It was just Thanksgiving break. A week where we are giving all the time in the world to catch up on assignments and sleep, but do we? Sleep? Yes. Work? No. How can we if the whole family is home talking about what they’re gonna eat and singing Christmas songs? Well, you could go to a coffee shop! Today I’ll tell you about Cups Community Coffee.
As always, the drill is: I try out different coffee shops in FoCo so that you can live your best Pinterest-coded life. Shops are rated on a scale of 1-10 based on service, menu variety, music, social and study potential, and overall ambiance. I have also noted (but not rated) factors like price, gluten-free/allergen-free options, location and parking lot, where they source their coffee, and their mission (if they have one). At every place, some friends and I will order an iced caramel latte, a featured drink or chai, and a sample of their black coffee.
Cups is near the Dutch Bros on Elizabeth, at 1033 S Taft Hill Road. The parking is actually really great! Because it’s in the same center as King Soopers, there’s a whole parking lot of spaces to choose from, but it’s probably easier to just park in front of it. Cups is very affordable with prices ranging from $3.00 for a Kid’s Hot Chocolate to $12.25 for a B.A.L.T sandwich. Their hours are 7:00 am-2:00 pm.
As a family-owned local business, Cups supports many other local businesses. They get their coffee from Silver Canyon Coffee and they get their burritos from Consuelo’s. The dream for Cups is that they “want [their] cafe to be a community space to enjoy our delicious food while you work and play.”
The medium roast of Cups black coffee, unsurprisingly, tastes just like black coffee. It tasted like roasted coffee beans. There were no other noticeable flavors to me. So I would say it was just fine. The caramel latte was smooth but was thin. You could taste the caramel flavor but didn’t keep any of the coffee flavor. The chai was good but nothing special.
Final Scores:
Ambiance 9/10: Cups is very F.R.I.E.N.D.S coded. It’s classic and comfy with a hint of eccentricity.
Service 7/10: The employees are nice and very chill. I could hear them chatting with regular customers and created a very friendly space.
Variety 9/10: They have many different coffee options as well as chai, matcha, hot chocolate, smoothies, and even boba! They have a detailed specialty latte menu and a breakfast and lunch menu.
Music 8/10: The music was calm and quiet. It’s very study friendly and feels very underground indie coded.
Study potential 7/10: there are a lot of places for one-on-one chats and the upstairs has a big table that you can reserve. There’s a group that reserves that table to play games which is really wholesome. Social potential 9/10: Cups is really nice and comfy. It’s quiet but has just enough buzz that it doesn’t feel dead. The table upstairs is also perfect for a study group.
Cups does have vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options; but the gluten-free bread is priced higher so take that into consideration.
Overall, I would say that Cups is better than your kitchen table. The coffee is good but it’s the space that really sets Cups apart. It’s a great place to work and be productive when you need to be.
