First things first, in no way am I a coffee drinker. I have tried my whole life and still cannot bring myself to more than a premade Starbucks latte from Publix. However, for those of you who love coffee and have ruined your tastebuds, meet Indah. It will be your best friend and go-to coffee place in Columbia.
Indah has two locations, one on Sumter St near Cottontown and one on Main St in the Arcade Building. I personally favor the Main St location and if you read my article about Swanson’s Deli then I’m sure you understand why.
As mentioned previously, I am not a coffee drinker. I do, however, love a good chai latte. My personal go-to drink from Indah is a vanilla iced chai with oat milk. The best thing about Indah is that their chai is made in-house, along with all of their syrups. It makes a difference when it’s homemade rather than the sickening Torani French Vanilla syrups. Along with the chai, one of my favorites is the London Fog. If you are a tea person, you can buy the Earl Grey full leaf tea from them for just $8 and make it at home! It has come in handy the past couple of weeks, trust me.
While I am biased towards my favorite drinks, there are a few other great ones. The Unexpected Blend is one of them. It’s lavender-limeade with cold brew, but you really don’t get a lot of cold brew action in there (which is why I like it so much). Along with that comes the Autumn Orchard, which is an apple cider syrup and believe it or not pairs greatly with a latte.
Indah opened 10 years ago with owners Nick and Stefanie Hauser. The name Indah means beautiful in Indonesian, something that Nick wanted his business to stand for. When I moved to Columbia in 2019, Nick was one of the reasons why I fell in love with the city so much. He really supports anything local and would prefer local places over anything branded or a chain. Because of him, I looked into being an advertising major and wanting to help more local places out.
Speaking of local, their coffee is roasted in-house as well. You can check out their website here, with the three places in which you can indulge in their awesome menu!