Downtown shop poll results
We forgot to post this when it appeared in April. Downtown Boulder Magazine posted the results of a poll (page 37 of the pdf) about the best downtown coffee shop (presumably from this list of 18 shops). (We posted during the poll’s run).
Here are the results (actual screenshot from the magazine pdf is below the fold, but we had the full results emailed to us), and I have to say I’m scratching my head on a couple of these:
1. The Cup (18%)
2. The Unseen Bean (15%)
3. Laughing Goat (10%)
4. Great Awakening (8%)
5. Tee and Cakes (7.5%)
6. Amante (7%)
7. Trident (6%)
I’m good with the top-3, but Great Awakening? Are you kidding? And Saxy’s or Sidney’s didn’t make the list? And while I like Tee and Cakes, Spruce Confections is roughly 346 times better. One of three explanations are possible: 1) all of 14 people responded; 2) Readers of Downtown Boulder mag are not representative of actual coffee shop denizens; 3) ballot-box stuffing. Either way, more grist for the mill that public polls like this are next to useless, which is exactly what one of our commenters noted on the post announcing the poll.
In the beginning…
…there was Penny Lane. And it was good.
Penny Lane was inked into the memories of Boulderites former and current as the beatnik-come-hippy-punk hangout that featured venerable alt culture events and accouterments like poetryslams, open mikes, up and coming folk-punk bands, the obligatory singer songwriters, the not-so obligatory singer songwriters, terrible art, great art, Women’s Writers Night, among many others.
For some the memory comes from the olfactory; the aroma of petuli and cigarrette smoke that pervaded half a block in each direction along Pearl and 18th from the oddly triangular patio. Juxtaposed with Trident, Penny Lane was the eastern bastion of the late night coffee shop scene.
Sometime in ‘02 Penny Lane installed wireless internet, and there began a revolution.
We found the quiet shop you’ve been looking for
And it was right downtown the whole time. It’s been there for about a year now. Ku Cha House of Tea is on 13th between Pearl and Spruce and get this — IT DOESN’T HAVE WIRELESS!!! Ok, some might consider this sacrilegious in Boulder, but I know many of you are going to consider it a godsend antidote to the laptop libraries sprouting up all over town in otherwise fine shops such as Folsom St., The Cup and Saxy’s.
Ku Cha is a combo retail tea shop — selling around a hundred different loose-leaf teas and steepware — and a ‘traditional’ tea house with a sublimely relaxing atmosphere. No laptops in sight, just a soothing lounge where you can write in your little notebook, read the newspaper, or just stare at the ceiling without being bombarded by the obnoxiously loud noise music of the Goat. The quiet, laptop-free atmosphere also means the Ku Cha is generally empty. Good for people seeking refuge, bad for the shop. Helpfully they are doing well enough to stay in business because Boulder certainly needs some quiet spots, especially since the demise of Tea Spot.
another damn fine chocolatey coffee at the Goat
they just taste better. I don’t know why. when I get mochas at most other joints around town, they often taste chalky. is it the milk or the chocolate? I dunno, but I know who has the best mocha results, and it’s the Goat. Them and [gasp-choke-yes i'm about to say it] Starbucks. ok, did i kill my street cred with that last one? well then prove me wrong and start making me delicious mochas! i know a true coffee adjudicator would never adulterate the coffee with chocolate, but reality is sometimes i like to get some dessert with my caffeine, so i’m not going to stop drinking them. i drink a lot of them, i’ve probably had a mocha from every single coffee shop reviewed on our blog, so i write from a position of great authority and know-it-allness. Goat’s the best. Starbucks is second. Seriously.
Another shop on the blocks
The venerable Tea Spot has a sign up on the cash register announcing their demise. Sad. The location is a bit awkward. You’d think the ice rink plaza would get more foot traffic but it’s just enough out of the way to be relatively unvisited. The Tea Spot sign says that the owners are doing well in their wholesaling business so that’s where they’ll focus their efforts from here forward, the end of the lease being a good time for them to pull away from the retail shop. New owners could jump in on favorable lease terms (seems like business leases are going ridiculously cheap in Boulder right now) and an already-completed buildout.
So where does that leave the Boulder coffee shop scene?
- Amante for sale
- Playgrounds for sale (and closed until somebody buys it)
- Organica folded about 6-9 months ago
- Sidney’s just sold
- Tea Spot closing
Who is doing well? The obvious ones (meaning they’re always full):
- Amante NoBo
- Folsom St. Coffee
- Laughing Goat
- Logan’s (full all day though?)
- The Cup
- Saxy’s (but see recent post decrying the “success“)
- Starbucks (hahaha) … actually, only the Hill location seems to be consistently busy
- Vic’s (Ideal)
The Goat wins it
After a damn good schizo mocha this morning at the Goat, I finally decided: the Laughing Goat is the most consistently good coffee shop in Boulder. I’ve never had a bad coffee at the Goat and usually they are very good. I cannot say the same even at the other “best” shops in Boulder (i.e. Saxy’s, The Cup, Joe’s, Sidney’s, Amante). Even though some of them serve perhaps slighty better roasts, the Goat’s good consistency is impressive, and its Kaladi roasts are always fresh, strong and flavorful. Kudos, Goat! Even when you’re slammed at 8 in the morn, your top-notch baristas are still pumping out consistently awesome coffees. Keep up the good work!
Best of Boulder? Um, yea….no
Once again the popularity contests come out and distort reality. And we love reality. We don’t love gimmicked phone-tree (email tree?) influenced “popularity” polls. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the Best of Boulder 2008 has — who else? — Vic’s as the best coffee shop in Boulder. Ug.
Vic’s, people? Can you possibly be serious? The only thing this proves is that Vic’s is the best at getting their friends, neighbors and relatives to vote. What does it take, an email address? Yeah, I’ve got five, and my uncle in Michigan has ten. Yeah, we just won best coffee shop blog.
The real deal with Vic’s is that they serve some of the worst coffee in Boulder (it is Allegro, also served by numerous other shops) and the flagship shop is dark, crowded and otherwise laid out in almost unworkable way. The socialite crowd needed a nearby see-and-be-seen hang and Vic’s was all the neighborhood has to offer, so it became so by default. It decidedly did not become so because it is a good coffee shop. So Vic’s won “best coffee shop.” It ain’t the coffee, it ain’t because it’s the best shop, it’s because somehow the 30-somethings single ants collect there looking for honey.
ok, fine, a Laughing Goat post
this is the deal: the authors of this bloggity blog blog are split on the Goat. Some like it, some don’t. The one who don’t has been waiting for the ones who do to write something good. They haven’t. But since some hazz named sarahcarson just commented on the Goat in anther post, and demanded we write it up, it’s time to write up the Goat.
The Laughing Goat is conveniently located on Pearl near 17th St. It features a full espresso bar, free wireless internet, pre-packaged drinks such as Odwalla and Izzy, and pastries conveniently wrapped in plastic. They also have tea, ice tea and hot chocolate.
Ok, seriously. You don’t come to this blog for that kind of boring tripe, do you?
The Goat’s coffee is decent (Kaladi Brother’s Coffee out of Denver — not CC quality, but not nearly as bad as Allegro). The baristas are fun. The owners are nice. The pastry selection is worthy, even though a lot of it is plastic-wrapped.
