Fretboard Coffee

The best coffee shop in town but one of the hardest to find. This place was a poorly kept secret with the local crowd for a while but is getting better known now because of their excellent coffee and friendly service.

I find that the sergvice was really nice and I agree with the past review. It is a nice place. And it clean and the coffee is TopNOTCH!

Interesting place with super legit coffee. The service is great. This place is very unusual for Iowa, and I think it definitely a bright spot. .. In a basement. I recommend checking this place out, especially if you are into good coffee. It is a great place to hang out and read. Hope to get back again.

I want to love this place because the baristas are friendly and it’s in a great location, but the coffee is more expensive and in my opinion not as good as other local shops. A big downside for me is that the wifi apparently only works with Apple devices, according to the baristas, and when I go somewhere to have a $ 5 cappuccino I typically want to sit and work on my laptop as well. However they’re very friendly and the atmosphere is good!

Cool place in Columbia with amazing coffee that is prepared in a bunch of different scientific ways. LOVE this place and their coffee. Plus, they’re nice and have almond milk.

We came to the Fretboard early Saturday morning and were immediately impressed by this unique establishment. The barista took great care to provide us with a quality espresso by making the effect to pull extra shots as we were the first customers of the day. The cold brew was in process in the distillery — we plan on enjoying a glass next time we are in town. Coffee quality high and they roast in house. Don’t miss it!

Hip little coffee shop tucked away in the arts district. Loved my cold brew with coffee ice cubes — a genius touch!

Dan is the man. Dave is the jam. This place has ruined me in terms of coffee shops. I can’t go anywhere else because all I think about is fretboard. If I could live here I would, but alas the world could never be that perfect. Try the Guatemala siphon pot or chemex metal filter. Both good options. Cheers!

This place was terrible! It was difficult to locate, once I found it I was so disappointed I had a Chai Tea Latte that tasted like nothing, just warm milk water! Tried several of the donuts the maple bacon was good but the chocolate and red velvet were dry and tasteless.

Great coffee shop! It would be nearly impossible to find without Unilocal.We had the cold — pressed ice coffee and we’re stunned when they offered the choice of regular ice cubes or coffee ice cubes. You read that right, coffee ice cubes! Such a brilliant touch for iced coffee. They roast their own coffee and seem to take it very seriously. They also have a small patio, which suited us well while traveling with our dog. We’ll be back.

I don’t get to come here as often as I’d like due to conflict of Fretboard’s business hours and my work schedule, but when I can I love to stop in for a cup of coffee to compliment my current reading material.
The staff are incredibly personable, the coffee is fantastic (though some roasts are definitely better than others! Personal preference though), and the atmosphere is very low-​key.
Definitely try the siphon pot! Any roast, really. Not only is the taste very unique, it’s very fun watching it brew!

The service was great. The owner was friendly, funny, and all in all a very likable guy. I ordered a siphon of the Guatemala, and it was okay as far as flavor and complexity goes. However, the service and environment completely made up for it, making me a returning customer despite the fact that I’m from out of town. Whenever I need a pick-​me-​up, I will come here for it. You can’t get more authentic than drinking coffee just 3 feet away from the roaster amid countless brewing devices that decorate the walls from floor to ceiling. Come here if you get a spare minute.

Great place to get some work done! A nice guy named Austin was working and he was an absolute pleasure! I was there for a few hours so I got to see him interact and he was exactly what a barista should be! He gave great recommendations, remembered customers from previous visits, and served with a smile. I’m only passing through town, but if I lived here I would frequent this place!

Such a gem! Their coffee is spectacular and the tea selection is top notch! I highly recommend the African Queen black tea.

Good stuff, a bit slow, a bit underwhelming, but good overall.

Fretboard Coffee is (IMHO) THE COFFEE PLACE of Columbia when it comes to taste, environment, and an all around good time. While it may be a little small on space there is a life there that pours through and seeps into people in such a way that no matter where they are going, they leave with a smile and a spring in their step.
This is the first place I go in the morning and often the last place I go before I go home. The reason for that is woven between the characteristics of fantastic service (with a smile I might add!), incredible beans, intricate and fun pour methods for those with differing coffee tastes, and a Passion for coffee that extends well beyond the business aspect of the locale.
Feel like being an alchemists assistant? watch a Siphon pot as the caffeine experiment is readied for you. OR maybe you feel like just the right espresso shot to have before you tackle your various endeavors that day… go with the sweet Cubano! Care for the slightest (and i mean slight!) grit paired with immaculate taste? mmmm dem pour-​overs are a good place to be…
They have never once (and I have been going there for more than a couple months every single day… gotta stimulate that economy right?), again I REPEAT, never once given me a poor pour… Or for those of you who don’t like that kind of alliteration, they have always helped produce a positive experience from my five to ten minute visits to my hours long research/​writing/​study sessions.
This is the first place I bring my out of town friends, and the last place I bring them to before they begin their journey elsewhere.

I’m an out-​of-​towner here in Columbia for the holidays. I’ve been here twice now and have been extremely impressed, both by the service, and the coffee.
The baristas are awesome dudes who really complete the experience. Try the siphon pot for a great brew! Thanks fretboard!

It was OK. A bit pricey for what you get. I do not think their coffee is the best in town though. Not a lot of seating either

Delicious coffee. Friendly hosts. Great experience.
Fretboard is small and a little bit hidden — it’s located under the Artlandish Gallery — so it’s easiest to park on Walnut and walk through the art gallery or take the path outside to the right.
The coffee shop is actually in a garage. Half of the space is focused on coffee and half on the coffee patrons.
The owner, Dave, procures and roasts beans in shop so they are amazingly fresh. You can have the coffee brewed a number of ways including French Press, pour over, and siphon. Brian was the barista when I went in. I ordered an intense Kenyan coffee brewed by siphon. It was fun to watch the brewing process and the coffee was superb.
The shop has two tables and a bar. It is small but there is plenty of space. WiFi is available upon request, and I actually sat for about two hours to enjoy the atmosphere and get some work knocked out.
I loved the experience and would highly recommend stopping in to chill or to grab a cup and go. It really is a gem in the Columbia, MO coffee scene.

Well, this place just opened, and evidently they are all over their friends are all over the social media. But I have spent a few hours soaking up the coffee and ambiance there, and I like it. I plan on spending more there in the future.
Overall, it has to be the smallest coffee shop in the state, with the possible exception of YJ’s in KC. I don’t know St. Louis that well, and somebody there might have a coffee shop in their closet which takes the cake. Maybe small is the new big? I like the small character for two reasons: A) it forces people to share space, and while this can sometimes involve bad breath or body odor, it mostly is good because meeting friendly people is a good thing. 2) you don’t feel so lost in a small space, and I guess that sucks if you want to disappear in a corner with your iPad reading oots, but it’s nice to help encourage face-​to-​face interactions. iii) There is better infrastructure, and if the big New Madrid earthquake hits, most likely everyone inside will be okay.
This place is much like another coffee shop that opened up, Frequency (and the established Khaldis), in that is brews coffee on the spot for you. They a bunch of neat gizmos for that, and one siphon brewing that reminds me of an episode of Mr. Wizard’s World that involved a metal gasoline can. Anyhow, the difference with this place is the huge gigantic roasting machine. Not only was it made in the USA, but it has a computer attached to it. So it’s truly steampunky. And the coffee I’ve tasted definitely does justice to the Kenyan and Ethiopian beans that were bought.
I am pulling for this place to stick around, and to help develop this area of town which defies a normal strip-​mall planning and marketing, but which will be the life-​blood of downtown when all the development does hit in the next 10 years. We’ll see, but in the meantime I’ll be soaking up the ambiance while it lasts.
PS– This location is a little weird to find. It’s in what looks like an old garage behind the storefronts on Walnut St. To enter, you have to either enter the little black gate on Walnut that goes into an alley between Artrageous and the comic book store, or go into the Wabash bus station parking lot and meander the various building on the north side of the lot. Fretboard is between the tutoring center and the art galleries (such as Monarch Jewelry). Look for the grey garage door.
PSS– Here is a nice article about the store opening:
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Updated 1÷21÷14
The folks here are just too plain nice. I keep coming back and buying their coffee, and yet they don’t seem to mind.
The interesting-​yet-​different-​ness about the small space has not become a bad thing, in fact I’ve only heard the same remarks from other folks: small is good. Small is comfy. Small is more?
The coffee, though, is really what gets me coming back. I probably never really noticed coffee when I didn’t get all the interaction with the baristas and roasters. Maybe I’m just convincing myself it’s all good (buyers remorse? investor bias?), but sometimes, not all the time, the coffee just wows me. It’s like this drink that resembles the stick-​to-​your-​mouth-​ness of hot chocolate (made with whole milk, that is), but it tastes like coffee. So I don’t know what that’s about, but it’s worth $ 3 for a cup of it.