Inside the new Vessel Coffee Collaborative in Cleveland. Photo by Josh Dobay, courtesy of Vessel Coffee Collaborative.
A new cafe called Vessel Coffee Collaborative opened this month in Cleveland’s Gordon Square, carrying roasts from throughout the country.
Cleveland coffee pros Austin Fedor and Jacob Digman collaborated on an opening lineup that includes coffees from Little Waves Coffee Roasters of Durham, North Carolina — Roast magazine’s 2022 Micro Roaster of the Year — and Flower Child Coffee of Oakland, California.
Digman’s husband, Cory Hajde, is part of the ownership group and also helps oversee the cafe and coffee selection. Moving forward, the public may also help guide roasted coffee sourcing.
Photo by Josh Dobay, courtesy of Vessel Coffee Collaborative.
“We like to choose coffees based on feedback,” Jacob Digman told Daily Coffee News. “We love listening to what our customers are excited about, and we will bring in other roasters so that we can all try them together. We all have slightly different palates.”
With natural light pouring through the front windows in the Detroit-Shoreway cafe, the long, 2,000-square-foot space dims toward the back, where customers pass circular two-top tables beneath pendants and hanging plants.
Photo by Josh Dobay, courtesy of Vessel Coffee Collaborative.
Dark, well-worn wood floors and vintage painted copper ceiling tiles set a warm tone, while contoured chairs nod to the building’s era and natural wood surfaces carry the room. A gallery wall and community bookcase round out a lounge area in back against a warm green wall that runs the length of the cafe.
Behind the bar, baristas work with Mahlkönig grinders, a Fetco batch brewer, Hario V60 pourover setups and a Synesso S200 espresso machine.
“We are very lucky in Cleveland to have a wide selection of really dialed-in roasters. I’d say even more than typical for a city this size,” Digman said. “At Vessel, we are more looking to fill the niche of ‘exploration’ of coffee and what is out there nationally, and eventually we hope even internationally.”
Photo by Josh Dobay, courtesy of Vessel Coffee Collaborative.
Food comes from local providers such as Cleveland Bagel Co., Raisin Hell Vegan, Leavened and Dramatic Snax, which is also contributing sweets and drink syrups. Branded merchandise was designed for the shop by artist Emily Frances.
“We want to continue to be a place for these local creators to showcase their work,” Digman said.
Digman and Fedor worked together behind the bar at Cleveland’s Rising Star Coffee. Fedor later moved into management before opening Index Coffee & Books in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood.
When both coffee pros found themselves looking for new opportunities at the same time, Digman approached Fedor with the idea for Vessel, and the build-out began in September 2025.
Photo by Josh Dobay, courtesy of Vessel Coffee Collaborative.
“We’ve talked a lot about doing after-hours tastings of new coffees coming in and being involved in neighborhood events,” said Digman. “We want to build a team of baristas who care about what we are doing here and want to be creatively involved. We are really focused on getting this space perfectly dialed-in to have somewhere very unique that feels special to visit.”
Vessel Coffee Collaborative is located at 5019 Detroit Ave. in Cleveland.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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