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.
Ozo and Curious switching roasters
First, Ozo. We knew about this a month or two ago but didn’t want to leak it. But since Greg from Ozo just posted this as a comment on another post, it deserves a full entry:
Hey there coffee fans-
This is just an update for all the coffee lovers out there…. Ozo Coffee Co. is proud to announce that we are now roasting our own beans! Yep, we have phased out our Allegro roasts and are quickly depleting our Conscious Coffee stock so that we brew 100% of our own roasts! They taste great and we are excited to continue bringing superior organic, locally-roasted coffee to our customers. Come have a taste now! Peace, love, and coffee.
-Greg
Barista, Ozo Coffee Co.
Can’t wait to try it!
In other news, recently lauded Curious Cup has decided to switch from Unseen Bean to Conscious Coffees. (One major hooray from me!)
Vic’s: coming and going
We knew it wasn’t just us.
First, the facts: Vic’s is opening two new stores. The “coming soon” sign has been up on Table Mesa for quite a while and another author here even posted about it on April 1. The second shop is open in western Longmont (Nelson and Airport Rd), and I just happened to visit a shop next door a few days ago, so stopped in. It was bone-dry empty at 3pm, but business might pick up once people know about it. It has only been open a couple of weeks.
But, beyond the facts? Today the Daily Camera wrote about the two new shops and the interesting news isn’t in the story, but in the comments on the story. Here’s the first, and fits our observations to a T:
That is unfortunate. I cringe every time I pass a Vic’s.
When I was pregnant and ill, studying for exams at Vic’s on Broadway, it was all I could do to sit upright in the chair without feeling like vomiting. I sank back in my chair, sipped my coffee, tried to eat small bites of a muffin, studying – when a greying, balding, pudgy man began verbally assaulting me about my feet (shoes removed…socks only) being on one of the chairs. I was shocked by this and could not understand what kind of a person would yell at a pregnant lady for trying to study in a position that afforded her a bit more comfort and a bit less nausea. Well, after this rude man actually went so far to pull the chair out from under my feet, he told me he was the owner… THIS WAS VIC HIMSELF. I have never been treated so poorly, so aggressively in a public establishment.
I think all Vic’s patrons should be made aware of this.
All I could do at the time was gather my books and leave, and burst into tears once I got to my car. No one deserves to be treated like that. I hope no one else ever has to bear the brunt of such behavior.
Well, we only had that experience with Mike at the downtown Vic’s once or twice or 300 times. Here’s the second comment:
He is a total jerk – he went off on my wife and her friend one day for having their strollers in the way when they were sitting at a table with kids. Maybe he hates kids? We won’t go in there either.
And another:
Yes, this has been Mike’s personality (rude, arrogant) since his Trident days. He has a particular fetish for feet anywhere near a chair. It’s no surprise that, with few exceptions, and for many years on end, the employees consistently display a similar immature snottiness.
One incredible exception: the red-haired dude with the hat and the tattoos. One of the nicest guys ever. WHAT are you doing working for Mike and Rob? You must laugh your butt off everyday at your coworker’s and boss’s attitudes.
And we could go on and on…..
He yelled at my wife and her friend too and actually started to move the stroller with the baby in it, and none too gently. The other people that work there (Community Plaza Vic’s) always seemed to be very nice. We don’t go there anymore. There’s plenty of good coffee in this town, no need to go to Vic’s.
So there it is. Mike’s a prick, pisses off everybody, yet…. the Newlands groupies still love his swill and people vote with their dollars. Good luck to ya’.
You’re lucky you live here (a Curious Cup review)
Ok, most sanctimonious Boulderites already feel that title like Born Agains feel the Presence. But allow me to add some color. We very highly doubt that any city in this country has the coffee shop density (defined as: # of shops per resident? // # of coffee shop chairs per resident? // saturation density of wireless radio energy per square mile? // whatever you choose, doesn’t matter) that has Boulder. Consider that for a town of roughly 100,000 people, there are over 30 — perhaps more than 40 — unique coffee shop companies, most independent, and many more actual shops (probably close to ~100) when you consider that many companies own multiple shops. Consider further that there are at least 5 different independent roasters in town, and likely more we don’t know about. Roughly one coffee shop for every 100 residents, and an independent blog dedicated solely to talking about those shops? Does that exist anywhere else? Doubtful. Personally I’ve lived in four other college towns and their coffee shops scenes don’t even come close.
The interest in coffee and the competition to produce awesome results spills over, beyond the immediate borders of Boulder, and that’s why you’re lucky you live here. Because in an environment like this, places like The Curious Cup are born. The Curious Cup is on the corner of 95th and Arapahoe, just beyond the “official” city limits of Boulder and into Lafayette. Ozo was (ok, still is) the best “eastern outpost” shop in Boulder, but Curious Cup, while not supplanting Ozo’s quality, has supplanted Ozo’s status as “quality of shop as a function of eastern milage from city center.”
The Curious Cup would be killing it anywhere closer to Boulder’s core. That it is doing well despite its outpost location at 95th and Arapahoe (people do live out here, of course, but population density is far, far lower than in Boulder’s core) is a function of — I think — three main factors:
- The shop is laid out well. It is open and airy with perfect views out the south windows (all grass and trees in an expansive park — in any other shop in Boulder you’re looking at a wall or a parking lot). Ample seating for relaxers and laptop workers alike, including outdoor seating on the park.
- A kiddie play area that draws in the stroller set. Normally that would probably be a problem, but the layout has the “work area” on the south side of the shop, the kiddie area on the north wall, and the barista area in between the two. A good 40 or 50 feet separates the two areas, and it turns out to be enough.
- High quality coffee and pastries. Coffee roasted by The Unseen Bean (which we haven’t reviewed yet, but it has appeared in the comments on a few posts). On this front I’d give the coffee a “passing grade” by Boulder standards. Not knock-your-socks-off, but well within the Boulder norm, which is high quality by default. I had one strong cappuccino (“strong” is my tag — not dry, but very little milk) and the coffee flavor was robust if not a tad burnt, but also not sour. As a one-off, below Ozo, Cup or Goat standards, but above Folsom St., Brewing Market, etc. Subsequent visits (and there will be many) will give the true indication. They serve Morning Fresh Dairy in the coffee, also used by a few Boulder shops.
Who should come out here? Everybody. Who will? Hopefully more than just the locals.
