Carnelian Coffee Co — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

Carnelian Coffee is the place you want to hangout to catch up with your bestie or read a book on a snowy day. It's the coziest Westside cafe in the heart of Old Colorado City, giving you a real feel for the charm of this community. The cafe features a regular rotation of tasty local and small batch roasts and offers delish specialty drinks (my favorite is the orange cinnamon cappuccino!). The service is always outstanding, and the staff is the sweetest!

We got to know Kate, the owner, around the same time that we started our business (when we were doing farmer's markets at Bancroft Park), and in addition to helping us power through the day with damn fine coffee, we cannot emphasize what a strong supporter of the local community, artists, and women-owned small businesses she is. She carries a curated selection of goods from local businesses so you can always shop local at the cafe and even has signature Carnelian mugs made by Gray Mountain Clay, one of our favorite local potters! In addition, Kate has a regular rotation of new artists whose work she features at the cafe so if you are a regular, it's so fun to get to learn about their work. She also has a book club and hosts pop-ups and classes at the cafe. Kate is the best kind of people and truly loves her local community, and it shows in everything she does...

Having a latte and a vegan breakfast burrito (the regular breakfast burrito looked good but the vegan one surprisingly was more compelling). The latte is beautifully prepared: great texture and temperature. The burrito was delicious and prepared very well.

On the coffee side, they offer larger drinks, such as 12-20oz lattes or cappuccinos (differentiated by texture here, I believe). They also offer a few small drinks and based on how well my milk was steamed, I imagine the small drinks are great too.

They roast coffee using a Bellweather machine (it's basically an $80k coffee roasting ipad). Typically (but not necessarily), this limits the green coffee that they can purchase (so don't expect any weird single origin stuff), but it helps keep the costs down and the consistency extremely high. It's also a fun conversation piece and neat thing to check out if you're around.

The service was great of course, and the space is very comfy. Everything is eclectic. Sitting in the sun for a bit has been quite relaxing. I will be back (probably many times).

Edit: also got a coffee. It's a blend of Java and Brasil (Arabica). It's tasty, sweet coffee. Very low bitterness and subtle pleasant acidity. Could be leaning in the direction of not very strong, though it's brewed strong...

Carnelian definitely gets the "most creative lattes reward"...if I were to hypothetically hand out rewards to the local coffee shops. Dream. Job.

Anyway, their beans are robust, strong, and smooth. Excellent espresso overall. I've had the Old Fashioned Latte, Vegan Burrito and breakfast biscuit sandwich several times and they're all consistently great. However, my absolute favorite is their Orange Cinnamon cappuccino, followed by the Spiced Smoke Latte or the Honey Lavender Latte. The best part is that all of these drinks actually taste like their names. They're unique and complex. I feel like many coffee shops (Starbucks, Dunkin, Scooters, etc.) are fantastic at creating an appealing name like a, "Roasted Cinnamon, Dolce Nutmeg-Honey Latte" but then the drink itself tastes like...vanilla?? If I order something that requires a damn comma in the name, then I want to actually taste those flavors, ya know? Carnelian won't let you down. Their specialty drinks are, in fact, special.¹

¹ To those who think that coffee is actually...