New coffeehouses in Denver, Colorado since 2020
Denver, Colorado, is known for its thriving coffee scene, with a lot of cafes and roasteries throughout the city. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, several new coffee shops have opened their doors in Denver since 2020. (Some are expansion units of established roasters.) They offer cups of brew in various forms to create personalized customer offerings, unique coffee blends, cozy spaces, and excellent customer service. In this blog post, we’ll see what the Denver coffee cup scene has up its sleeve by exploring some of these new coffee shops and what makes them stand out.
Queen City Collective Coffee increases stores to cozy four
Queen City is one of the roasters that expanded after 2020, by adding their Broomfield, Colorado location after Covid began. Their first shop of four in the Denver area is in Denver’s historic Baker neighborhood. Three brothers—Luke, Eric, and Scott Byington—founded it in 2017 as a collaborative coffee shop and brewery in partnership with Novel Strand Brewing Co. Queen City’s second shop, called QC Five Points, is near the flourishing RiNo (River North) Art District. It offers a cozy atmosphere with exposed brick walls, hanging plants, and ample natural light. Queen City’s third location, QC Wheatridge, is in the old Gold's Marketplace building across the street from the beautiful Crown Hill Park. It brings the same quality coffee and small food options to the Wheat Ridge community QC has been serving since 2017.
Queen City Coffee—Broomfield, Colorado. Queen City website.
Their newest (fourth) location is QC Broomfield—the fast-growing area between Denver and Boulder. The Byington brothers partnered with the Dardano family to bring specialty coffee to the Dardanos’ new shoe store in Broomfield in 2021. It’s a collaboration space inside the store but also offers Queen City’s first and only drive-through. Queen City Broomfield serves espresso drinks, pour-over coffee, and various teas, as well as baked goods from The Enchanted Oven bakery down the street and light breakfast options.
As the owners say on their website, they conceived of Queen City in the mid-2000s while working, researching, and playing in rural Africa. From Zimbabwe to Rwanda, they spent nearly a decade coordinating humanitarian programs, organizing research projects, and learning about community in Africa. They brought this background and community orientation to their specialty coffee venture in Denver, called Queen City because that is Denver’s historic name from the late 19th Century—applied because it was the most populous city in Colorado.
Because they had often moonlighted as baristas and roasters, Queen city became a natural application of their love for farmer friends in Africa, Denver (Queen City of the Plains), and coffee. The “collective coffee” phrase in their company’s name derives from “doing coffee together.” They have a real, direct connection with their coffee farmers, know how that coffee is produced, roast small batches of their coffee in their beloved city, and proudly serve it in some of Denver’s great neighborhoods. Queen City’s owners also are committed to sustainability, using compostable materials and partnering with local farmers for small-food selections.
Fika Coffee House brings a Swedish vibe to Denver area coffee scene
Fika Coffee House has two locations in Parker, Colorado, the first being on Main Street in the heart of Old Town Parker and the second at 22040 East Idyllwilde Dr. We know Parker is officially 24 miles from Denver Central, but for many people who live in burgeoning neighborhoods east and southeast of Denver, Fika is plenty accessible.
The owners say they’re introducing the Swedish custom of “fika” to the Denver area—drawn from the Swedish verb that loosely translated means “to meet over coffee.” Their Main Street shop is a comfortable place to meet with friends over a fresh cup of excellent coffee and a sleeve of treats. It has a Scandinavian vibe and clean wooded lines, with several interesting architectural features.
Fika Coffee House Main Street—Parker Colorado
Fika’s shops are open seven days a week until 9 p.m., so you can linger, enjoy your coffee, and extend your conversations. Customers often go there to catch up on local news, leave messages for friends, say hello to neighbors, or just relax over an organic, fair trade, Kaladi Coffee espresso drink or simple brew. Fika also has fresh beans for sale by the pound. For you tea drinkers, they offer a wide range of organic and herbal teas from Two Leaves Tea Company.
Fika serves specialty coffee drinks, including their signature Fika Latte made with honey and cinnamon, as well as various pastries and light bites. They offer outdoor seating, weather permitting, making it a perfect spot to enjoy a cup of coffee on one of the Denver area’s many sunny days.
Steam Espresso Bar coffee now served at two cozy locations
Steam Espresso Bar also isn’t strictly new to the larger Denver area after 2020 (see Queen City, above), having been established at a fine location on South Pearl Street in Boulder since 2013. Owner Hani Yaafouri operates this Boulder shop and his newer opening near downtown Denver from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for true coffee aficionados who understand and appreciate real quality coffee. As he says, they are a coffee-centric business. They use no flavored syrups, other ingredients, or even paper filters that cover up the true taste of coffee. So if you like unadorned coffee (perhaps with steamed milk), cozy up to a fine cuppa at Steam. [NO]
Steam also serves a variety of teas from Tea Spot, a local Boulder company. During cool temperatures, they serve 120 cups or more of tea each week. As Nathanial Oldham says online, “They also blend fresh juice right on the bar, offering a carrot, apple, beet, and ginger fusion that has a strong taste of ginger with a bright tingly flavor. The juice pairs perfectly with any of Steam’s local pastries they offer, delivered fresh from Trompeau Bakery on South Broadway. Steam’s espresso is top-notch and their baristas are knowledgeable in the science of the pour, adjusting grind and tamp with ease.” [NO]
Steam Espresso Bar Boulder, Colorado. Anna Phillips Photography.
Steam Espresso Bar_Boulder Colorado. Photo by Tommy Campbell
On Sunday mornings Steam often sponsors live acoustic music and displays featured local photography. The owner works there every day, cheerfully shaking hands and greeting customers while building espresso drinks with expert skill. The owner offers outdoor patio space at both his locations, so you can soak up that fabulous Colorado sunshine whenever our usually great weather permits.
Established in downtown Denver in 2021, Steam Espresso Bar’s second location at 3600 Tejon Street offers a modern, sleek atmosphere with an extensive menu of coffee and tea drinks. They also offer various food options, including sandwiches, salads, and baked goods. They use locally sourced ingredients and offer vegan and gluten-free options. [NO]
Steam Espresso Bar Denver, Colorado.
Steam Espresso Bar interior_Denver, Colorado.
Purple Door Coffee has extra goodness up their sleeves
Purple Door Coffee (PDC) is a non-profit coffee shop that supplies job training and employment opportunities to young people who have been homeless or incarcerated. They specialize in working with unhoused and street-connected teens and young adults since 2013, and are now running their job training program under Belay Enterprises, with continuing support from service organization Dry Bones Denver (est. 2001). They also roast their own beans, so you can support quality coffee and social enterprise by making an occasional cup part of your cozy coffee scene.
I’ve included them here because they’ve replaced their closed Welton Street shop (2019) with a new shop that is scheduled to open soon. On January 6, 2024, I received this Facebook message from the managers: “We are opening a new coffee shop in the next few weeks. Waiting on final inspections. This shop is at 1640 Sherman Street just blocks from the capitol.” Having a coffee shop in this area is an important part of Purple Door’s mission, especially considering the number of homeless folks who live close to or on the streets of downtown Denver.
Essentially, both PDC and Dry Bones offer companionship and a hand up to Denver’s homeless youth. As PDC directors say, these young people are often viewed as social outcasts, but they’re consistently found to be neglected, despondent, traumatized, or living with a mental health issue. [PDC]
The coffee part of their business grew from Dry Bones’ realization that most of their unhoused friends desperately wanted a path out of homelessness. But these young folks needed life and work skills to join traditional society, so PDC began in 2012 to create a self-sustaining social enterprise that would combine foundational job and life skills training with strong community support. They started with jobs in a small coffee shop on Welton Street (now closed) and then expanded to technical knowledge within the coffee roasting retail and wholesale business. [PDC]
PDC’s coffee shop offered a welcoming atmosphere with exposed brick walls, rustic wooden furniture, and an outdoor patio. They served a variety of coffee drinks using Corvus Coffee and Sweet Bloom Coffee, teas, and pastries from The Wooden Spoon Cafe and Bakery, as well as breakfast and lunch options. I expect their new shop on Sherman Street to have similar features but will update this information and include a couple photos later in 2024.
Huckleberry Roasters Adds coffee shops in cozy Denver neighborhoods
Huckleberry Roasters’ distinctive packaging shows off this rapidly growing brand.
Huckleberry Roasters (Huck to Denver-area locals) is a specialty coffee roaster that has been serving Denver, Colorado customers since 2011. They’re included here because they’ve opened added locations since 2020 and they’re just a good, community-oriented roaster with a fast-growing business. Huck was selected Roast Magazine’s “Macro Roaster of the Year” in 2022. I’ve tried a couple of their dark roasts through the Trade Coffee subscription service and found them robust and pleasing.
As their website puts it, “HUCK is committed to building a sustainable coffee business that prioritizes being a reliable roasting partner to the smallholder farms and coffee co-ops we work with.” They actively support organizations who address community needs and encourage a healthy workplace that responds “compassionately to strangers and co-workers alike, and supports finding a balance between work life & personal life.”
Huckleberry Roasters is expanding rapidly in the Denver area. In 2022, they added a local shop that replaced Allegro Coffee Roasters’ space on Tennyson Street in Berkeley. About the same time owner Koan Goedman announced another planned location in the Baker neighborhood: 277 Broadway, formerly home to Sugar Bakeshop. Huckleberry Roasters used to sell coffee to Sugar Bakeshop and leased the 1,200-square-foot space in June 2022.
The Tennyson location, operated in partnership with Berkely Supply Co., takes advantage of a built-in customer base. Besides the cafe and clothing store, this Huckleberry is the brand's first with a full kitchen. Besides “Huck Fare,” such as burritos and toasts, it also offers “Tennyson Bites” — an Australian-style breakfast and lunch menu with such items as a golden milk parfait, savory Benedicts with honey-smoked salmon, a bean and avocado tostada, and a buckwheat galette. [DK]
Owner Goedman said he and his co-owner Jason Farrar “wanted to include stuff that’s delicious, relatively simple and straightforward, and substantial enough for breakfast, lunch or a late-afternoon bite to eat.” Without a kitchen, the Baker location will have a more limited menu than Tennyson, serving basic options such as toast, pastries and breakfast burritos. [DK]
“Huckleberry is interested in having a presence in a lot of Denver’s neighborhoods,” Goedman said. “Obviously, it’s a little different now. But I think in the past, if you needed to find a couple of neighborhoods where you were guaranteed foot traffic, Baker was one and so was Tennyson, along with downtown.” [LON]
Huckleberry Roasters’ newest coffee shop: a cozy space in Wheat Ridge, Colorado
Apparently, another neighborhood caught the owners’ attention as a great place for expansion: West 38th Ave in the heart of Wheat Ridge. Huck’s newest café is open daily from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It combines colorful design with several inside and outside seating options. This flexible seating makes it a central hub to meet with friends, hang out, read a book, or simply, down a cup of joe. They also offer drive-through service if you want to pick up your coffee in a takeout cup, perhaps using Koffee Kompanions’ Kup KollarTM cup sleeve to keep it hot during your entire drive. As they have done in other Denver neighborhoods, Huck folks are making new pals and creating lasting customers in Wheat Ridge every day. [HR]
Middle State Coffee cozies up to unique “industrial” locations
Middle State Coffee opened its second location in Denver's Highland neighborhood (2622 W. 32nd Street) in 2020. The flagship location opened in 2019 at Santa Fe Drive in a sort of warehouse-chic neighborhood that is undergoing urbanization. The coffee shop offers a minimalist, industrial aesthetic with plenty of natural light, modern furniture, and a spacious outdoor patio.
Middle State Coffee’s Santa Fe Drive location in Denver, Colorado
Middle State Coffee: Santa Fe Drive interior
The Highlands location has similarly modern lines, a patio strip with colorful green furniture, an artistically presented order area, and bright white cabinets and shelves.
Middle State Coffee: Denver Highlands neighborhood.
Middle States’ interior order area: Denver Highlands neighborhood
They serve many different coffee varieties each day as well as baked goods from Sugar Bake Shop and BlackBox Bakery, a house-made waffle, various cereal options, good old yogurt and granola, and a variety of burritos. Recently added to both Middle State shops is a selection of wines available to of-age customers who wish to vary their beverage consumption with a taste of the grape . [MSC]
Middle State Coffee’s wine selections add flair to both Denver-area shops
As we’ve discovered, Denver's coffee scene continues to thrive with the opening of several new coffee shops since 2020. These six new shops offer unique experiences, from sustainable practices to job training programs, and of course, excellent coffee. They show Denver's commitment to sustainability and local partnerships. If you’re in Denver or nearby, check out these new coffee shops and discover your new favorite spot.
Resources
Fika Coffee House website, “Välkommen: Welcome To Fika,”
http://www.fikacoffeehouse.com/, 2022. [FCW]
Huckleberry Roasters website, “Locations,” https://huckleberryroasters.com/pages/wheat-ridge, 2024. [HR]
Angela Hudyakova, “Best 10 Coffee Shops in Denver,” https://coffee-rank.com/best-coffee-shops-in-denver/, November 1, 2022. [AH]
Danielle Krolewicz, “Huckleberry Roasters Expands with Two New Cafes,” https://www.westword.com/restaurants/huckleberry-roasters-expands-with-two-new-cafes-15682798, Westword, December 20, 2022. [DK]
Middle State Coffee website, “Who We Are,” https://www.middlestatecoffee.com/about, 2023. [MSC]
Nathaniel Oldham, “The Grind: Steam Espresso Bar Is a South Pearl Gem,” 303Magazine.com, https://303magazine.com/2014/09/steam-espresso-bar-south-pearl-gem/, September 22, 2014. [NO]
Lily O’Neill, “Huckleberry Roasters to replace bakery on South Broadway in Denver,” https://www.denverpost.com/2022/09/28/huckleberry-roasters-south-broadway-denver/, The Denver Post, September 28, 2022. [LON]
Purple Door Coffee, “Our Story,” https://purpledoorcoffee.com/our-story/, 2023. [PDC]
Queen City website, “About us,” https://queencitycollectivecoffee.com/pages/about, 2023. [QCW]