3 Cafes to Look Cool In

When I look for a coffee shop I ask myself, does this place feel like I’m sitting in a recliner in the coziest corner of my soul? Does this coffee stimulate my inner artistic calling on top of giving me slight tremors from the flood of caffeine? Where can I go that will serve me coffee that’s been brewed one drip at a time for 12 hours? Perhaps you will find the perfect fit for your impossibly specific needs in a cup of joe in these three Boulder cafes.

For the coffee connoisseur:

Boxcar Coffee Roasters

1825 Pearl St.

If you’re a Breaking Bad fan like I am, then you’ll immediately understand my curiosity with Boxcar Coffee Roasters. If you aren’t, then I hope you still appreciate comparing the brewing of Boxcar coffee to a coffee maker that was invented by one of the world’s (in the fictional world of Breaking Bad) best chemists, Gale Boetticher. Unfortunately he uses his chemist genius to make meth, but that’s beside the point. But I would imagine the closest thing to the perfectly constructed coffee that comes out of Gale Boetticher’s coffee machine to be Boxcar’s brew.

The Boulder roastery and coffee shop takes cowboy coffee making and turns it into a perfected science for high-altitude brewing. Their method steeps the coffee grounds at 203 degrees in beakers and then is filtered through a sieve.  Boxcar also does their roasting with an Ideal Rapid coffee roaster built in Germany in 1929. Maybe a little more cowboy than drug lord, the Boxcar is the place for perfected coffee brewing.

For the conscious coffee drinker:

The Cup

1521 Pearl Street

Fair trade and completely organic, The Cup on Pearl Street is cute and conscious. With a complete history and description of processing of each worldly bean they serve, picking your brew is a little like adopting a child. But if you’re into that and sipping on one of their 3rd Street Chai’s on an all-seasonal porch, the Cup is a perfect fit. Take time to talk to your barista about their studies of transpersonal psychology, contemplative religion and yoga. Or you can muse on perhaps their latest art show that used only paint made from the berries of a meditatively blessed bush. They also frequent blog postings on hockey, so you’ll never drip dry of conversation topics.

On top of home baked pastries, The Cup also offers a special iced coffee made with a Kyoto Drip. It begins with iced water and ground Single Origin coffee. Water then drips through the grounds at a rate of one drip per second. Their desired amount of coffee takes 12 hours to brew. They compare it to bourbon: strong and then mellow and smooth at the finish.

For the writer and poetry slam frequent:

The Laughing Goat Coffeehouse

East Boulder

2907 55th St

The East Pearl neighborhood is home to a cafe fit for closet poets, bedroom artists and all around cool cats. Brewing with coffee from Kaladi Brothers, The Laughing Goat offers a place for artistic, literary and musical expression. With weekly readings, monthly gallery shows and nightly performances there’s no excuse to be bored in Boulder.

There’s three locations of The Laughing Goat but my personal favorite is on 55th street. There’s not an inch of space in the Laughing Goat that’s not filled with creative juices. Their barista’s are highly trained in mesmerizing latte art, live music is almost always being played and there’s never a lack for creative, sorts lounging in the corners.