Coffee with a Crafted Touch
From roasting beans in house to speckle-glazed mugs handmade by Akron potter Bob Yost, Artisan Coffee illustrates the creative mindset behind its name in both its atmosphere and craft drinks.
“Something we really value is celebrating and encouraging people creating high-quality things,” says co-owner Tim Bechtel.
That includes Tim himself. Before Artisan opened in 2015 in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood, Tim helped hang the wood wall and pour concrete countertops and the bar, consciously choosing raw materials a craftsman would use. It’s a canvas for serving artisanal drinks and breakfast, lunch and dinner including house-made flaky kougin-amann pastries and a Cuban sandwich with house mayonnaise and bourbon molasses mustard. Each drink starts with the beans, with Tim roasting about 12 varieties of light to dark single-origin options like the Dancer from Papua New Guinea to blends like its Barista espresso from Indonesia and South America. Artisan coffee is served from a pour-over, a French press or brewed, and the Barista blend is the base for its lattes, mochas and other creations. It offers syrupy, chocolatey notes with a pop of citrusy brightness that comes through in the roasting process Tim has perfected.
“Our coffees are going to be a lot smoother than most mainstream coffee,” Tim says. “They’ll have more flavor. … Some of that is we use higher quality coffee, but a lot of it is also our roasting.”
Try Barista beans in the French toast latte ($5), and like all of its drinks, the beans are elevated with help of house-made syrups concocted from raw organic cane sugar. This one is made from brown sugar, cinnamon and maple, and the latte is topped with a cinnamon sprinkle for a taste that’s reminiscent of homemade French toast.
“It’s a good balance of sweet and that bit of spice rounds it out,” says co-owner Emily Bechtel.
The caramel macchiato ($4.75-$5.75) takes craftsmanship to another level with a house-made rich caramel drizzle, a mix of sugar, heavy cream, salt and natural vanilla extract. It features espresso layered over steamed milk mixed with house vanilla syrup, and as you sip, it blends together, ending with the delectable caramel.
“Our caramel drizzle is a lot better than most because we handmake it,” Tim says, adding it takes about a half-hour to create. “It’s a labor of love.”
662 Canton Road, Akron | artisancoffee.us