A coffee shop slinging ube lattes and dual-chamber “Twinzilla” cups is planting its third Columbus-area flag on High Street, right in the foot-traffic corridor between the Short North and Ohio State University. Koffee Paradise, billed as Ohio's first Filipino-owned coffee shop, will open at 1333 N. High St., a University District address that puts the concept directly in front of thousands of OSU students and Short North regulars.
The new shop was founded by Fidas Timbuleng, who said she created a Filipino coffee shop because Ohio lacked one, according to WhatNow. Timbuleng and her husband Eric are from the Philippines and Indonesia, and per the same outlet, Eric encouraged her to explore opening a café before the couple eventually founded Koffee Paradise together. The pair reportedly wanted to call it Coffee Island, but landed on Koffee Paradise after finding that name already taken.
Before High Street, Koffee Paradise built its footprint the slow way. The brand's original storefront opened at 6308 East Main Street in East Columbus, and it expanded north to Worthington in July with a second location at 2285 West Dublin-Granville Road, according to Experience Worthington. That steady march across Central Ohio set the stage for the jump into the University District, a considerably higher-visibility stretch of real estate.
What's on the Menu, and Why Ube Is Everywhere
Koffee Paradise's menu leans heavily into ube, the purple yam commonly used in Filipino desserts and drinks, with offerings including an ube latte, ube dalgona, and a matcha drink topped with ube cloud. Per Timbuleng, ube cloud has gained popularity on TikTok, and she noted that Filipino-style ube lattes remain relatively uncommon in Ohio. The menu also includes a brown sugar latte and a tiramisu latte, alongside Filipino pastries and doughnuts, and the shop plans to add more gluten-free items.
The purple-hued trend isn't confined to one Columbus café. Market research from Datassential recorded a 231% four-year menu growth rate for ube across U.S. restaurants, a surge that has pushed even Starbucks to roll out dedicated ube beverage lines in early 2026. That national wave gives Koffee Paradise's specialty a built-in audience beyond Columbus's Filipino community, even as the shop leans on its cultural roots for identity.
One operational quirk sets Koffee Paradise apart from typical coffee chains: dual-chamber “Twinzilla” cups that let customers order two separate 24-ounce beverages in a single split container, according to Step Out Columbus. The split cups let patrons pair something like an iced espresso latte with a fruit breeze or ube drink in one order.
A Turnkey Spot With Deep Turnover History
The 1333 N. High St. address isn't new to Columbus's food-and-drink scene. It previously housed the Pittsburgh-based dessert franchise The MilkShake Factory, which opened its first Central Ohio retail location there in May 2025, per 614NOW. That prior tenancy gives Koffee Paradise a turnkey retail setup already built for a corridor known for dense student and nightlife crowds.
The address also sits within Ohio State's South Campus area, where earlier commercial food vendors at that location were integrated into the university's official BuckID off-campus merchant network, according to Ohio State University. Whether Koffee Paradise will join that program as previous tenants did remains an open question, as does the exact timeline for the shop's soft and grand openings — the company has said only that it's targeting a soft opening followed by a grand opening, per the owner.
Koffee Paradise sources its coffee beans from Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea, the Columbus roaster founded in 1991 by Greg Ubert that went on to earn Roast Magazine's 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year award, according to Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea. Crimson Cup operates an SCA-certified training lab in Columbus and supplies hundreds of independent coffee shops around the region, giving Koffee Paradise a locally rooted supply chain even as it explores sourcing coffee directly from the Philippines.
Filipino Roots Meet a Growing Central Ohio Market
Koffee Paradise's expansion lands amid real demographic shifts in the region it serves. Franklin County holds Ohio's largest Filipino-American population, with 6,312 residents of Filipino descent out of more than 40,000 statewide, according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by The Chimes. More broadly, Central Ohio's Asian population expanded by 206% over a 20-year period leading into the 2020s, per Census figures reported by Axios Columbus.
The shop is designed as a community gathering place, and its owners say they plan to support charities and contribute to community causes, though Koffee Paradise generally does not publicize its charitable efforts. The company also plans to create local jobs as it grows across Central Ohio.
Sitting in the Short North's dense foot-traffic zone gives Koffee Paradise access to an established commercial ecosystem. The corridor is supported by the Short North Alliance, which coordinates neighborhood ambassadors, streetscape maintenance, and community marketing events like Gallery Hop, according to the Short North Arts District. The new location also positions Koffee Paradise within Experience Columbus's Columbus Coffee Trail, a citywide promotional passport program connecting more than 25 independent local coffee shops.
For Timbuleng, the High Street shop is meant to do more than sell drinks. Koffee Paradise hopes to become known for Filipino-inspired drinks and hospitality, introducing Filipino culture, coffee traditions, and flavors to a broader Columbus audience — with the University District storefront serving as the brand's biggest stage yet.
