A Colorado coffee road trip, roaster to roaster

The route in brief

A Colorado coffee road trip works best as three runs out of Denver: north up the Front Range to Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins; south to Colorado Springs and on to Westcliffe; and west into the mountains to Eagle, Crested Butte and Durango. Every stop below is a cafe run by a roaster we list, at the address the roaster publishes, checked on September 27, 2026.

We give no drive times, because they depend on the season, the passes and the traffic. Check the roads before you go, and check each cafe's hours, which change. Denver has so many roaster cafes that it gets its own guide: where to drink Denver roasters' coffee.

North: Lakewood to Fort Collins

Start west of Denver: Lakewood

Begin at Sweet Bloom's roastery and cafe at 1619 Reed St in Lakewood, open Monday to Saturday mornings when we checked. The menu turns with harvest seasons, and most single origins carry the producer's name.

Boulder: a day on foot

Boulder has more stops than any other town on this route. Boxcar pours at its Pearl Cafe, 1825 B Pearl St, and at the Mesa Cafe and Kitchen, 637 S Broadway, Ste R, which has a bakery. Its roastery takes visitors by appointment only. OZO has two cafes on Pearl Street, at 1015 and 1521, plus 5340 Arapahoe Ave and a weekday-only spot at its base, 1898 S Flatiron Ct. Bring your own cup to OZO and the drink is 25 cents cheaper.

Up in the Gunbarrel area, Ampersand's cafe is at 6560 Odell Pl, Unit C; every coffee there is Fair Trade and organic. Conscious Coffees has no cafe of its own, but its bags sit on grocery shelves along this route, including the Whole Foods stores in Superior and Fort Collins.

Longmont and Loveland

OZO's Longmont cafe is at 1232-A S Hover Rd #400. In Loveland, stop at Dark Heart Coffee Bar, 419 N Jefferson Ave, a cafe and roastery in one room. Dark Heart started as a cart on these downtown streets in 2015 and opened the bar in 2017.

Fort Collins

End the day with Bindle Coffee, which pairs its coffee with its own baking. Bindle at Jessup Farm, 1933 Jessup Dr, is open weekdays and Saturdays until 5pm. The Roastery and Bakehouse, 1833 E Harmony Rd, Unit 20, serves coffee and pastries on weekday and Saturday mornings. Order Jim's Dark Room if you like a dark roast; the story on the bag is about a grandfather who roasted with a shop vac and a popcorn popper.

South: Colorado Springs and the Wet Mountain Valley

Colorado Springs

Loyal Coffee, run by six barista co-owners, has its downtown cafe at 408 S Nevada Ave and a second at Northgate, 11550 Ridgeline Dr. Both were open daily 6am to 7pm when we checked, which makes Loyal the easiest early stop on the trip.

Switchback has two stops. The Shooks Run Cafe at 330 N Institute St is open daily and gave its name to the Institute Street House Blend. The Roastery and Brew Bar at 909 E Moreno Ave in the Hillside neighborhood opens on weekday mornings. Switchback offers pay what you can drip coffee.

Westcliffe

From the Springs, head for the Wet Mountain Valley below the Sangre de Cristo Range. Peregrine Coffee Roasters pours at 610 Main St in Westcliffe, in a cafe that began life as a chicken house of about 600 square feet. The roastery sits at 7,887 feet, and Peregrine says visitors who drop by catch a roast or a cupping in progress. Westcliffe is the smallest town on this trip.

West: Eagle, Crested Butte and Durango

Eagle

Color Coffee Roasters runs its flagship at 717 Sylvan Lake Rd in Eagle Ranch, a full cafe with breakfast, lunch, beer and wine and the roastery on site. Eagle sits at about 6,700 feet at the lower end of the Vail Valley. Try the Artist Reserve lots if they are on the shelf.

Crested Butte

Camp 4 Coffee has two shops covered in old license plates: 402 1/2 Elk Ave in downtown Crested Butte, and 161 Gillaspey Ave in Crested Butte South, where every Camp 4 coffee is hand roasted in small batches. Both take walk-ins and have outdoor seating. Plan around early November, when the shops close for a staff break before ski season. The shops also sell Big B's organic juices from Paonia.

Durango

Finish at Durango Coffee Company, 730 Main Ave, the address where founder Carl Rand opened his coffee shop and kitchen store. The company has sold roasted coffee since 1984. Roasting happens at the Durango Tech Center, which is a production site and not open to visitors, so the Main Avenue shop is the stop.

Every stop at a glance

These are local favorites we list. A listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club.

A note for the mountain stops

If you buy beans in Eagle or Westcliffe and brew them in camp, expect a cooler kettle. Wikipedia's page on high-altitude cooking says water boils at about 197 °F at 8,000 feet, against 212 °F at sea level. We cover what to do about it in high altitude coffee brewing.

Each cup on this trip pays a roaster and a crew in a Colorado town, and in a place the size of Westcliffe or Crested Butte South, that spending helps a roaster stay open through the slow months. Why local roasters matter. Once you are home, the Fourteener Coffee Club keeps the trip going with a bag from a different Colorado roaster in each box.

Sources

• Wikipedia, High-altitude cooking (boiling point at 8,000 feet)
• Cafe addresses, hours, visiting notes and roaster facts: each roaster's own locations and about pages, as recorded on our roaster profiles, checked 2026-09-27.