We’re getting some fresh mountain air today on the Build-Outs feature series, visiting a new coffee bar in Park City, Utah (elev. 7000′). This is Urban Sailor Coffee, frequent fliers on the Build-Outs train back again with another new cafe project.
The 2025 Build-Outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Ceado, and Dona.
As told to Sprudge by Tyler Anderson.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
My son Archer and I started Urban Sailor Coffee during the Covid pandemic as a coffee business that we thought at the time might remain a food truck business (but we were never a food truck, we built our first coffee cart on top of a URAL sidecar motorcycle that was featured in Build-Outs Of Coffee 2021). Following the success we had with that initial motorcycle coffee cart in 2021 we built out our first brick-and-mortar cafe in 2022, which has become a very popular gathering spot for the Sugar House neighborhood its in for the last three-plus years. Less than a year after opening that first cafe we had the opportunity to purchase an existing coffee roasting business and take over their equipment and their wholesale and subscription (retail) clients.
By the end of 2022 all of those accounts were being serviced under the Urban Sailor Coffee brand, and we were roasting all of the coffee we were using at our cafe. In 2023 we opened our second cafe and this one was near downtown Salt Lake City in a newly redeveloped part of downtown that was dubbed the “Post District.” We were lucky enough to be featured as a Build-Out in 2021 with the sidecar motorcycle coffee cart and in 2022 with our first brick-and-mortar cafe, so we submitted our Post District buildout in 2023 and were featured yet again. For the last two years we’ve been primarily focused on growing our wholesale roasting business and managing our two cafes, but we’ve also been keeping our eyes peeled for just the right space to build our next cafe and have enough room to do what we’ve always wanted to by having it be a roasting space as well as a cafe. We found that space about 30 miles east of SLC in the busy mountain town Park City in late 2024 and signed a lease in Jan 2025. We have been going through the permitting process and build-out process for the last six months and are finally nearing an opening date in July 2025.
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
The new Park City cafe and roastery space is nearly twice as big as each of our two cafes in Salt Lake City. We have 2,000 square feet that we carefully designed to maximize every square foot. Like our other cafes we intentionally do not have a drive through and we have created various seating spaces for people that want a table, people that like to sit bar style on a counter and some lounge (couch, leather chairs) seating areas. One of our bar seating areas faces our under-counter three-group Mavam espresso machine, another bar seating area faces our roaster toward the back of the cafe and a third bar will be for our pour-over area. We’ve utilized a lot of built-in shelving to keep things organized and provide lots of merchandising spaces. The aesthetic of this new space has very familiar themes for us—dark green walls, lots of wood (walnut and walnut veneer), and all black equipment. We wanted people who entered to instantly recognize that they are at an Urban Sailor Coffee (if they are familiar with our Salt Lake City spaces). One additional thing we are really leaning into with this new cafe and roastery is creating a listening room environment by building the cabinets behind the bar and facing the bar to hold vintage audiophile speakers, amps, turn table, and a 10″ reel-to-reel tape deck. It’s adding another passion of ours, which is analog music and our nod to a trend that was started in Tokyo with the listening bars there. For a long time I have loved listening to good music on a good stereo while drinking good coffee at home, and I want to create that same environment for guests who come to Urban Sailor Coffee.
What’s your approach to coffee?
Our approach to coffee has remained fairly unchanged since we bought our roasting equipment in 2022—we want to buy the best quality coffees and roast each origin to bring out its best qualities and flavors. Although we love a really good single origin coffee, we find we blend the majority of the coffees we use behind the bar which helps not only with consistency from season to season, but also allows us to combine interesting tasting notes that compliment one another specifically for espresso, and for filter and for cold brew. We’ve created a “house blend” for each of those but also like to mix it up with new fun coffees that we can get our hands on. We still source the majority of our coffees through our importing partners at Royal Coffee, but we are also starting to create some of our own direct relationships with certain regions. This is an area we are excited to do more in over the next few years as it adds a lot to the experience for us and for our regular customers who love to hear the stories of where these coffees come from and who is growing them.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
We have used a Mavam Mach 2 (two-group) above counter espresso machines at our first two cafes in Salt Lake City and we have loved the temperature stability those machines have given us for the last three and a half years. We decided to get our first under-counter (three-group) Mavam for this new Park City space. The wider stance of the three-group under-counter and the distance between the outside steam wands will allow us to have two baristas comfortably working side by side without bumping into each other. We’re putting a Mahlkönig E65 GbS on each side of the Mavam and utilizing the E65 under-grinder tamper by PUQpress under both espresso grinders. We will use the same Curtis double brewer that we have at our other two cafes and a Mahlkönig EK43 on the back bar for grinding coffee for filter and cold brew. We have a built in kegerator for our popular nitro cold brew on tap, and we will have a large grab and go fridge at the front counter, which will feature our nitro cold brew cans. We continue to use our Diedrich IR-5 to roast all of our coffee, which will be prominently featured and visible in this cafe. We may need to upgrade to a larger roaster in the next year and will be looking into which roasters will fit well in our new space while giving us some increased capacity.
How is your project considering sustainability?
At Urban Sailor Coffee, sustainability has always been at the heart of what we do, and as we move forward with our new build-out in Park City, we’re continuing to explore practices that reflect that commitment. While each location brings its own unique considerations, we’re being intentional in how we approach design, sourcing, and operation. On a broader scale, we continue to work closely with our international partners and our US importing partners through fair trade agreements that ensure transparency, consistency, and meaningful support for growers at the individual level. We believe that real sustainability begins with relationships—building trust and longevity throughout every step of the supply chain. As our Park City shop takes shape, we’re committed to keep learning, adapting, and moving in a direction that respects both people and the planet. One of my four sons Canon (who is one of our part-time baristas) is an environmental sustainability major at the University of Utah and just did a study abroad in Greece to learn from one of the leading professors on the environment and sustainability. Canon’s knowledge on the subject is already informing some things we are looking to do going forward and I hope he can continue to help us as he finishes his undergraduate in the next year.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
We are hoping to be open for the July 4th 2025 weekend (which is a big weekend in Park City).
Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?
I’d like to mention Cirque Studio architect and design firm that helped us put our vision for the space into a very detailed design and helped us navigate all of the permitting processes which proved to be harder than we expected (largely due to making this a roastery location). I’d also like to give a shout out to Jim Clifford (general contractor) and Ndi Skinner (sub contractor) who have been great at adapting and making this project work.
Thank you!
Thank you Sprudge—we have loved being featured on past build-outs and consider it a real honor.
The 2025 Build-Outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Ceado, and Dona.
