Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea - Roastery cafe — Restaurant in Minturn

I was really excited to visit the cafe location while in the area since I discovered the Nordic blend in my local King Soopers in Colorado Springs and really enjoyed the coffee. My friend and I went on Saturday afternoon, there was one other person in the cafe, and we had the strangest experience. First, we did not get greeted as you would expect walking into a not busy coffee shop. We browsed the tshirts and beanies for a moment because the atmosphere was really off but I really wanted some coffee so I went up to the register to order something. We both looked at the menu for what seemed like forever, and there was no offer to ask us what we were looking for or what we might want to try. Instead we just got stared at by both employees behind the counter, who didn't say anything to us at all, which made both me and my friend extremely uncomfortable. We ordered and probably only had 10 words said to the both of us from both of the employees while they just stared very hard at us. I was a little disappointed because I had a lot of questions about the coffee and possibly wanted to buy a bag but the atmosphere was so awkward that we got our drinks and left. I'm sure this isn't the norm, but it was our first time at this coffee shop and it was a very uncomfortable experience that kinda ruined the vibe of our fun day in the mountains so I will probably be visiting and buying coffee from the friendlier coffee...

What a sham. We had many places to choose from on a Sunday afternoon and chose a local spot instead of Starbucks. The guy repeated over and over again how tired he was and that he was working alone. He asked us to repeat our order so many times, we requested he write it down (iced dirty chai is not so rare?!). Then, when we asked for a straw, he said “they’re bad for the environment so we give you a sippie cup instead.” I replied, “LIKE A TODDLER?” He said they had no straws on the premises. I’m all for environmentally conscious but 1. there are compostable straws readily available for sale on the market and 2. If a coffee shop won’t have straws for free, why not sell recycled plastic or glass or stainless steel straws? I would have totally paid $10 for a reusable straw. The service was bad. The drink was bad. And we threw our drinks in the garbage to go to Starbucks. I’m a local. The owner needs...

Teas lacked flavor and were prepared haphazardly. Looks like their specialty is in coffee and not teas.

The teas are on display in giant glass jars exposed to the Colorado sun. That was the first bad sign. We ordered three teas and they all lacked flavor. The white tea was served with boiling hot water. The same temperature water was used for black, oolong and white. There were no instructions on tea steeping time. The leaves are stuffed in a tea bag and then stapled closed. Teas are really simple and takes 5 minutes of research to prepare correctly.

They provide plenty of leaves but no where to put the bags after steeping. It's wasteful to only use that many leaves for one steep but I guess low quality leaves aren't worth steeping...