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)
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.
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.
Strike four?! I’ve lost count
In a effort to diversify my coffee consumption and give yet another chance to what seems to be a local fave, I tried working from Vic’s at Ideal Market last Friday. MISTAKE! The line was out the door (the patrons have obviously not been reading this blog), the service halfhearted and the wireless doesn’t start until 11, yeah 11.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said I don’t like working from Vic’s, so here it is once more, Vic’s is NOT the place to work. So instead head to one of the other hot spots that actually does get good reviews and serves decent coffee.
and then an argument ensued….
there was a beer meeting last night at the West End. one thing led to another. coffee came up. Vic’s came up. this author stood her/his (this is an anon blog after all) ground and bashed Vic’s vociferously. it became a two-on-two, with two calling Vic’s coffee bitter and sour and nasty and the other two raving about it, saying it was by far the best in town. But see, those other two so-and-so’s don’t have login access (yet). So I get the last word. And the last word is that Conscious Coffees (served at The Cup and Sidney’s and The Kitchen and probably some other joints) makes the Vic’s-served Allegro taste like black play-doh. So there. But I’m happy to register publicly that Vic’s has it’s strong supporters. But I would be remiss in not reminding our loyal readers that Vic’s screwed up bad and we haven’t been back since. And the Ideal Vic’s doesn’t turn on the wireless until 11am to discourage people like, well, us!, from working there in the morning.
Despite the acrimony over Vic’s, consensus was among the four that Saxy’s wins the reader’s choice award. Maybe not the best coffee (according to the Vic’s lovers), but definitely all around the best place in town. Now if they’d only lower the prices a tidge….
