Not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with Starbucks. They made it socially acceptable to drink caffeinated milkshakes at breakfast, their bathrooms are clean, there's bound to be free Wi-Fi – they make salted caramel cake pops, for goodness' sake! No, nothing wrong with any of that; but when Denver has so many great local cafes and coffee houses, you've got to shake your routine up once in a while.
And since coffee in an air balloon is too time-consuming, a coffee service flown in from Turkey is too expensive, and coffee with fresh-squeezed Colorado bison milk is too ... unpasteurized – why not try the next best thing? Coffee from a food truck!
1. Because the food is fantastic.
2. Because anything tastes better eaten outside in the gorgeous Colorado sunshine.
I'd been there for lunch several times and seen the Bean Machine, but never bought anything. One morning last week, I managed to get to Civic Center Park at 11 a.m. on the dot – good thing too, because the temperatures were already in the mid-80s, possibly the 90s.
"I can't decide if I want hot coffee or iced," I mused half to myself, half to Bean Machinist (owner) Erika Hildner.
With my freckly, Irish skin already starting to burn, it seemed a little ridiculous to drink hot coffee, but my co-workers (northerners, all of them) prefer an office temperature in the mid to low 60s. I explained my conundrum to Erika.
"So get both!" Erika suggested. Spoken like a true coffee-lover. I immediately liked this woman.
And just so you know, Bean Machine is just as good, if not better than any coffee shop within a 5-mile radius of Civic Center Park. No, they don't have free Wi-Fi, but that's probably for the best. Instead of waiting in a long line for coffee and hunching over a laptop while you drink it, stroll down to Civic Center Eats and enjoy your coffee the way it was meant to be enjoyed – with a hearty dose of Colorado.
xoxo
Maggie