Peristyle Coffee has been brewing since January, but the new coffee venture is now preparing to pour into Cleveland’s coffee scene.
Local coffee pro Charlie Eisenstat started the business not long after parting ways with Edda Coffee Roasters in late 2022.
However, unlike Eisenstat’s previous endeavors — including the beloved Downtown staple Pour Cleveland and recent Ohio City hotspot Edda — Peristyle works on a business-to-business model under Will Hollingsworth’s Buildings & Food umbrella, selling to local cafes and shops around town.
In fact, you may have tasted their Nordic-style roasts already, without realizing.
Currently, Luna Bakery & Café, Floressa in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood and Nubeigel in Cleveland Heights all serve Eisenstat’s specialty roasted coffee; the latter even bought one of the espresso machines previously used at Pour.
“My original background and breaking into the coffee industry is through a cafe,” Eisenstat says. “I think my experience there and as a home enthusiast have inspired our business model with Peristyle. I've tried this before, but this is really the first real opportunity where I feel heard — and what I'm trying to achieve with this, I really want to be customer-driven.”
For Eisenstat, that meant pivoting away from cafe ownership to providing top-notch roasts and often-unavailable customer service at other local mom-and-pop shops.
No one wants to serve bad coffee, but the beverage becomes a secondary or tertiary focus a lot of the time, he says. With Peristyle, however, Eisenstat might show up himself to train employees on making a quality cup of joe, or troubleshoot whatever issue they’re having with an espresso machine or odd-tasting brew.
This freedom of control, Eisenstat says, comes from his partnership with Hollingsworth and Buildings & Food — of Spotted Owl, Old 86 and the incoming La Cave Du Vin — who let him take the reins.
“Will and I … we’re very similar,” Eisenstat says. “He definitely values quality and visual beauty, but actual substance too. I've worked with Will when Spotted Owl was open, and I've known him for some time. When I decided that I was going to leave Edda, I connected with Will and sort of shared what I would like to do. He loved the idea and Buildings & Food has been a great partner, they're extremely supportive.”
The coffee Eisenstat crafts pulls from the Nordic tradition, where beans are roasted in a way that preserves the coffee’s slight acidity. He likens the roasting process to cooking a steak.
“You can sear a steak and have it be really well done on the outside, but it can be wrong on the inside,” he remarks. “With coffee roasting, you're trying to basically lock in those flavors without creating that dark, charred, kind of ghostly flavor — in my opinion. You're trying to cook the inside of the bean to a point where it's sweetened and evenly cooked and it's not green tasting.”
Fans of Eisenstat’s coffee should look out for Peristyle’s website launch within the coming weeks. For now, you can snag that Nordic cup of joe around town at some of your favorite bakeries and cafes.
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