Coffees

This week was packed with trying many different coffees.

  • Subjective Coffee - Westminster - This place was rad. It has a very retro, almost Fallout-style, coffee vibe. Like an old diner with great coffee. They had two coffees available on espresso, which is rare, and one of them was partially natural. It wasn’t my personal favorite, but it was interesting enough to warrant a second visit.
  • SOGO Boards And Beans - This place was also Rad, but it had a more artistic vibe than the old diner one for me. I got overwhelmed by their speciality drinks and did the Toasted Marshmallow latte, and it was out of this world. I did this before my friend said they are supposed to be very particular about their beans and light roasts. So I ordered a light roast espresso that was not a light roast espresso. Or if it was, the shot was pulled way too long. Bottom line, this place is cool. I would do a sweet drink, go here for a treat, not for super high-quality coffee.
  • Navah Coffee House - Westminster - I went here for a coffee and to meet up to sell a backpack. It is super close to where I’m staying, and there is plenty of space to work if you want to work outside the house. The woman serving the coffee was incredibly nice. I ordered a Latte, but what I got was not a Latte. It was a coffee with some sort of warmed, somewhat spiced milk. It actually tasted pretty special for a latte, but not what I ordered. Cute spot, great staff, sub-par coffee.
  • Novo Coffee - Downtown - We ended up here after Little Owl was closed downtown on weekends. The shop is cute, with a few pour-over options, including one meant to be light and fruity, but it wasn’t. They also wouldn’t do an iced pour-over, which annoys me—it’s just math; you account for the ice’s weight. Overall, the place was okay. The company was great, the staff was nice, and it’s a good spot to work, but the coffee wasn’t special.
  • Dillon Coffee Lab - Dillon, CO - This place was out in the mountains, and my friend Stephanie had recommended it to me. When I talked to them about joining HCB last year, they said they don’t do light roasts because of the altitude at which they roast. I can confirm that they don’t do light roasts after visiting. Still, they did an iced pour over that was very fruity and tasted of grapes. I enjoyed it, and I would recommend giving this place a try.
  • Red Buffalo - Silverthorn, CO - This place was very busy. It is downtown, and there were a lot of people in there. They have a very homey vibe. They had high-end pastries and offered an espresso flight (espresso prepared three ways: regular, con panna, and cubana, I believe). They also had some light roasts for purchase. I’m drinking a Costa Rican from them this morning. They gave every indication of being serious about their coffee, but when I went to make it this morning, the bag wasn’t sealed; it was just rolled and twisted. Big red flag for me. The coffee this morning is unique and bright, though, so maybe I’m being too picky.
  • Steep Brewing + Coffee Company - Dillon, CO - This place is a brewery that also serves coffee, but it’s clear they focus more on the beer. They just pour Breckenridge Coffee Roasters rather than their own, and when I asked about a light roast, the answer was simply “no.” I walked out after that. The beer selection looked interesting, but for good coffee, there are better nearby options.

Also related to coffee this week, I found CoffeeBeaned, which is supposed to be a list of roasters around the country, but the site is terribly out of date. This is the same thing that happened with Acromaps and something I’m working on for that site; maybe I’ll make something for all the coffee roasters I’m checking out.

Tech Updates

  • Sacred Space - Exciting updates to share! We have added a version page at the bottom of the site, allowing you to track new features and functionalities as they are released. Last week, I implemented versioning and event filtering on the events page. I also added new event properties, such as type and payment method. These properties are the key filters I recommend for event searches.
  • Your Contacts App is Broken – I wrote this to introduce a new project where I’m building a tool to solve the contact management issues I’ve been experiencing, and to share my approach to fixing them.
  • Python Qt App - I began connecting the nesting feature in this project, but encountered several bugs that I plan to resolve before completing this integration. My time spent on it was limited due to uncertainty about the best approach for upcoming changes.
  • I continue to work on an incredibly custom web project.
  • Claude Code -> I’m continuing to use Claude and Claude code throughout my development and personal communications process. The problem is that some of the stuff I feel like I’ve been producing isn’t as much me as I want. Claude makes decisions I don’t love, but aren’t bad enough for me to change, so I start with Claude’s suggestion and keep refining it over time. I endeavor to write more code my way in the next couple of weeks and use Claude for more guidance.
  • Starting work on a Culture Corner Project
  • Started on designs for the 2025 Citywide Sticker Font of the Year.

Life Updates

  • Talked with my friend Mitch, an extremely smart, capable, and experienced iOS developer who is looking for his next opportunity. If you need someone, you should reach out. I predict he won’t be available long.
  • Continued with some sewing projects. Did you know they ask you to show your license when buying a Bic Lighter in certain parts of Colorado? That was a new one for me.
  • Had a 24-hour bug that really got me for a day or two.
  • Talked to a bunch of former coworkers this week.
  • Got to take a friend to an Acro class at Movement.

Moments

Beautiful sunset over the mountains Sunset

Citywide Sticker Font Award Sketches Citywide Sticker sketches

Toasted Marshmallow Latte from SOGO, was soo good. Toasted Marshmallow Latte

Red Buffalo Coffee Red Buffalo