Pablos Coffee has been around since 1995. When they first opened, they set out on the right foot by trying to improve the quality of coffee in a quality-dead city. They’ve been at this for years, and over time Pablo’s has become a Denver landmark.
One of my favorite characteristics of the shop is that the space exists for community. I admire that the crew has taken the bold step of not offering WiFi. There’s nothing more frustrating than going into a shop with thirty tables all taken by 13″ MacBooks, each manned by one person working hard on Facebook posts…for hours, and Pablo’s is too busy to never have available seats. I love walking into a coffee shop and seeing people actually talking with other real people. Just gives me the warm tingly’s.
Here’s the thing about Pablo’s: its a place of nostalgia. Its where you go when you want to be treated well by personable baristas whose qwarkiness you secretly crave. Its a place where people know your name. When it comes to creating a homy, comfortable environment, Pablo’s does really well. What Pablo’s isn’t as good at however, is creating quality coffee beverages and educating customers about how the coffees feature best. I say this because of the hundreds of customer interactions I’ve observed over the years. I see very few interactions where a barista explains anything about the espresso being served, the origin of the coffee, the flavor of the coffee, how it features best, why its roasted the way it is, ect. When a barista sells a bag of beans it often seems like they don’t even care whether it is sold whole bean or ground-to-order…which to me is like asking, “Would you prefer me to completely ruin this coffee before you take it home?” They also offer a drink called a “large cappuccino” which doesn’t need to exist in any environment. I’ve gone in to the shop several times and asked for a cappuccino for-here, and they don’t seem to have the correct vessel for the drink…only 8, 12, 16oz cups. No 6oz cap? Really? And if there’s one thing that returns me to the grunge and grossness of the 80′s, its a rack of flavored syrups to put in lattes that stretches the entire counter. Sherbert-coconut-toasted marshmallow latte? yum. Syrups are for use in covering up the coffee and replacing it with sugary sweetness. It seems that they don’t really believe the coffees feature best as, well…coffee, that the coffee needs sugar to taste good. We wish that Pablo’s was a coffee-focused shop, but looking at the menu, the roast-profile, the lack of customer education, we see Pablo’s more as a friendly neighborhood cafe, than a coffee-focused shop.
Let’s talk about Pablo’s approach to roasting. Firstly, roasting coffee dark (which Pablos does almost always) happens for two reasons: to cover up defects in poor quality beans, or because of a taste preference. I’m sure that with the available coffee on the market 10 years ago, dark roasting wasn’t such a bad idea. However, coffee quality on a farm level has increased exponentially in the past 10 years. The specialty coffees available today do not necessarily need to be roasted dark to taste full of flavor…on the contrary–roasting quality beans darkly would only serve to eliminate natural flavor from the soil, resulting in a smokey, less-caffeinated bean with little life, and lots of bitterness. I’ve yet to see a barista back up their roasting ideals to a customer. This leads me to believe it must be a taste preference…which is understandable, being that we’re surrounded by corporate roasters who roast similarly.
There are many baristas at Pablos who have tried pushing the roasters to feature more light-roasted coffees, but I fear that the the ownership is a bit timid to change because they are worried they will scare off their well-built customer base. This though, would probably never happen given more education about the bean and roasting methodology. Its about being confident in your product and I just don’t feel like the staff sells what they love…they only sell what they are used to…what has worked for them in the past. To me, this is not about passion and quality, but perhaps about comfort, about money. As a whole here’s what we think: Do the baristas know how to prepare coffee and pull espresso? Yes. Do they know how to steam milk properly? Yes. Does the coffee taste good? No. I believe that given more concern for the coffees being sourced, more care into roasting, and more education, Pablos has the potential to be one of the top shops in Denver, but sadly we don’t feel that enough passion for coffee itself exists in this environment. And with the opening of the new store, we think opportunities were certainly lost to improve upon what they had originally created. I know I’m not the only one who was disappointed not to find any manual brew options, or single-origin espresso options available at the new store. Yet another lost opportunity to educate customers on coffee.
The shops do deserve a lot of credit. They do create a large neighborhood community gathering place that is needed in Cap Hill. They also have several baristas who care a lot about the coffee, baristas who have pushed for the betterment of the coffee for years. They also have the most up-to-date equipment possible, allowing the baristas more control over the coffee. Also, thanks for dropping the 16oz lattes at the new shop…no one needs that much milk! For these things we commend you, and hope that with the opening of the new store comes a new passion for education, improvement, and coffee-focused fun.
NOTE: Like always, the Denver Coffee Review is all about reviewing two things: coffee quality and barista knowledge. Ambiance and environmental characteristics are not part of any review. This review was done over the course of six months by more than five critics, baristas, and enthusiasts within and outside of the coffee industry, and was also written, compiled, and edited by Josh McNeilly.
