Square State Colorado

10 Best Coffee Shops in Denver and a Few Honorable Mentions

One of the things that I absolutely love about Denver and living in Colorado is the coffee culture. You will often find me working from one of the many shops around town. Any excuse to check out a shop that is new to me-I take it. One of the crazy things that I think about is how much Denver has become a coffee town.

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There are 5 key aspects to becoming a serious coffee town: coffee drinkers who appreciate well-brewed cups of joe, shops that roast their beans whenever possible, have a coffee knowledgeable team without being condescending, a welcoming space and good food whenever possible. And a bonus would be a patio for those sunny days over 35 degrees when you just want to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. Happily, almost all of the shops mentioned do have patios.

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When I first purchased my home, I was so excited about it. I also discovered that there were so many aspects to homeownership that I didn’t know about. How often I would have to do home maintenance, how tiring yard work would be and the moments when I thought that maybe I should have purchased a property outside of an HOA. There was another homeownership experience that I was fascinated by which was the refinance process. 

As a first time homeowner, I didn’t completely understand the process and why it was a useful financial tool that so many homeowners embraced. 

Fortunately there is a resource to help educate homeowners going through the refinance process. Refily is a lender comparison tool that helps homeowners find lenders to help them refinance their mortgage. Refily helps homeowners see and compare different lenders and estimated fees and rates before saying “yes” to their future home loan.

What I really love about Refily’s Comparison tool is the following: transparency, ease of use and accessibility. If you’re looking to refinance your home loan, Refily is the tool I recommend to help you with the lender comparison process and I am proud to partner with Refily to share the comparison tool.

Top 10 Coffee Shops in Denver

1. Steam Coffee Shop-2 locations one in Platt Park and the other in the Highlands Neighborhood. What stands out besides the fantastic coffee quality and service is the ambience and atmosphere of both locations. The Platt Park location has a lovely patio that is full with patrons all year long and the Highlands Location is a huge airy space located within an old firehouse.
2. Huckleberry Roasters-Phenomenal coffee. Weirdly enough, I’ve only been to the Dairy Block location and plan on going to what I think is the original location in the next couple of weeks.
3. Unravel Coffee-I love this coffee shop. What’s interesting about this unique Colorado coffee chain is that the original is located in what feels like a slightly random and underwhelming strip mall on the east side of town. Unravel Coffee also has locations in Breckrenridge, Vail and Winter Park and have partnered with Gravity Haus. Unravel is my go to coffee shop when I’m in those towns. One thing that I love is their approach to sustainability and the glass jar program.
4. Middle State Coffee-One of my favorite treats to eat is a freshly made waffle. Even better is eating a freshly made waffle with great coffee while listening to awesome music and smelling fresh roasted coffee beans. If you’re on Santa Fe, make sure to pop in and enjoy the entire Middle State experience.
5. Sweet Bloom Coffee Shop-I was very familiar with Sweet Bloom’s coffee but had never visited one of their shops. Then the Westminster location opened up. And even though you kind of have to park in the parking structure for JC Penny next door, the next time you’re in the Westminster area Sweet Bloom’s beautiful open and airy space is absolutely worth a visit. It’s one of the most beautiful coffee shops in the Denver Metro area.
6. Stylus and Crate-Recently, I’ve fallen back in love with vinyl records. So when I heard about Stylus and Crate in Wheat Ridge, I had to go for a visit. I took my mom along and we both loved it. Fantastic coffee and scrumptious freshly made waffles while listening to great music. Yes, you can play your favorite records while in the shop and you can pick up some new vinyl from the pretty solid collection of records and music genres. I was pretty impressed.
7. Blue Sparrow Coffee-There are two locations but my favorite is the original location at Brickyard on Blake which I still think is an underrated venue for what it has to offer. My favorite thing to do is to sit on the roof and look at the mountains when it’s around 70 degrees out. The coffee and pastry selection are perfect and the baristas are always friendly.
8. Whittier Cafe-My favorite time to experience the Whittier Cafe is during the warmer times of year. I love sitting on the patio and watching all of the community members making their way into the space. And, if I’m lucky, the Ethiopian food truck is there as well.
9. Honey Hill Cafe-I’d kept hearing about Honey Hill but I live on a different side of town. I finally got a chance to visit and was so impressed. The staff was incredible, the coffee fantastic, I loved that they offer a lot of savory items not just sweet and the ambience was warm and inviting. Whenever I’m on that side of town, I’ll make sure to hang out for a couple of hours.
10. The Wild-I actually think most people have no idea that this coffee shop/great place for happy hour exists. It opened up at the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021. It’s a part of the Pearl Street Hospitality team’s offerings which include Lady Jane and Hudson Hill. Besides having well crafted coffee, an effortless pseudo French vibe, it has a large patio and unapologetic vaccine only policy-you have to show your vaccination card. The Wild is located across the street from Union Station in a cozy courtyard nook.

Honorable Mentions:

• 2914-I’m baffled by the fact that no one ever brings up this shop
• Sonder-I absolutely love this shop and have enjoyed visiting the original location whenever I’m in Aurora. These days I tend to stop by the new location inside of Junction Food and Drink. Sonder is #1 in the metro area for creative drinks and I love it every time they flame roast my marshmallows when I order a Fall seasonal drink.
• Vibe Coffee and Wine
• Little Owl-So sad that their pastry shop closed. We lost a great concept when that happened.
• Dandy Lion Coffee-Every thing about this space is magical except for the pastries. The coffee, the service and the magical ambience are wonderful. Once the pastries are switched out-easily moves into my top 10.
• Downpours Coffee-I love this coffee shop and even though I’m missing the fresh squeezed juices, this shop rocks. Amazing coffee, the burritos (especially the gluten-free and the fresh salsa are insanely good) and the attention to detail is phenomenal. Unfortunately, staffing has put the squeeze on this amazing space so we have shorter time each day to enjoy it.