Vessel Coffee Collaborative to Open This Year in Detroit-Shoreway Neighborhood

After a few successful pop-ups, Cleveland coffee veterans Austin Fedor and Jacob Digman are looking to give Clevelanders a fresh perspective on specialty coffee with Vessel Coffee Collaborative (5019 Detroit Ave.) when it opens sometime in the coming months.

Named partly after the vessel used for an espresso shot, the shop will focus on a rotating menu of high-quality roasts from all over the country, a concept known as a “multi-roast” cafe. The other part of their name, “collaborative,” reflects the spirit of community and partnership they aim to foster.

“We had this idea because we like going to shops around the country and seeing what’s new, what’s fresh,” Digman said. 

“Coffee has come a long way in the last 10 years or so, and we’re getting a lot of these very tiny roasters doing very cool things with coffee that we haven’t really seen before,” Fedor, who previously co-owned Coffee Index & Books in Ohio City, said. “It’s going to be fun to feature those in the neighborhood and just make them very easily accessible for everybody.”

Some picks for their first round of roasters include Shoebox Coffee from Chicago and Flower Child from San Francisco. They’re excited to hear from the community once they open, wanting their offerings to reflect the neighborhood’s tastes.

Beyond pour-overs and iced coffees, Vessel Coffee Collaborative will lean into more “uncommon” flavors and feature “cocktail-esque” latte drinks with taste and presentation at the forefront.

One menu item, “The Archive,” is a coffee-take on an Old Fashioned, which features Guardian Cold Brew, zero-proof whiskey, Luxardo cherries and orange peel. Another specialty drink to be featured is the Crimson Orchards: Rishi matcha, red apple cider, crimson cold foam and cinnamon.

Vessel Coffee Collaborative also plans to host workshops and tastings for anyone looking to try new flavors and deepen their java knowledge, as well as “maker” pop-ups and local artist features. They’re hoping to cultivate a comfortable place where the community will want to gather.

Digman and Fedor hope their unique approach will build upon the momentum of the city’s well-established coffee scene, calling for experimentation and expanding the culture with new ideas and flavors.

“I pretty much walk to all the shops [in the area], I rotate every day which one I’m going to, and I think they all bring something you need,” Digman said. “I feel like there’s room for our concept as well.”

Digman and Fedor have been in the industry for over a decade and met in 2018 while working at Rising Star. They credit the roaster for teaching them a lot about coffee and the industry.

The duo own Vessel Coffee Collaborative along with Digman’s husband Cory Hajde, owner of popular West Side haunts including Mahall’s and Cloak & Dagger. 

Vessel Coffee Collaborative is set to open before the end of the year.