Columbia Street Roastery By Herriott’s

Colombia Street Roastery offers the ultimate coffee experience in Champaign, Illinios. We had the opportunity to take part in our first cupping experience here.
Cupping is offered every third Saturday of the month and we highly recommend it. Being able to smell and taste different types of coffee next to each other is a great experience for any coffee enthusiasts.
One unique stand out coffee for us was the bourbon barrel aged coffee. The smell is intoxicating and the taste is unlike anything we’ve ever had. They are also aging coffee in a chardonnay barrel that should be really interesting. We didn’t get a chance to try that as it wasn’t ready yet.
This is the place to go for a great cup of coffee and to learn more about how coffee is grown, sourced, roasted and served.
Metered street parking is available as well as a few spots in their lot.

A very special kind of coffeeshop. Two rooms with an array of teas and home-​roasted coffee beans of hundreds of different flavors from S’mores to Irish Whiskey! You can get ground or whole roasted, ½ or full pound bags. Bagged fresh to order. They have a mix of single-​origin and mixed bags.
I tried out the European Blend, a dark roast blend of African and Central American beans. Unlike most «flavored» coffees, you could actually taste the strong hint of fruitiness and coffee at the same time!
There was only one lady at the counter and she was very busy with many many phone calls but she juggled them well and helped me promptly. 5 stars on service.

Grab a pamphlet, pick something that sounds good. You can’t go wrong with any of the single origin coffees. The employees are very knowledgeable.

My last review was in 2011 and I’m happy to say that it’s still 5 stars with me!
While they don’t have Dominican Gold anymore they still have Black Velvet and a newer blend called Black Market. That’s currently my favorite. I bought 2 lbs today, in fact!
Very easy to make a purchase. I’ve called ahead and they’ve had my order pre-​ground and waiting for me which is very convenient.
This year I did a lot of my Christmas shopping there. They’ve got a great selection of mugs, coffee accessories, teas… if it has to do with coffee or tea, they’ll have it.
They roast their coffee on site. You can see it through the store window. You can smell it long before you can see it. In fact, if the wind is right, you can smell the roasting beans downtown!
Great coffee and great customer service!

Fantastic coffees & teas at a reasonable price! I like the Black Velvet coffee & Prairie Sunrise tea. So good & so fresh. The storefront hours aren’t extensive so I plan to go to work late or leave early to visit this place. The staff is always friendly & very helpful. Based on what I already like, they’re always able to make recommendations that I really enjoy. It’s really nice to have a roaster in town.

Best coffee and tea in town! They have delicious loose leaf teas!

The only reason I am giving this such a low review is because they do not serve coffee here, instead they only sell coffee beans. Thus this should be under grocery stores, not «coffee or tea.» I’m sure from the other reviews the quality of their coffee is very good but according to the nice woman in the store they get a lot of people stopping by looking for a cup of coffee.

ILLINOIS’ BEST EXPORT — When the Brewing Market in Boulder stopped selling a flavored coffee they called «Highland Mist,» I wasn’t about to take «no» for an answer. I scoured the web, since I didn’t believe the recipe was unique, and found the Columbia Street Roastery.
At the time my youngest daughter was going to school at the University of Illinois in Champaign-​Urbana, and had received a discount coupon to CSR at a race she entered, so she brought me back some. I anxiously brewed my first cup and discovered. .. it was BETTER than what the local brewing market had discontinued. Now we order a couple of pounds online every few months, and are trying some of other flavors.
Thank you, CSR; you saved my mornings!

My husband, daughter, and I were in the shop before Christmas doing some gift shopping. The owner, Mark Herriott, spent quite a while chatting with us about their teas. He sent us on our way with 2 complimentary bags of tea and some tea pouches! We also purchased some coffee and additional tea.
Here is my review of the chai tea blend — I polished off the entire bag. It was tasty, however, I prefer my chai with a bit more bite (pepper?) to it. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try out chai.
My daughter, 11, prefers chamomile tea so, Mr. Herriott gave her Old Hippie Blend to try out. She claims it was delicious. You can taste the chamomile but also other flavors, especially the mint flavors. It is her new favorite tea!
Columbia Street Roastery is our go to shop for loose teas. I would definitely recommend it over Teavana at the mall!

The coffee here is superior to all the other coffee in the area. The price for the coffee is very reasonable. I have bought unroasted and roasted coffee and have been very happy with both. My favorite roasted coffee is the Sumatra. The Sumatra has the sweet taste that I enjoy from coffee. As for unroasted I like the Colombian beans. I also like that when they grind the coffee for you because they grind them very evenly. The staff here is very friendly and helpful. All of the staff is very knowledgeable about coffee. The other day I had a couple questions about roasting coffee and the guy who roasts their coffee spent a great deal of time giving me tips. If you are looking to upgrade your coffee equipment, this is also a great place to stop by. If you are not a coffee kind of person, they also have a tea room with many different options. My favorite tea is the black mango tea. They are just as knowledgeable about tea as they are about their coffee. The owner of the roastery is very friendly and is definitely passionate about his coffee. The owner takes a lot of pride in his coffee because he has invested in building relationships with the coffee farmers he works with and he knows the work it takes to get a good cup of coffee.

Really fantastic coffee that is less expensive than buying at the co-​op. We got the sumatra black label. It was worth every penny. The staff there also seemed really friendly and were helpful.

I met the roaster this morning at a coffee shop, so I had to try her handiwork. It’s pretty delicious.
I can’t speak fkr the shop or the service, but the end result is tasty.

Excellent coffee and wonderful help.
I drink their coffee both at work and at home.

I love getting my coffee here for my french press. They have the best whole bean coffee, and its very fresh. Not something thats been sitting around for months on a grocery store shelf.
My fav. bean coffee is Colombian supremo then at times I’ll get costa rican bean coffee. My girlfriends loves tip of the andes bean. We come from out of town every other month to stockup on our coffee. They roast it right on the spot, so you know your going to have fresh bean coffee to drink. Hands down this place is the best, and I always look forward to coming to this place.

Excellent coffee selection, knowledgable and friendly staff. It’s just plain tasty coffee roasted right. This is strictly a roastery so there’s no on-​site coffee or espresso, but if you can try a cupping, they’re awesome and you’ll learn a lot while you have some fun.

We live in the area and popped in one afternoon since we had a gift card. The owner asked if we’d ever been before and gave us a tour and recommendations. He was very friendly and knowledgeable and the coffee was delicious! (We buy whole bean and grind the coffee ourselves.)
We’ve gone back several times to purchase pounds of coffee as gifts for friends and family. Terrific local business!

Local, tasty, helpful. What more could I ask for? Dropped in on a busy Saturday. Things were frantic, but the employees were still helpful. No need to buy grocery store or out of town coffee again.

I admit, I’m fairly new to the serious coffee game, but most anyone can tell the good stuff from the bad… and, man, does Columbia Street roast some delicious coffee! I can’t speak to any of the flavored coffees since I’ve stuck to their single-​origin and organic, fair-​trade coffee blends (yeah, yeah… I’m one of THOSE people), but what I’ve had has been absolutely delicious. The staff is always friendly and eager to help you find exactly what you need.
If you’re a regular, don’t forget to ask for a coffee punch card. Buy 10 half-​pound (or one-​pound) bags and get a bag free. Free coffee? YES, PLEASE.
Oh, I almost forgot! They have lots of tea, as well. Immediately to your right when you enter the store. I haven’t sampled any of them, but it looked like they have a nice selection.

I think it’s amazing that Champaign has its own coffee roasters. I think it’s TOTALLY OMFG CRAZYAWESOME that said coffee is actually really, really delicious. And reasonably priced (helloooo, under $ 11/​pound). And you can get great blends or beautiful single-​origin. Or a multitude of flavored coffees. Or tea. Or various coffee/​tea accessories.
AND: If you buy 10 1lb bags of coffee, you get the 11^th free. What kind of wonderfulness is that?

I am absolutely not a coffee person, but I picked up a few bags for my brother last time I was in town. While I waited (why did I have to wait so long? This is why four stars and not five) I tried a sample, and oh my goodness… if I were gonna get hooked on coffee, this is the place that could do it. Of course, I still needed a lot of cream & sugar, because that’s how I roll, but I suspect that’s exclusively my issue.
Highly recommended coffee, coming from a non-​coffee-​drinker. My brother, the real coffee drinker in the family, still has our parents ship it to him periodically, now that he’s living in LA as well… so that’s gotta say something.