Boulder Coffee Shops blog

I had posted some reviews and news about The Curious Cup, most recent being that they died.  While praising CC, I was basting their 95th and Arapahoe competition, Brewing Market.  Well Brewing Market is still in business and CC isn’t, so I decided that I should probably suck it up and go work there for an afternoon.

Since I now live out that direction and I don’t want to come into Boulder every day, I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised by Brewing Market on 95th so I could use it as a reliable satellite office.  I was and I wasn’t.

First the good: the layout I like.  Tables on one end with ample elbow room between them and a mix of table sizes.  On the other end is a U-shaped couch and plush chair area that works well.  You can work there, but it is more a comfortable meeting spot, and there were two different groups of people having coffee meetings while I was there.  The entire east wall and much of the north wall is floor-to-ceiling glass which I think is a good orientation since you don’t get afternoon sun barreling down on you and your laptop.

Now the bad: Brewing Market is still Brewing Market.  The coffee sucks and the chai is even worse (hard to think that’s possible, but I confirmed that it is).  The internet policy is that you get access for two hours per order.  I can see the business logic behind it, but it’s shortsighted.  Unless your shop is packed to the gills with laptop zombies all day (ie., Saxy’s), you don’t need to worry about the occasional person who orders one drink and works for 6 hours.  To the rest of the people it’s a turn-off.

It’s too bad that CC went down the loser and Brewing Market stayed around the winner, but for a workspace it is decent.  Just don’t plan on loving your coffee.  If you live in the vicinity, it works.