These days, it’s pretty commonplace to find really good, local coffee inside a grocery store. But have you ever found a grocery store inside a really good, local coffee shop? If you live in Denver, you are about to have the chance to, with the opening of the new Method Coffee Roasters.
Opened in 2013, Method has kept a community focus at the heart of what they do. And with the opportunity to open a cafe in Denver’s Lower Highlands area, a “minor food desert” as Method’s James Lopez explains to us, they seized it. And added a small grocer to it. Along with coffee, patrons can pick up things like eggs and prepared meals from local restaurants. It’s a novel idea, turning the coffee-in-grocery-store concept on its head. So let’s check in Method Coffee Roasters in Denver, Colorado, shall we?
As told to Sprudge by James Lopez.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
Method Coffee Roasters officially began in early 2013, however its roots were planted long before. The concept of sourcing, roasting, and serving coffee for the community came from the founders’ shared interest in the the economics of impact and… of course coffee. MCR is the adventure that we all embark on to become a better self.
In a garage in 2013 some friends setup a coffee roaster with the idea to start a coffee company. Their goal was to honestly source amazing coffees, prepare it with passion, and serve the community. Since then, MCR has grown to serve the greater Rocky Mountain area and give back to the community through scholarship funds, non-profit partners and direct donations.
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
The new space is designed with the local community in the Lower Highlands area in mind. We wanted to create a space that could be a community gathering place, allowing people to connect and share in a great coffee experience. Being a wholesale roaster for five years, we were very excited to start offering our coffees to the public as well as pairing it with great pastries and foods from local producers.
We also saw there was a mild food desert in the area, with two grocery stores close but still an inconvenient drive away. We wanted to build a specialty grocer space to allow people to pick up odds and ends when they are heading home or in the neighborhood without having to get in their car. Things like eggs, prepared foods from local restaurants, and other odds and ends will be stocked at the cafe.
What’s your approach to coffee?
We want all of our coffees to be extremely accessible. Dustin, our head roaster, is fantastic at creating great flavor profiles that are developed to balance acidity and sweetness, making each of our coffees great day to day coffees. When we have someone come into the shop, our goal is to create a consistent experience and open up the world of specialty coffee to our customers without overwhelming them. We like to emphasize flavors like honey and caramelized sugar to help customers enjoy without too much background knowledge in coffee varietals.
Method Roasters was also one of the champions of nitro cold brew and we will be featuring our nitro cold brew coffee at the space offering a variety of different seasonal and our regular cold brew recipes.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
We will be using a La Marzocco Linea Classic, Mahlkönig K30 Twin, and nitro cold brew setup. We really wanted to limit the amount of equipment we had to focus on our coffees and consistency.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
Early June
Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?
A huge shout out to Raw Creative who did everything to make our space come to life!
Thank you!
No, thank you…
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