I have heard it said many times that the American equivalent to Calgary, Alberta is Denver, Colorado. Two cities located in close proximity to the Rocky Mountains, two cities situated at a higher elevation, and if I am going to add my own comparison to this list…two cities with absolutely incredible specialty coffee communities.
I owe a great deal of gratitude to my buddy JimmyTheBarista for really opening my eyes to the great coffee culture in Denver. I am kinda jealous of all the phenomenal roasters he has such close access to.
And one of those that I learned about this past year has quickly become one of my favourites from the Mile-High City. So let me introduce you to Little Owl Coffee Roasters. And let me tell you I am so excited to have them as our Coffee Roaster of the Month for June. Huge thanks to Corey Wall for being so willing to answer all my questions.
Hey Little Owl coffee so great to get the chance to connect with you! Help our audience get to know you a bit better…Who is the team behind Little Owl Coffee?
There are 3 of us! Corey Wall, Seanna Forey, Mike Sinon. Corey runs wholesale, roasting, and socials, Mike runs the front facing team and cafe’s, and Seanna runs HR and back-end logistics.
How did you end up calling Denver home?
We’ve all pretty much lived in Denver for the majority of our lives, so naturally we stayed put. Denver has definitely grown with more small business minded people, giving the food and beverage industry a solid foundation.
Can you share a bit more perhaps as to how you fell in love with Specialty Coffee?
I used to bartend before coffee, so when I moved back down from living in the mountains for a few years, coffee seemed like a similar counter culture that I could pick up fairly quickly. My first coffee job was an Intelligentsia account back in 2011. I was hooked instantly. I had the classic natural Ethiopian coffee that tasted like blueberries and it blew my mind. Went fully down the rabbit hole after that.
Share with our readers a bit about the history of Little Owl Coffee.
Mike and I (Corey) had been roasting/consulting with other companies before starting at Little Owl. About 5 years in (2019), we decided to start roasting for ourselves and decided to partner up officially with Seanna and take the business to the next level. Our goal was to open roughly 5 shops in 5 years. We’re still working towards that goal today.
How did it begin?
Little Owl started back in 2013 when Seanna had the idea of opening a cafe right in lower downtown Denver. Most shops were very spread out, and out of the line of sight for most people. She wanted to put amazing coffee in front of more people and share her experience with as many people as she could.
The downtown shop was aimed at providing a very customer friendly intro to specialty, and have a pretty extensive rotation of coffees.
Why the name Little Owl? How many cafes do you have?
Seanna’s favorite whiskey bar in Tokyo, Owl Bar, was a 12 seater speak easy that had an actual pet owl that would hang out with it’s owner while bartending. So when she came across the first location in Denver, she could only fit 12 seats, and reminded her of Owl Bar, and hence the name was born. We have 3 locations. One on each side of downtown, and one in LoHi which is a neighborhood just on the other side of downtown.
When it comes to your shop locations, what can our readers expect if they’re in Denver and get the chance to visit?
Super nice baristas, fun seasonal drinks, cool coffees, and probably some throwback 90’s vibes on the speakers.
Little Owl Coffee has been a significant part of the Denver coffee community for a few years now. In that time, what have you noticed when it comes to specialty coffee in Denver? What do you like about the direction specialty coffee is going in your city & state?
Honestly, everybody is a homie. A lot of shop owners/roasters have all branched off from a few of the main shops, and have really set the tone for the community. The pandemic was a testament to how supportive everyone was. Nobody tries to compete with anyone else, we often have done collabs with other roasters, hang out on the regs, it’s very positive. In my opinion, Denver has had to prove itself due to it’s location. The quality of coffees are on par with your larger roasters on the east and west coasts, which has given a lot of companies here the drive to keep pushing the boundaries, and buy hella dope coffees.
On your website you mention that Little Owl is built around two things (well…three if you count coffee): passion, and compassion. How have you gone about ensuring everything you do as a company reflects these values?
Passion is probably the easiest thing to ensure. We love the community of customers we have, we get super hyped on the coffees we bring in, and we support one another as a team. The compassion we try to reflect is definitely more aimed towards the people doing the hard work behind the scenes – our producer partners. We have long standing relationships with many small producers and importers, that makes it super important to nurture those relationships.. It’s our job to tell their stories, and make sure the consumer buying those coffees can feel like they have an understanding of where they’re coffee comes from, and what it means to everyone involved.
Since you’ve been roasting coffee in Denver since 2014, maybe can you share a bit more with our readers about your philosophy/approach to roasting? What equipment do you roast on?
Oh man, my philosophy is pretty simple nowadays – don’t f*ck it up! lol. If you buy good green coffee, it’s pretty easy to get tasty results. There’s so much tech and software now telling roasters to aim for perfect roast curves etc., and i can tell you from experience that that’s not always going to give you the best result. I have my list of favorite origins, how I like to roast them, and what I want the cup to ultimately reflect. I like to land somewhere in the middle of everything so it’s easy for a wide spectrum of people to brew it how they please. Good on filter with a nice balance of acidity and developed enough where it’s not going to fight you dialing in on espresso.
So speaking of coffee, what are you drinking/enjoying right now?
I’ve been digging our Kenya Gatomboya. I’m a sucker for Kenyas. Big body, juicy blackberry, sometimes tart citrus. It’s my favourite origin because of how dynamic Kenyan coffees are, their quality, and how they have their own unique profile.
As you look ahead at the next few years for specialty coffee (especially in Denver) what excites you? What changes/innovations/opportunities do you see on the horizon?
I’m excited to continue to grow, keep contributing to the community, and ultimately pushing the boundaries of what we’re already doing. I’m excited to share more origin trips with our staff, and build relationships that feel genuine and beneficial to everyone involved. It’s also become more and more clear to us that we should always be doing something fun, and reflects us as humans, otherwise what’s the point?
It’s been great getting the chance to connect up and share your story. Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Thanks for including us in your program! We’re a small company and are stoked anytime someone is interested in what we do, so we would like to say thank you for the opportunity!
__________________________________________
Contact Info:
web: www.littleowlcoffeee.com
instagram: @littleowlcoffee
email: community@littleowlcoffee.com
Find their beans: If you’re looking to get your hands on some beans then definitely check out their web-store for what they’re currently roasting.
Visit their cafe: If you’re ever in the Denver area, make sure to stop by their cafes!
__________________________________________
PROMO CODE:
As a way of saying thanks to you for reading all this way, the team at Little Owl want to reward you with a sweet promo code. For the entire month of June, use COMMONLYCOFFEE at checkout and save 20%. How amazing is that?! So go check out their site and grab some beans!
__________________________________________
I just want to say a huge thank you to Corey at Little Owl Coffee for being such a huge contributor to the coffee culture in Denver, Colorado. Check out their site, grab yourself some beans, and enjoy!
Stay Caffeinated,
Tyler
commonly coffee 