio below.