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Posted by on Sep 15, 2012 in Blog, Local Coffeehouse Visit | 2 comments

Wild-Flour Bakery, Cafe & Espresso, Lead SD

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This space used to be an Eagles Lodge once upon a time and now is home to a fabulous bakery owned by a mother-daughter team.  Mom was baking in the kitchen and her daughter The space is large enough to house the entire Denver Broncos football team and they have the sweets to satisfy their taste buds.  My favorite was the cinnamon and sugar raised twists …. just like my grandma on my mother’s side used to make at her bakery in Glendale, AZ.

My father, Fred, was raised here in Lead, South Dakota.  I remember when it was a community full of people going places and doing things.  The economy started to slow down when they legalized gambling in Deadwood, its sister town, but it came to a screeching halt when the Homestake Gold Mine closed in 2002.  Now Downtown Lead only gets a few visitors as they are passing through exploring the Black Hills.

This local family took a leap of faith and decided it would be a good time to invest in a business.  And they are not alone.   A block or so down the street is a building that will house a micro-brewery to be started by a family from Oregon.  Then a block from that is the old Masonic Lodge, the one my grandfather and grandmother were members of for decades.

Today is auction day at the Lodge and the streets are lined with cars.  The building and all of its’ belongings were sold to Dakota Plains Auctions as their new primary location for their very successful family business.

As you can see, things are starting to stir again in Lead.   I love that my Dad’s hometown is making a resurgence!

Lovin’  life, Lisa

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Posted by on Aug 31, 2012 in Blog, Local Coffeehouse Visit | 0 comments

The Desk, Capitol Hill Neighborhood, Denver Colorado

I watched in anticipation as the older building near the capitol was being remodeled.  Most notable was the sign painted on the side of the old brick wall facing Grant Street. 

The simplicity of it captured my attention … very mysterious. Soooo I went to the website to see if this was going to be a writer’s haven-type coffeehouse.  No information.  I was devastated at the time.

The mystery was solved last week.  I scheduled to meet my web developer there for a meeting and it was brilliantly designed and meticulously planned for writers, developers, students.  For those people that need to focus for long periods of time in a cool environment.

Front of the house is a coffeehouse with tables, chairs, wifi, and a bubbly water fountain (awesomeness).

Back of the house contains small offices, a conference room, a very loooong table with lots of outlets for computers and other electronic paraphernalia.  There is a fee for this area; by the hour or with a monthly membership.

This coop workspace AND coffeehouse rules in my book!

The Desk
230 East 13th Avenue
Denver, CO 80203
www.thedeskdenver.com
Mon–Fri 7am-9pm
Sat-Sun 8am-8pm
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Posted by on Aug 1, 2012 in Blog, Local Coffeehouse Visit | 0 comments

A new coffee friend in Jason at Crow Bar Coffeehouse & Roaster in Castle Rock, Colorado

 

Jason Gray is sorta like an icon in Castle Rock and I got to meet him!!

Now … that’s just based on me hanging out at his coffeehouse for a couple of hours drinking his personally roasted espresso and watching him greet his customers.  He only roasts and serves the best coffee.  There is a genuine sense of pride in his work that emanates from his being.  

He has been in the coffee industry for about 30 year and got his start at Starbucks in Seattle in the 80’s.  “They had 25 stores back then”, he said.  Then he traveled north to Alaska and spent many years with Kaladi Brothers beginnings and trained under Mark Overly now of Kaladi Brothers Colorado.  In addition, he spent tons of time and gained the respect of the recently passed, coffee great, Michael Sivetz.

Jason opened Crowfoot Valley Coffee and Crow Bar Coffeehouse in 1999 and is ridiculously happy creating a place for people to come together and to serve them his finest roasted beans. 

Gotta check out his shop, now serving a rotating selection of high-end craft beers:
Crowfoot Valley Coffee
734 Wilcox Street #102
Castle Rock, CO 80109
(303) 814-0999
crowfoot@yjprod.com
http://www.yjprod.com/sites/crowfoot/

 

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Posted by on Jul 29, 2012 in Blog, Local Coffeehouse Visit | 0 comments

Art & Coffee @ Tenn Street Coffee, Denver, Colorado

 

Check out that rubber tree plant!

This coffeehouse sits proudly in Denver’s Berkeley Neighborhood near the old Elitch Gardens location surrounded by brick bungalows, art galleries, pubs, music shops, and the old Oriental Theater.  I swung by on my way to a fundraiser for Colorado wildfire recovery and found it full of vitality.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The walls covered in art and tall book shelves that create coves for studying and writing ~ great creative spaces!

They are also a full-on internet cafe!  For the price of a cuppa joe you can access the world wide web from one of 4 computers.  You don’t find this much in the US, but sure hope we see more of it for us travelers 🙂

 
Visit them at:
Tenn Street Coffee & Books
4418 Tennyson Street
Denver, Colorado 80212
www.tennstreetcoffee.com

 

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Posted by on Jun 29, 2012 in Blog, Local Coffeehouse Visit | 2 comments

Coffee Ice Cubes!

Iced coffee with coffee ice cubes. BRILLIANT.
Coaltrain Coffeehouse, Hotchkiss Colorado

The best invention EVER!

I love my coffee.  And in the heat of the summer this little trick of the trade keeps your coffee tasting rich while maintaining the coolness your body needs. 

Request this of  your coffeehouse … it will keep the customers coming back for more.

~Bring it on, Lisa

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