The Seven Best New Coffee Shops in Denver in 2015

With so many new coffee spots scattered about the city, 2015 left Denver sips away from heart palpitations. We're buzzing with caffeinated joy over the tiny shops and uber-hip spots serving cocktails and tasty bites along with pour-over coffee, cold-brew on tap and cortados that will make you weep. Here is our year-end round up of the seven best new coffee shops in town, in alphabetical order. 

7. Amethyst Coffee Co. 
1111 Broadway #101
Residing in the new Metlo building on Broadway, Amethyst is the only female-owned coffee shop to open this year. Owner Elle Taylor chooses Commonwealth Coffee in conjunction with a variety of rotating beans for flavorful pour-overs and meticulously crafted espresso drinks. Customers can also indulge in some delicious, guilt-free chia pudding along with a few other treats from the small pastry case.  

6. Bellwether
5126 East Colfax Avenue
720-398-9251
What do you get when you mix great coffee, whiskey, trendy clothing and a barbershop? Bellwether. With all this hipness, Bellwether is definitely drawing more than just coffee drinkers. It’s day bar meets night bar — and it’s a beautiful thing. Customers can sip caffeinated bliss from Sweet Bloom and Boxcar roasters while perusing the retail area. Or for something stronger, turn to the whisky bar where a few favorites, like AD Laws Four Grain Bourbon, make a welcome appearance. 

5. Black Eye Coffee
820 Sherman Street 
303-955-1205
The 1920s-style decor and swiveling liquor cabinet doors are just a few of the many details Black Eye got right. This is the second location for the coffee roaster but the first to serve booze. It’s welcoming and cozy and perfect for typing away at your laptop while sipping cappuccinos or grabbing a nightcap. With a menu that caters to any level of hunger, it’s hard to resist a tasty snack with your beverage of choice.

4. Lula Rose General Store
3434 East Colfax Avenue
303-388-1933
Oliver Miller-Finkel, a former barista at Thump Coffee Roasters, opened Lula Rose this summer on East Colfax Avenue. Serving a variety of rotating coffees, including beans from Thump, the space is small with a few tables inside and out, so come prepared for some of the best people-watching Colfax has to offer.  
3. Overt
712 1/2 South Pearl Street
303-250-6789
Overt is barely wider than the arm span of a very tall human or an average-sized bald eagle (a little more than eight feet, if you need to be more exact). The little coffee spot is a stone's throw from Vert, its sister restaurant. Serving coffee from Huckleberry Roasters and a rotating list of local teas, the shop also offers a plethora of grab-and-go items (a few recognizable from Vert) that makes the space similar to a half-sized European convenience store.
2. Platform T
682 South Colorado Boulevard, 303-756-1464
95 Lincoln Street, 303-777-5687
With a main focus on loose leaf teas, Platform T also caffeinates customers with a full espresso bar, serving coffee from Corvus Coffee Roasters. If hot drinks aren’t your thing, stick around for the tea infused cocktails. Get your T fix at either of the two locations to open this year, one in Glendale and one at First Avenue and Lincoln.

1. Stowaway Coffee + Kitchen 
2528 Walnut Street
720-583-5481
This little café barely made the year-end cutoff, opening on December 11. But in a short few weeks, Denver has welcomed Stowaway with open mouths. Patrons can stop by for a quick cup — the coffee's from Boxcar and a rotating (usually local) roaster and there's also tea from Platform T — or stay for a tasty brunch. It’s hard to decide what’s better, the food or the coffee, so we suggest trying both.