For my Columbus experience, I chose coffee shops. I have gone to Zen Cha tea salon, One line coffee, Poindexter coffee, Kafe kerouac, and Roaming goat coffee. All of these shops were unique in their own way and had a whole different experience not only in the atmosphere, but in the coffee or tea itself. Poindexter was really cool and the people working were very nice. I could tell they wanted to work there and they had experience making coffee before. They had an interesting wall made out of pencils and their ceiling was dedicated to Ohio/Columbus memorabilia. It was awesome to see such an open and inviting place. This would be a good spot for working on assignments or coming to with your friends. Kafe Kerouac to be completely honest was very scary. I did not really feel comfortable with the vibe. However, they seemed very open to different people and had a few different sitting rooms. There were people working on homework, reading, talking and eating all around. I wish I went with someone else to share the moment with. Here I got a mocha and it was pretty good, however I think I would try something new because as I looked at the menu a but longer, I saw a few things that would have been better than a mocha. The last place I went was Roaming goat coffee. This place blew me away, not only was it homey, but the workers were nice, the people were respectful, and most of all it was so clean and comfortable. I sat here and talked to my mom on the phone for a while before catching the bus back to campus. I got a honey latte which I had never even thought about trying before. I got the iced version to contrast the mocha I had gotten earlier in the day. This was a very good drink and the man working seemed to know his coffee very well as he suggested this drink to me, I was being optimistic so I tried it and was not disappointed. I think my favorite experience from this project was Zen Cha and roaming goat. I would definitely go to these shops again. There are still many more I would love to go to, hopefully I can extend my experiences to my friends. I learned that Columbus has very different atmospheres for the same concept. These coffee shops were all different and the people in them were all very different such as ages, jobs, reasons for being there, but they all had coffee in common. I also liked that at each place they hand ground their coffee. At Starbucks it all happens in a big machine, not as cool. I want to continue exploring coffee shops here in Columbus, there are many I have yet to go to. I also want to explore the parks and art galleries, there is so much to see! To someone looking to do the same list, make sure the shops all have something different about them, It would not be nearly as fun to go to basically the same environment every time you walk into a coffee shop. I enjoyed the differences.
