Non-chain neighborhood coffee shops are not as endangered as alarmists would have you believe. Look around: Denver is awash in them. St. Mark’s, Buffalo Doughboy, Tenn St. Coffee & Books.
But no neighborhood has a better coffee shop than Alamo Placita (just south of Capitol Hill), where Pablo’s — which boldly calls itself “A Worldwide Coffee Chain of One” — proffers hot cups of its Danger Monkey blend to a crew of regulars that fills the place to capacity every morning.
Standard breakfast items beckon from the case, and Pablo’s coffees (Danger Monkey is only one of many blends on a given day) are both soothing and powerful. But what makes Pablo’s remarkable is its clientele, which spans generations, from kids to old timers. On a given morning, you’re likely to see a tweed-jacketed professor type bumping chairs with a young, double-strollered mother who in turn nearly elbows a face-tattoed hipster, all of them saying “Excuse me!” in unison.
Afternoons see a quieter room, with the faint tap-tap-tap of laptop wranglers keeping beat to the indie rock music. Evenings fire up again, with scenemakers lining up for java jolts before a night of fist pumping.
Can’t get enough? Take home a pound of Danger Monkey. Still can’t get enough? Take home a Danger Monkey coffee mug, too.
Pablo’s
Coffee. 630 E. Sixth Ave., 303-744-3323, pabloscoffee.com 7 a.m.-10 p.m., seven days
