What did and didn’t change at Joe’s/Pekoe
Many months ago, Pekoe bought out Joe and Joe’s Espresso (30th St and Steelyard Pl) became the second Pekoe Sip House. What changed was the coffee and tea selection, both for the much better. They went from Allegro to Conscious on the coffee side and brought in Pekoe’s mammoth selection of loose leaf teas and commitment to serving tea right. What didn’t change was the space. The layout stayed the same and the music is still very loud when you’re sitting near the windows on the 30th St side of the shop. The crowdedness is still seemingly random. Came in today to squeeze into the only table left; 30 minutes later the place was completely empty other than myself. Two days ago I walked in to find every single chair taken.
Speaking of the Steelyards, a few months ago a new Thai restaurant went in next door. It’s awesome. Elephant Hut. Definitely worth a visit. The food is great.
Two shops closing is very bad news
It’s a tough thing to see when good coffee shops close down.
First, news of Sidney’s untimely demise came in the Daily Camera yesterday.
Sidney’s Coffee, a downtown fixture for more than two decades, will close its doors Wednesday after failing to come to a lease agreement with its landlord, W.W. Reynolds Co.
Matthew Kenny, who bought the business at 1375 Walnut St. with his wife, Heidi Jakal, in January said the landlord won’t fix a fire code violation identified by a city inspector in October, and the cost is simply too much for the small business to bear on its own.
Read the rest of the article for more. There’s a bit of he said/she said in there, leading one to believe that a fire code violation isn’t whats really going on here, but the result is the same: the loss of a very long-tenured coffee shop that served very good coffee.
The second shop is Coffee Sanctuary, which we’ve recently been writing about. News came in a comment:
There was a sign on the door of Coffee Sanctuary saying that Dec 31st will be their last day of business. It’s a pretty sad thing as I really haven’t found anywhere that is as passionate about coffee as they were, and I’ve been to the majority of places that you’ve listed here. John and Megan, the owners, were great people that would take the time to learn your name. At all of the other places in Boulder the love just isn’t there… it’s all hype, wanting to be seen at the cool place, and who cares about the coffee, or the service: see Saxy’s for example. Granted that the Sanctuary wasn’t in a great location, but it did serve that local area fairly well. The one glimmer out of this is that they will still be selling their chai (which I personally think beats Bhakti) at a new shop by 28th and Iris called Red Rock coffeehouse. How long that arrangement will last I have no idea…
Very sad news about the shop, although having gone there a few times I can’t say that I am surprised, just given the neighborhood dynamics. But great news that the chai is going to be sold, because I loved it.
we’re now Twittering
Yea, it took awhile. But by popular demand, we are now tweeting (@bldrcoffee). You can see the tweets on the right sidebar or follow up if you’re twitter-inclined.
The chai at Coffee Sanctuary is very good
And maybe as good as Bhakti. The level of cardamom is high, it’s the strongest note that stands out. It is spicy, and the sweetness level is perfect. I think we’ve found a worthy competitor for Bhakti. Makes the poor chai at Brewing Market and Pekoe even more noticeable.
Far as the rest of Coffee Sanctuary (corner of Aurora and 28th St Frontage), it’s serving a CU student crowd with very good coffee (Conscious Coffees), very good chai [as mentioned], and barebones atmosphere, layout and food. It worked well enough as a workspace; not exactly comfortable, but serviceable. It’s the kind of place that could be your everyday cup, but only for to-go. The place isn’t so comfortable that you’d sink into a comfortable chair or couch and just chill on a near-daily basis. It’s also a hinterlands shop, serving a concentrated local scene but not having a lot else going on around it, and lies hidden on the backside of the building. Go if you’re in the neighborhood, though. I’d be happy to go if I lived in the area.
Seeking local chai
In our minds this was not an answer in search of a question, but in case it was for you, you can now rest. When it comes to chai, the People like Bhakti. How do we know? The commenters on TallTara’s blog unanimously vote for Bhakti. (Truthfully, while we’ve mentioned Bhakti glowingly a few times, we thought Bhakti’s superiority so self-evident that it never warranted much more notice.)
But, one of TallTara’s commenters has added a wrinkle. Word on the street is that the chai at Coffee Sanctuary (28th Frontage/Arapahoe — on our unvisited list) might just rival Bhakti. Seeing as how I average 4-5 soy Bhakti’s a week, I am skeptical, but willing to try, and it will finally get me over to Coffee Sanctuary, which I’ve been meaning to visit for a long time. (If you’re counting, that’s 4 commas in one sentence.)
Closing the Lafayette circle (Mojo Coffeehouse)
It’s almost an automatic disqualification from mention on this blog. Mojo Coffeehouse (corner of Public Rd and Baseline in Lafayette) serves Silver Canyon Coffee. Can you believe it? This tells me and all coffee lovers three things: you don’t know coffee, you have no interest in the quality of the final product, and your judgement can’t be trusted. No other real coffee shop that I have been to in this area serves Silver Canyon. Hotels and grocery stores serve Silver Canyon. Coffee shops do not. There is a reason.
Aside from that, I actually like Mojo. It’s another good find out in Lafayette. The space works great, with a mostly quiet atmosphere (aside from a cooler motor they need to replace), unobstructed views across the space, a corner building design that keeps patrons pretty well spread out along two walls (no bullpen feel), and a big table in a “conference room” that can be partitioned off.
They are serving Tea Spot teas, so at least they’ve made a good choice there. Makes it even more bizarre to me that they are serving Silver Canyon. Look people, there is a reason Silver Canyon and Brewing Market suck (and maybe this goes for Allegro too). It’s because they’ve been in the Boulder scene for decades and they long, long ago lost their passion for innovation. You look at the guys at Ozo, Conscious Coffees, Unseen Bean — these are the innovators, roasting with one or two machines in small batches, and constantly drinking their own coffee. They are serious coffee aficionados, going for serious craft quality, as if they were making $12,000 violins. Can anybody even remotely say this about Silver Canyon, Brewing Market or any of the other lousy roasters we have around here? So why serve it? Because you hate your customers? No, I know you don’t, so please start serving something better. Because I do want to go back, but I’ll only be drinking tea.
Ok, now I’ve been to Cannon Mine
Lost amid the 634 dingy Mexican joints along S. Public Road (main street downtown Lafayette) is Cannon Mine Coffee. I’ll start off with the positive: I’m definitely going back there. The negative: I’m going back on a weekday when I expect they’ll have somebody a little more experienced and faster working the espresso machine (I visited today: lazy Saturday afternoon on Thanksgiving weekend).
I haven’t worked from there yet, but the inside of the shop is something I’ve been looking a long time for in Boulder shops (and still haven’t found). It’s the kind of wood-heavy, old building look, with worn hardwood floors and comfortable wood tables and leather easy chairs, that you seem to find in the best coffee shops outside of Boulder. That old wood is like comfort food, and at Cannon Mine they’ve mixed the comfy chairs with high and low wooden tables in a way that feels perfect.
The major downside I foresee is their choice of roasters (Boulder Organic). It’s just not an impressive choice and while I have serviceable coffees at Espressoria and Tee & Cakes (other shops that serve Boulder Organic), they are not the awesome coffee you get at Ozo, The Cup, and Sidney’s. Upside is they do carry Bhakti Chai, so that’s a positive choice.
Future visits will complete the picture, but I look forward to heading back. 210 S. Public Rd.
Hipster coffeehouse discovered on the other side of the world
Dateline: Melbourne, early Sunday afternoon
Rain to beat the band stymied my sunny Mt. Arapiles sport climbing aspirations. Stuck in Melbourne between expensive hotel check-out and inexpensive hotel check-in, I wandered the lanes in pouring rain looking for someplace not overcrowded, not nicotine stained and, above all, open. (Why on Earth should any coffee shop be closed on Sunday?)
I had just reached desperation and soak-through when I passed an open warehouse door with no sign on Little Lonsdale street. A peripheral glimpse gleaned, in Euro-slick Melbourne, an unlikely combination of impressions: 1) a large room sparsely filled with shabby second-hand furniture; 2) a cafe bar covered with vintage linoleum; and through the back, 3) a cavernous whitewashed warehouse containing nothing but a brown fixie hovering a few feet off the concrete floor suspended from the ceiling by wires.
Huh?… Two steps later I spun about and peered through the doorway to confirm, in fact, I had discovered a wormhole through space and time to Park Slope, Brooklyn. It’s called 1000 £ Bend (link).
On a side note, the coffee in this town is universally stellar, no bitter, chalky gutter mud can be found, not even in crappy chinese restaurants. The cap I had at 1000 £ didn’t stand out among Melbourne’s finest, though it’s hardly worth mentioning, it’s better than 85% of the so-called boutique coffee I’ve tasted in the U.S.
To the facts:
1. A red headed Brit having a bright pink cupcake with her cup of tea while lounging in a avocado paisley easy chair
2. Hipster couple humming along to 80’s classic, Died in Your Arms Tonight while sorting art photos on their Apple
3. 60’s vintage racy Ann Margret movie poster for Kitten With A Whip
4. 70’s vintage coin operated cigarette vending machine
5. 80’s vintage music (of course)
6. Goldfish tank R.I.P. list: Jeff Goldblum 27-10-07; Rhianna 2-11-09
7. A bike art gallery and screening room (it appears to be Melbourne’s ground zero for the upcoming BFF, oh, and the hanging fixie is made of wood probably Australian gum tree)
8. Location: 365 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, open every day, good food and great coffee, free wifi
Brilliant!
Of course if 1000 £ was actually in Brooklyn we’d all cry: derivative! boring! the world needs another hipster coffeeshop like I need a hole in the head! But here in Melbourne it restored my faith in humankind (or at least the world-wide reach of hipsterdom). And, compared to actual Brooklyn, 1000 £ is uncramped, unpretentious and the coffee doesn’t suck.
All along 14th St
It’s kind of a long street, but along its entire stretch there are only two coffee shops, and they’re next door to each other in the block between Pearl and Walnut: Belvedere Belgian Chocolate Shop (website) and Tee & Cakes. We’ve written about Tee & Cakes a few times, but have missed Belvedere, both in its new location here and its previous location at the same latitude but on 15th. Belvedere we’ve probably ignored because it sells itself primarily as a chocolate shop that also sells espresso. In a city saturated with good coffee, that doesn’t work well. People are spoiled and know that a shop doing espresso as an add-on is very rarely worth the trouble.
I decided to confirm or refute directly. I mean, they’re right next door to each other, how hard can the comparison be? So I finally visited Belvedere for the first time and T&C for the 20th. Results? It’s like the over-run clip of Dennis Green flipping out about losing to da Bears.
Yep, Belvedere is what I thought they were. They serve Novo Coffee (out of Denver), but not well. Wasn’t the worst coffee I’ve ever had, certainly wasn’t the best, somewhere just about slightly below average. They shop isn’t something you want to work from frequently. You can do it in a pinch, but it just doesn’t feel right as a work space. And you’re going to be relying on Pearl St. Mall wireless because they don’t have their own.
Tee & Cakes is also who I thought they were, mostly because I’ve been there a bunch. I don’t like their choice of roasters (Boulder Organic, just a half step above Allegro), but they make it well enough (read: better than Espressoria pulls it off). My bone to pick today is how they confuse — like many — latte with cappuccino. Here’s my rule of thumb: a cappuccino is espresso with a bit of milk flavoring. A latte is hot milk with some coffee flavor. You should NEVER be searching for the coffee in the cappuccino because the coffee should be by far the dominant component. For most coffee shops, even most in Boulder, when you order a cap you’re still getting a latte, and there is very, very little difference between how a shop makes the two. There should be a huge difference, but for most there is not.
Rant aside, we still love T&C’s cupcake line up and the place is worth visiting for that alone. Belvedere? Go there if you need chocolate.
