Inside Little Owl Espresso’s third location, in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood. All photos courtesy of Little Owl Espresso.
Specialty espresso roaster Little Owl Espresso continues to loom giant within the Denver space by means of small retailers and large coffees.
The corporate just lately unveiled its third retail location, in Denver’s Decrease Highlands neighborhood (LoHi). The brand new store was deeply influenced by Little Owl’s first cafe, which opened throughout the river at 1555 Blake Road in 2013.
“Our design method was initially very a lot practical,” the Little Owl possession workforce just lately instructed DCN by way of electronic mail. “We’ve spent virtually 10 years fine-tuning the workflow in our authentic 300-square-foot cafe, so we had a finite imaginative and prescient of the bar and gear setup for the brand new store. Functionally it’s virtually copy-paste. We actually needed to take that template and tweak the supplies.”
The marble, stark white surfaces and quartz counters of the unique location have been reinterpreted within the new store by means of travertine limestone, lime wash paint and pure stone counters. The house owners described the mixture of latest inside parts at LoHi as an expression of “beigecore.”
“The cafe is tiny, so cramming design particulars into each nook was doable and performed,” they stated. “It’s vibey, it’s cozy and it seems like Little Owl.”
Seanna Carrelo, Corey Wall, and Michael Sinon based Little Owl a decade in the past, searching for to supply an air of heat and hospitality for Denver’s espresso drinkers.
“To us, that simply meant being welcoming and type to folks,” the house owners stated. “Imagine it or not, that wasn’t a vibe synonymous with specialty espresso retailers on the time.”
After launching a roasting operation in 2018, the trio opened a second downtown location at seventeenth and Tremont in 2021. The most recent store held a grand opening on April 8.
The LoHi cafe affords freshly baked items from Pandemic Donuts and Reunion Bread alongside Little Owl’s expressive number of coffees, a few of that are sometimes accessible in limited-edition fake paint cans.
A present limited-run Ethiopia Sidamo providing from Little Owl Espresso packaged in fake paint cans. Picture by way of www.littleowlcoffee.com.
Coffees are roasted in a Probat machine at an off-site roastery within the Sunnyside neighborhood, with greens coming from sellers together with La Actual Expedeción Botánica, Hacea Espresso Supply, Unravel Retailers, Finca Terrerito and Los Volcanes.
The espresso menu on the latest Little Owl carefully resembles these discovered on the first two areas, with an emphasis on simplicity and high quality.
“Initially out of necessity and now out of choice, we function with a ‘much less is extra’ mentality,” the house owners stated. “Our areas are small, our setups are easy, and we just like the classics as a result of we supply and roast fairly coffees.”
A La Marzocco Strada AV is supported by a Mazzer Kold S grinder, whereas a Mahlkönig EK43 breaks beans for Fetco-powered batch brews.
These instruments additionally help a rotating seasonal menu wherein the Little Owl workforce additional spreads its inventive wings.
“Typically cooked up in a fever dream, we like to succeed in for completely novel concepts — Piña Colatte, Biscochino, Peeps in Purgatory — use your creativeness,” the house owners stated. “We wish to get bizarre, and we’re allergic to lavender and all issues blended, so don’t even ask.”
Little Owl LoHi is now open at 2731 seventeenth Road in Denver. Inform DCN’s editors about your new espresso store or roastery right here.
Extra From DCN
Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Each day Espresso Information by Roast Journal.
