The Columbus Coffee Trail

This past week, I had the chance to play tour guide and show my sister around Columbus. It was her first time to visit and I think it's safe to say she had a blast! We always make time for coffee dates when I visit her so we of course had to explore as many coffee shops as possible while she was up here. She noticed the Columbus Coffee Experience stamp cards at one of the shops and we immediately made it our mission to visit enough to score free t-shirts to commemorate our achievement!

In typical fashion, I took photos of the latte art at each because I'm a huge sucker for beautiful things + coffee.

From top-left going clockwise: Stauf's // Fox in the Snow // Brioso // Mission Coffee Co

My thoughts on each:

Stauf's - After a less than stellar first impression, I've since changed my mind about this German Village mainstay. I love the atmosphere and natural light but the patio is probably my favorite spot in this place. There's plenty of seating, free wi-fi and great lattes -- I tried the Milky Way flavor (SO good) and sister had the Buckeye, which definitely lived up to its name. The breakfast muffins aren't bad, either.

Fox in the Snow - This has been a frequent haunt for my husband and I and we come here weekly just for the massive cinnamon rolls. The lattes aren't my favorite of the others I've tried (I wish they offered specialty flavors!), but they are potent and the latte art is always on point.

Brioso - One of the best lattes I've had in Columbus so far has to be from Brioso. My sister and I tried out the Ohio Honey Lattes at the new location on Long Street and I was in love with the layout and overall vibes. They have plenty of large tables for those that are blessed with the ability to work remotely. There's tons of gorgeous natural light and the baristas are friendly. This place gets an A+ from me!

Mission Coffee Co. - Mission is a hip little shop tucked away just off High St. I had never been before but after this week I'm certain I'll be going back. It was open yet cozy and had a good amount of work surfaces. The lattes were both delicious and beautiful. We tried the Mocha and Vanilla flavors.

One Line Coffee - Not pictured, as my sister just got an iced honey latte and I refrained due to my limit of one coffee per day. I took a few sips though and it was good, though very potent! This place was a little on the small side but had a nice atmosphere and we were surprised that patrons can bring their dogs along with them! The baristas were super friendly, which is enough to get me to return and try one of their other coffee beverages for myself sometime.

We would have loved to hit up the rest of the coffee shops on the Experience Columbus Coffee Trail. However, since my sister was only here for the week we went ahead and redeemed our stamp cards for some super cute and soft t-shirts! Here we are modeling them:

If you live in Columbus and love coffee as much as we do, you should definitely take on the Columbus Coffee Trail challenge! It's a good way to break out of a routine (I'm guilty of going to the same place) and branch out to try new things!

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it's the little things

Is anyone else having just the slowest week ever? I know it's already Thursday (or as I like to call it: Friday Eve), but I'm already exhausted! I think the impending Thanksgiving holiday next week plus the stress and frustration of wanting to get started on house closing/moving is just a lot to handle at the moment.

However, when I focus on all the good going on in my life right now, it's hard to complain! The absolute highlight of my week thus far was the opening of Starbucks in our newly completed Sundance Square on Tuesday.

Sundance Square underwent a huge renovation over the past year or so and was unveiled earlier in the month. I am in love with the space already, especially now that all the Christmas decorations are going up! New restaurants are popping up one by one in each of the two new buildings that flank the east and west perimeter of the square.

Starbucks actually only made a move across the street from its old location, but the new set up is wayyy better. On Monday night, my Twitter newsfeed was sprinkled with several tweets about how the first 100 customers in line for Tuesday morning's opening would get free Starbucks drinks for a year. I immediately set my alarm extra early and surprisingly was able to get up and going! I waited in line an hour before the store opened and sure enough received my coupon card for my free drinks. For someone who works downtown and frequents that store a lot, I was pretty excited about it!

So you know, life can get pretty stressful at times. But I'm learning the importance of slowing down, getting outside my comfort zone, and appreciating the little things like: waiting in line for coffee before the sun comes up and making friends with strangers waiting with you; listening to Christmas music a week earlier than what is socially acceptable (and not caring); and generally feeling small in a big, wonderful world! 

xo.

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