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Meghan Winkler
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Meghan Winkler
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Meghan Winkler
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Meghan Winkler
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Meghan Winkler
As early as 7 a.m., get double the buzz at Asterisk Coffee Bar when you order a coffee or cocktail like a house take on an Irish coffee.
“It’s an all-day experience,” says Albert Macso, owner of Akron Coffee Roasters, which runs this Cuyahoga Falls spot that opened in 2019.
It is a day and night lounge with hip woodcut graphic prints by Meryl Engler on exhibit, French art deco wallpaper and an original tin ceiling embracing its 1903 Alhambra theater roots. Everything from draft alpine lagers and gin and tonics to pour-overs and affogatos slide across the white Corian bar. House-made ingredients like chai, almond milk and syrups impress and so do Bavarian pretzels with peanut butter-mustard dip and house-baked cinnamon buns. Asterisk’s by-hand approach begins with using Akron Coffee Roasters beans, including its smooth full-bodied Interrobang espresso blend of beans from Rwanda, Colombia and Guatemala that Macso expertly roasts.
“We stretch out the roast to bring out some nice sugary sweetness. … Rwanda is a spicier coffee so it gives it an allspice character,” Macso says. “All that is on top of dark chocolate.”
Experience expertise from both sides of the bar with coffee cocktails like Gene’s Julep ($11). Barista-bartenders shake up creamy Interrobang nitro cold brew, high-proof Devil Springs vodka and a house blackberry shrub. They top it with tonic to mellow intense flavors and add effervescence. Garnished with fragrant mint leaves, the expert concoction subtly mingles the espresso’s chocolatey notes with fruit for a unique mint julep interpretation.
“[It’s] showcasing our coffee for its flavor,” says general manager Ben Krizman, “in a way that reflects our ability to know classic cocktails and do new things.”
Taste different espresso iterations in the new ACB … E espresso martini ($14), which stands out with a house Interrobang cold brew liqueur made by infusing concentrated 16-hour cold brew with Devil Springs vodka and cane sugar and resting it for weeks. It’s shaken with complex spicy botanical Cocchi amaro bitters and a shot of espresso with crema. Served in a stylish Nick and Nora glass and garnished with espresso beans, the boozy cocktail has a voluptuous creamy mouthfeel with an espresso-forward character and twice the jolt from the espresso and coffee liqueur.
“It perks you up,” Macso says, “but gives you the cocktail you deserved all week.”
2101 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls | asterisk.coffee
