meet Jesse Bladyka
I popped into Ozo yesterday afternoon to get some work done, but was detoured by the fine staff, who wanted to alert me to the presence of Jesse Bladyka, who happened to be passing through. Jesse owns(?) Coal Creek Coffee Company out of Laramie, Wyoming, which isn’t all that far from Boulder, so we’ll consider him a brother-in-arms. Jesse took 2nd to Ozo’s Greg Lefcourt’s 1st place in the 2009 Mountain Regional Barista Competition (which, sadly, we did not cover). Jesse had brought his own espresso blend with him to Ozo yesterday and I was honored with a shot, which was supreme. Some wacked out blend of Peru and Sumatran or something like that….all I remember is that it spanned continents and it was totally worthy. One of the best 20-second aftertastes of straight espresso that I’ve ever had.
Ozo is good
It’d been a while since I had been out east to visit Ozo (Arapahoe east of Foothills Pkwy). But seeing as how Ozo fans have been the most frequent commenters (next to Kelly Repassy lovers, but those have seemed to subside) to this little ol’ completely uninfluential* blog, I was feeling a visit was overdue.
What can I say? All good. I went out of my way to test the coffee, to take Ozo-loving commenters up on their challenges, and I walked away happy. I ordered a strong cappuccino (two shots in a 8oz cup) and it was dee’lish. No sourness or bitterness that we’ve complained about in other Allegro pours, so — sample size of two — Ozo has it dialed. The shop was well-attended even in the deadest part of the afternoon (3p), and the friendliness I wrote about in the Aug 07 post was pretty clearly still there.
Far as all this roaster controversy, what I’d like to get is all the Boulder-served roasts (Allegro, Boulder Organic, Brewing Mkt (?), Conscious, Kaladi, Illy [Radda serves it], SLC [Folsom St. serves it], and Solé) all served up in a line by Ozo baristas. Then we’d know. Or would we?
At any rate, props again to Ozo. If you were on my way to anything, I’d be there every damn day. Maybe you should buy out Trident’s space and move in?
*50-100 reads a day and over 11,000 reads since we brought it over to WordPress….we’re not sure if that’s a lot or not, but seems decent for a blog that’s solely about Boulder coffee shops
Say it ain’t so, Joe’s
A recent post propped Joe’s over on 30th and Bluff (at the Steelyards). This author visited today and was greeted with swill for an Americano. Seriously sour. But that’s exactly what I’ve come to expect from Allegro pours and yes, I’m getting tired of writing the same thing over and over about Allegro, but it’s fucking true. Joe’s, Ozo’s, can we change your minds? We have no idea why you slave to Allegro, but you can’t seriously think its quality coffee. Vic’s? Lost cause. You’ve got your formula, you’re sticking to it, and that’s fine. Newslands loves you for it. But Joe and Ozo, you guys really seem to be into coffee for the sake of coffee. How do you reconcile serving Allegro? Please answer, because we know you read us.
They drink coffee out east? (an Ozo review)
Well, I finally made it east of 30th Street. Waiting for some car service, I could either head back into town or stay out in 55th-land, so I stayed (Ozo is on Arapahoe @ Conestoga in an unanchored strip mall that also has a Snarfs). A previous commenter had gently asked us why we had never heard of Ozo, and being a good coffee shop blogger I thought I oughta oblige the question. So here I am.
First, let’s get this off the table: Ozo serves Allegro coffee. You regular readers will know how multiple authors on this blog feel about Allegro. As in, we don’t. But being a dedicated coffee shop reviewer, I decided to give Allegro another try, knowing as we all know that, ultimately, the pour is probably more important than the roast. As some of us know, there are only a few drink styles worthy of assessing coffee quality: the Americano and the Macchiato. Both styles allow the full flavor of the espresso to be assessed. Straight espresso is too shocking to the cheeks and tongue to be assessed well by any but the most senses-hardened, so most of us need the moderating influence of a little water (the Americano) or a little milk (the Macchiato) to temper the excruciating acidity of straight espresso. Thus I ordered an Americano. It was surprisingly even, and while bitter at first, mellowed after a few sips. Not knock-your-socks-off delicious (it tasted like decent drip coffee, which I think is a failing for an Americano), but much better than any Allegro pour I have had that hasn’t been adulterated with copious chocolate and milk.
As for the non-coffee aspects of Ozo, I was happy as soon as I walked in the door. The layout works well at first sight, with the patron line constrained and isolated from the seating area with a moderate 4-foot wall that doesn’t feel imposing but does impose order lacking in many other shops (i.e., The Goat and Trident, two popular shops we still haven’t written about). The entire shop is open with unconstrained sightlines. Window banks fill the entire east side but only half of the north side and are absent on the west and south, which means half of the seating is in a slightly dark, windowless environment while the other half is against large, open windows. This does present something of a problem, as the seating is more disjointed and uncomfortable on the windowed east side, with two small tables (with hellaciously uncomfortable aluminum chairs; I sat in one for all of 12 second before I moved) and a counter-height 6-top table. Because of all this I felt a bit constrained by my seating choices, wanting to stay in the brighter area but fighting the hard, direct sun (the sun will get higher in an hour and then it will be perfect, but at 9:40a it’s not perfect), wanting to sit in the lower tables to have access to an outlet but not being able to tolerate the cheap metal chair, so having to sit at the counter-height table with no outlet and a good amount of sun. I’d move to the northwest corner but it feels claustrophobic over there with no windows. But that’s me. I like big windows in my coffee shop offices so I can look outside while thinking. Eventually I moved to the only table on the north windows (better chairs, out of the reflected sun, available outlet) and was much happier.
