Session Coffee is a new Denver cafe ownedย and operated by brothers Matt and Brad Gruber. Located between Athmar Park and Platt Park, the shop is serving some of the best roasters in the state and is a highlight reel of what the brothers know best: handsome woodwork and craft coffee.
For the better part of the past decade, while Brad Gruber was working for the family carpentry business, his brother Mattย was off in the Boulder coffee scene, working on plans toย open a shop of his own. Over the years, he found little luck in having anything grow to be more than just a dream.
โI had a couple of different plans to open up shops that just fizzled out because thatโs how they always happen,โ says Matt Gruber. โBut, this one finally stuck.” Whether it wasย bringing his father on as the general contractor or callingย his brother in to help run the shop that did the trick,ย it’s hard to sayโbutย whatever the trickย may have been, Session Coffee is working.
The trendy industrial south Denver space consists of varying shades of wood on the countertops and wall paneling, floors, and tables, along with hanging lights and clean black and mint green paint. Standing out among all the furniture and dรฉcor is a long, sleek beetle kill wood table the brothers made from wood they procured from the Rocky Mountain National Park.
For coffeeย equipment, the Gruber brothers opted forย a Synesso MVP Hydra espresso machine, FETCOย brewer, and a white Mahlkรถnig EK 43 grinder and K30 Twin espresso grinder. Middlestate and Sweet Bloom roasters wereย tappedย for espresso, pour-over, and drip coffee, while pastries and burritos come from local staples Sugar Vision bakeshop, Enzo The Baker, and Colorado Taco Company.
Ignoring the unenviable task of trying to stand out among more established cafes in a thriving coffee city, Matt Gruber instead focused on two things he knew he had working in his favor from day one: Denver residents’ love of coffee, and his unusual location.
โDenverโs a really good place to have craft coffee because everyoneโs into it,โ says Gruber. โThe reason we opened in this location was to give a different feel to an area that is riddled with fast food chains and much more industrial warehouse space and stuff like that.โ
The shop has proven to be much more of a community-driven cafe than anticipated, with regulars from both nearby communitiesย and a steady stream of newย faces seen daily. Considering the Gruber brothersย are the only employees, establishing relationships with customers is not really a coincidence at this point.
โWe opened it to be a commuter coffee shop for people heading into the city,โ says Matt Gruber. โBut actually, we hardly get any business from thatโwhich is really cool, because weโve always wanted a shop where we served aย community neighborhood rather than fast grab and go.โ
The Grubers are, for now, at the shop seven days a week for each and every shift. This type of workload is not exactly ideal nor sustainable, but the value of such a rigorous workload might be the fact that every single customer will interact with ownership. With that said, the Grubers are going to need a day off at some point, and maybe then theyโll be able to fully enjoy what theyโve built.
โItโs kind of hard because weโre so attached to it right now, itโs difficult to look at it from an outsiderโs perspective. So right now, Iโm very tired,โ Matt Gruber says with a laugh. Despite the exhaustion, Gruber says it’s all worth it.
โItโs really cool to see. Being able to win people over through craft coffee is a really, really fun and rewarding experience.โ
Ben Wiese is a freelance journalist based in Denver. Read more Ben Wiese on Sprudge.