Corvus Coffee Roasters, Denver Colorado

If you've been following my work for the last couple of years, you've probably seen this set of images before. I first published this post on one of my previous photography websites that no longer exists. My visit to Corvus Coffee Roasters on South Broadway in Denver sparked my interest in photographing coffee shops. From that point on, I would carry my camera into every shop I visited for my personal project I dubbed "Coffee Culture." That project now has it's home here on the Handsome Wade.

Corvus Coffee Roasters

My sister and brother-in-law first introduced me to Corvus back in December of 2014. At this point, I had only just begun my dive into the sea of specialty coffee but I was very vocal about my newfound passion. When I visited them that winter, we made a plan to go visit a local coffee shop, a trend that continues to this day except that we typically end up hitting more than just one! We settled on Corvus, a shop that had impressed my brother-in-law in both coffee quality and presentation.

Industrial Design

The cafe located on 1740 S. Broadway in Denver has a pretty simple exterior design. Black brick walls with white accents and clean signage painted directly onto the bricks. As soon as you step inside, you are greeted by a fairly open space with an industrial mixture of wood and metal. Clean lines and the copious amounts of natural light from the large windows give the cafe a comfortable, spacious feel.

Welcoming Atmosphere

I love when coffee shops create a welcoming culture among their baristas. Let's face it, specialty coffee shops have a well earned reputation for being super pretentious, and that reputation turns away a lot of people. The baristas at Corvus did a fantastic job of helping me decipher the menu and choose a coffee I would love and I watched them do that with each person that came to the register. I've yet to have an experience at Corvus where I felt I was nuisance and not worth the barista's time.

Third Wave Coffee

I ordered one of the single origin offerings, freshly roasted in house and brewed on the Aeropress. I've long since forgotten the flavor profile and lost the notes I took, but I recall that I loved it. Corvus specializes in single origin light roasts, commonly found among other third wave coffee roasters. Each coffee brilliantly displays each origins unique characteristics, which is both their biggest strength and weakness. When I like the profile, I like it a lot. The bold flavors drive an explosive experience. When I'm less keen on the profile, however, the flavors take on a strong astringent quality.

Education

Corvus has done a fantastic job setting themselves up as a leader in the specialty coffee industry in Denver. They offer tons of training options for baristas and locals alike. If you're in the Denver area and you'd like to learn more about coffee or simply attend a cupping with industry professionals, definitely take some time to peruse the Education section on their website.

Coffee Culture

I have a lot of ideas surrounding this project but I don't know exactly where it's going to go. I'd like to start interviewing baristas and shop owners to get their take and view on their place in their community and to get to know the culture better. If you are a barista, a shop owner, or a reader and you have any input for what you think would be interesting to read about coffee culture, let me know!

Thanks for reading! If you find yourself in the Denver area, be sure to swing by Corvus Coffee and give them a try. Do you know of a local coffee shop in your area that I should check out, drop it in the comments below!

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