Photograph courtesy of Mom ’n ’Em Coffee & Wine
Cincinnati natives and brothers Austin and Tony Ferrari—owners of Ferrari Brothers Barbershop and Coffee and Fausto at the Contemporary Arts Center—expanded their food and beverage footprint in April with the opening of Mom ’n ’Em Coffee & Wine in the heart of Camp Washington.
After living in San Francisco for 10 years, Tony was ready to come back to Cincinnati. He bought a house in Camp Washington, intending to renovate it and live in it, when he got the idea for Mom ’n ’Em Coffee. Originally, he planned for the shop to be housed in an Airstream trailer surrounded by greenspace, but after going back and forth with the city over zoning restrictions, he realized the house he bought was actually the perfect site.
Photograph courtesy of Mom ’n ’Em Coffee & Wine
More than three years (and a lot of hard work) later, Mom ’n ’Em Coffee & Wine opened its doors. The coffee shop is dedicated to the brothers’ mother, Theresa Ferrari, who has a love for people and shares the brothers’ love of coffee, but Mom ’n ’Em is about more than your standard cup of joe. Tony and Austin want to create a sense of community and bring people back to Camp Washington. The brothers have kept the neighborhood involved in every step along the way, including going door to door to make sure the neighbors were on board with their plans. The brothers also used the woodworking expertise of their neighbors, and committed to providing jobs. “People in this neighborhood work with their hands,” says Tony. “We’re all craftsmen, we all create something, we’re all artists in our own way.”
The brothers’ focus on supporting locals extends beyond Camp Washington. Tony says, “We really care about getting our stuff from our friends and [supporting the] local economy.” The in-house espresso blend is roasted in collaboration with Oakley-based Deeper Roots Coffee. Almost all of the menu items are sourced locally: meat and cheese selections come from OTR’s Panino; pastries, including an apple butter cruffin and pecan sticky bun, come from North South Baking Co. and Mochiko; and Allez Bakery provides the bread for the Avocado Toastie. The shop also carries a selection of great wines—one of which is Ferrari Brothers rosé—and offers three wine-of-the-month memberships.
Photograph courtesy of Mom ’n ’Em Coffee & Wine
The brothers also hope to keep the shop’s environmental impact light, making sure they have an eye on sustainability. They offer three waste options: compost, recycling, and trash. Then there’s the biodegradable coffee lids, napkins, and forks. Tony says that after living in San Francisco and having these measures ingrained in his way of life, he couldn’t go backward. He hopes to see more businesses in the area doing the same. “It’s something we believe in, it’s something that we care about,” he says.
At the end of the day, Tony hopes Mom ’n ’Em brings more people to Camp Washington and that those people will forge more connections over coffee. “We’re not rocket scientists, we’re not doctors, we just serve coffee and make people happy—that’s really what it’s all about,” Tony says.
Mom ’n ’Em Coffee is open Mon–Thurs 7 am–6 pm, Fri 7 am–9 pm, Sat 8 am–9 pm, and Sun 8 am–6 pm.
Mom ’n ’Em Coffee & Wine, 3128 Colerain Ave., Camp Washington, (513) 390-7681
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