Blue. There have been whole books written on the subject, an entire genre of music exists, and even good old Picasso had a blue period. This is not about any of that…
The other day we had the opportunity to check out the Platte St. location of Blue Sparrow Coffee. It was on a crystal clear and bitingly cold morning that we walked from Union Station to BSC. The result however was well worth the journey. This was a delightful little place tucked away in the lobby of a shared office space.
Blue Sparrow are not a roaster, but instead source their coffee from a large variety of quality roasters from across the country and even overseas. Some of these have included: SK, Revel, Elm, Thankful Friend, Docent, Treeline, Alabaster, Florin, Mythical, Hi-Top, Manhattan, Amavida, Vice & Virtue, Coffea Roasterie, Ligature, Snowdrift, Elixr, Pine, Land and Water, Vesta, Unity, Blanchard’s, Perc, Transcend, Kind & Co, Stay Golden, Penstock, Giv, Free Space, Blue Copper, Abracadabra, Root & Branch, Presta, Black & White, Populace, Tandem, Ceremony, Metric, Camber, Bolt, Treeline, Blue Mind, Stovetop, Messenger, Painted Blue, Máquina, Drink Coffee do Stuff, Mission, Edison, Concord, Cirque, Kllr, City of Saints, Dapper & Wise, La Cabra, Tailored, Congregation, Generous, Coma, Anchored, Hex, Colonna, Quills, Lord Windsor, Pilot, Little Wolf, Brandywine, 49th Parallel, Methodical, Barista Parlor, Five Elephant, Dark Horse, Sträva, and Switchback. Wow, that’s quite a list right there; some of which I’ve had the pleasure of sampling.
They only do drip coffee and espresso drinks. If you are looking for pour-overs, or vacuum brew, or blender drinks then you will need to go elsewhere. That being said they also offer Nitro Cold Brew, CBD Iced Coffee (of course), and Japanese Iced Coffee. On todays outing they were using Sträva for their espresso. We sampled both a latte and my usual go-to, an Americano. Very passable indeed. Four out of five cups on the PGH coffee rating scale. The staff were very friendly, and also only charged me a refill for my second Americano. Yes, good enough to want a second cup and savour not only that but the lovely calm ambience the space provided.
From a cultural perspective Blue Sparrow is very keen on their ethical approach to business. Ranging from how they treat their employees, how they interact with the community, all the way to sustainability and environmental impact. Please note that they encourage you to bring your own cup, and will charge you $0.10 for each to go single use cup. My opinion is that it should be way higher than that, but that’s a topic for another day.
If you ever find yourself in Denver, I encourage you to seek out Blue Sparrow Coffee.
A note on Japanese Iced Coffee: This coffee is brewed hot then flash chilled over ice. This preserves the more delicate aromas and taste of the coffee. Fresh brewed coffee oxidizes and degrades pretty quickly. You ever wonder why that first cup tastes the best? In the Japanese method you substitute ice for half of the amount of water you would normally have in a cup of coffee. One way to do this is by a pour over method. To do this put the ice in your Chemex, or similar pour-over carafe. Then using water at the regular pour-over temperature brew your coffee directly over the ice, thus locking in those volatile aromatics and flavours. Of course there are many other brewing techniques that are suitable, but one thing you might find is that you will want to use a slightly finer grind that usual.