Coffee Pot Cafe offers locally sourced goods, game night, local art (Article and Video)

The Coffee Pot Cafe plans to offer much more than java from its home in the Akron-Summit County Public Library’s Main Library in downtown Akron.

For one, the shop will launch a board game night at this Saturday’s Akron Artwork, where participants may bring their own favorite games, or play one of the many accumulated by Manager David DiDomenico.

He says he has everything from Alhambra to Zobmondo, and many in between, like a vintage version of the game Mousetrap, famous for its Rube Goldberg-inspired contraption that sprawls over the game board. He’s also installed an arcade version of Sega’s OutRun.

While this sister company of nearby Stew Pot Kitchen sells a number of blends of coffee as its namesake implies, the Coffee Pot also serves sandwiches and soon will offer greens and other veggies grown in-house, as DiDomenico has taken advantage of the large windows and high ceilings in the space to grow these items, along with running a small aquaponics system (where fish in an aquarium provide the nutrients for food production).

Local is the key to this business. “We’ve reached out to a few local companies,” says DiDomenico. For example, Coffee Pot will sell a house blend coffee provided by Stray Dog in North Hill, along with sodas from the newly relaunched Norka Beverage.

Eventually, DiDomenico plans to feature the Game Nights on a weekly basis, along with showcasing the work of local artists and featuring local musicians. “There are some people that maybe have gone unnoticed, and those are people we’ve invited in.” The artwork also will be on sale.

The cafe is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and some weekends for special events (like the Artwalk). Game Night will take place April 4, at 5 p.m. For more info, visit The Coffee Pot’s Facebook page.