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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Art & Coffee @ Tenn Street Coffee, Denver, Colorado
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.comRead More
Smile! Happy Coffee, SoBo Neighborhood, Denver Colorado
Happy Coffee was grinning from ear to ear on Saturday afternoon!
It was full of people attempting to stay cool from the scorching 100 degree day. The pub next door was hosting a local music festival … and that prime corner in the SoBo (South Broadway) Neighborhood was hopping!
This place has a very crisp vibe to it. The furniture has clean lines made with metal and raw wood. The barista was wearing a lemon-yellow shirt and evoked happiness, and what a smile. Perfect! Haha … he made me laugh as he poured me the strongest iced toddy EVER!
Let’s just say I was very chatty, yet productive all afternoon. Tee hee.
Happy Coffee CO1 South Broadway
Denver, CO 80209 720-328-8214 www.happycoffeeco.com Read More
How big are you, Boyer’s Coffee of Denver, Colorado?
Now, I don’t normally seek out larger roasters (or chain coffeehouses). They usually don’t intrigue me in the slightest. Blah blah … all the same.
And as a lover of coffee and community, I support the local independent mom and pop shops and micro roasters where ever I happen to be. Well …. this Boyer’s Coffee has a coffeehouse attached to their facility! And it’s one of a kind.
Bingo!
A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation from the Mile High Business Alliance to attend a networking meeting at Boyer’s Coffee. I thought they were BIG? Like REALLY BIG … national supplier of coffee.
Not that big is bad, but usually equates to more profit and we have been taught that profit is good. But I feel something gets lost in translation as a company grows. The goal of profit can become an excuse and justify decisions that may be bad for workers or the environment in the name of stakeholder benefit.
Boyer’s Coffee roasts its beans and distributes only in Colorado. Yes, they have large grocer clients, but they maintain a very small company feel, and I like that! The are housed in an old school where they have re-purposed the building, the bleachers, desks and other items that reduced their carbon footprint and honors the building’s past.
The networking group decided we would like a tour of the facility while we were there. It was a last minute request that they were pleased to do. Boyer’s found Luke Williams, Director of Marketing and Fundraising to show us around. How beautiful is that?
Thanks, Luke and crew!
Boyer’s Coffee Read More