A coffee house in Newport.

Locke is built by locals who wanted a daily coffee shop that felt like a third place: somewhere to read, work, meet a friend, and leave caffeinated and a little better off than when you walked in.

We chose Newport because it's home. Newport is changing quickly, but it still has the small-river-town fabric that makes a coffee shop feel like a coffee shop. We're a few blocks from Newport on the Levee and a short walk across the Purple People Bridge from downtown Cincinnati.

Our espresso program features beans from Deeper Roots Coffee, a Cincinnati roaster we've admired for years, and from Ilse Coffee. Drip rotates between the two as seasons change.

Drinks are pulled on a pair of Modbar AV espresso modules with a Modbar Steam wand, dialed in on Mahlkönig grinders, and batch-brewed on a Fetco. The bar is built for two to three people moving 70 to 90 drinks an hour at peak — fast enough to keep the line short, slow enough to make every drink right.

We take matcha as seriously as we take espresso. Every matcha drink is whisked from ceremonial-grade powder, and four house signatures — Strawberry, Blueberry, Lavender, and Ube — give the menu a fruit-forward and floral side that's hard to find elsewhere in Greater Cincinnati.

We built Locke around a simple idea: regulars should be rewarded. Members pay a flat monthly subscription and drink free at the shop, every visit. No punch cards, no points — just walk in, order, and go.