Crimson | Facebook | IG: @crimsoncolumbus
4066 Worth Ave. (map it!)
Columbus, OH 43219
(614) 532-0053
Open daily 7a-8p
Crimson Cup has been a longtime partner of Breakfast With Nick. The company is full of great people doing some incredible work in sourcing, roasting, and serving coffee. (For instance, get to know Brandon Bir, director of education and sustainability.)
I’ve long been a regular at their shops in Upper Arlington, and Clintonville in particular. And just recently they opened a new flagship store at Easton, with an updated design and coffee selections, simply called Crimson.
Crimson is designed from the outside to look like a small brick house, which sets up the expectation of warm hospitality.
The interior features a vaulted ceiling, tile floor, lots of whites and natural woods, and a coffee counter in the center. The central location of the employees focuses the experience on the coffee preparation.
This means you can watch them work the Modbar while they pull shots of espresso for your cortado (or whatever drink you choose, but the cortado is my jam).
As usual, the crew is welcoming and eager to share their coffee knowledge. The menu spans single origin coffees to curated teas, espresso drinks to specialty creations. Snacks are available from Freedom a la Cart.
My favorite of their specialty drinks is the Cascara Punch. Cascara is the skin of the coffee bean, which can be saved during the pulping process, then dried and steeped like a tea.
It imparts a lightly fruity and floral taste, and is used very well in this refreshing punch with a little sugar, hibiscus, and orange. The Crimson folks said it tastes nostalgically like Hi-C.
The cortados are top notch as usual, as is the batch-brewed and pour over coffee (I had way too much caffeine on this visit).
The new Crimson has space for hanging out, working, studying, including a covered porch that faces a little plaza. The shop is located on Worth Avenue in Easton’s newest northward expansion. I’m sure there will be some great events in the plaza in months and years to come.
This area also gives you a taste of Easton’s new focus on public art. There are murals and sculptures scattered throughout the mall, and the side of Crimson’s building features a mural titled “Tasting New Life” by Derrick Hickman, with a poem by Barbara Fant. Take time to seek it out!
