Cold and icy temperatures bite away at the skin making it unbearable to walk around outside. The only way to get the slightest bit of warm is with a creamy dark roast of hot coffee. Through the small wooden doors of the café is a rich smell of coffee and freshly baked pastries. Everyone in the room sips on their mugs and taps their foot to the beat of the acoustic band playing in the back corner of the shop. Finally the “VSCO perfect” cup is served along with a cloud of steam that warms the soul.

The coffee experience, located in downtown Columbus, is where all avid coffee drinkers can win a free T-shirt by trying new coffee shops around campus. The customer can travel to four or more participating coffee shops, buy a drink and get their card stamped by one of the workers. After it is stamped four times they can go to the Experience Columbus downtown visitor center and redeem their free T-shirt.

“It’s more than just good coffee; it’s the whole experience,” Matthew Lovett, a worker at Roosevelt Cafe, said.

Each coffeehouse has different types of coffee as well as other drinks customers can order. Most of shops also have a variety of pastries and small food options.

Lovett said, the trail consists of 14 different shops, and they all have a “unique style and taste.” Some shops (Roosevelt Cafe and Red Velvet) focus on latte art while others (Luck Bros Coffee and Fox in the Snow) focus on new flavors.

Others agree with Lovett.

“Each coffeehouse is different from the next so they each have something different I love about them. It’s not like you will be ordering the same thing over and over again so you can’t really get tired of it,” Naomi Sylvester, an OSU student, said.

However students argue the price of each cup of coffee is too expensive for the T-shirt reward.

Sarah Hansel, an OSU student, said the shirt given is plain dark grey with the coffee experience logo and the coffee shops around it. The price of each drink is almost $4 a cup, and for a college student that money can add up.

Whether the goal is the T-shirt or not, the coffee experience could be a great way to try new coffee with friends. The trail is open for everyone and available all year long. All that the customers have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy their steaming cup.