Colorado in the summer is pure magic, and we fell in love with coffee all over again on the fourth annual Colorado Caffeine Crawl.
By Sadie Colwell
Boulder welcomed our Colorado Caffeine Crawl with enthusiasm and abundant mountain sunshine. We rallied in front of Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe for intros and event bags filled with fabulous swag from Wholesome Sweeteners, Barista Magazine, Sleeve a Message, Yelp, Good Drinks, InterAmerican Coffee, and Rip Van Wafels. Mark of Conscious Coffees outlined the incredible work they do with coffee farmers, and crawlers downloaded coffee and tea modules from Libations App to track the tastings ahead. We joined our groups and headed across the street to Buchanan’s Coffee Pub for samples, or inside Innisfree for double shots and more info from Mark.
As crawlers strolled along Pearl street on the first ever car-free Crawl, sights along the way added to the experience. A local farmers market accommodated Precision Pours ”A Mobile Coffee Bar, and we enjoyed coffee three ways from Brice and team.
A new Honduran coffee at Ozo elicited great questions, and the nitro coffee on tap at The Cup was a refreshing sensation after time in the sunshine. Boxcar Coffee served up orange coffee sodas made with Toddy, and a take on a mint juleps with house-made syrup, and crawlers went behind the bar to pull their own shots on the Unic Stella di Caffe custom Barista Nation espresso machine.
At the Unseen Bean, Jerry offered insight into his passion of roasting coffee without the visual aspect, and we were all inspired to experience things outside our comfort zone. We munched Earnest Eats bars on our way to Piece, Love & Chocolate, where tiramisu macarons, drinking chocolate, and white chocolate frozen treats awaited us.
Sunday dawned in Fort Collins, and we gathered in picturesque Old Town Square for friendly introductions before setting out. The Kitchen provided cold brew samples and we tasted Irish cream Toddy alongside cranberry lemon glazed scones at Starry Night Espresso Cafe.
The Bean Cycle provided coffee and craft time: Crawlers sampled washed vs. natural Yirgacheffe while designing their own labels for the bean samples they took home. Happy Lucky’s Tea House served up Matcha shots, Guayusa tea, and info on caffeine absorption while we sipped.
Jonathan Jarrow at Harbinger Coffee blew us away with a coffee trifecta: a brewed Kenya from Ritual Coffee served cold, citric acid-infused sparkling water, and an entertainingly luscious coffee foam.
Colorado’s vibrant scenery and culture made this a crawl we won’t soon forget. Caffeinated and inspired, we can’t wait for next year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sadie Colwell is a completely committed coffee addict who adores coffee shop culture and chocolate. She currently resides in Kansas City with her extraordinary husband, Tyler, and her remarkable dog, Brutus. When she isn’t advancing her unorthodox latte art skills as a barista at Quay coffee, working on a project for The LAB (creators of Caffeine Crawl), or teaching young prodigies to play the piano and like it, she dives headfirst into blogging and freelance projects with reckless abandon.
