Denver’s Huckleberry Roasters Opens Bar Inside Old Shipping Crates

The patio at 2500 Larimer. Photo by Huckleberry Roasters.

A mere four months after opening its flagship shop and roastery and bar on Pecos St., Denver’s Huckleberry Roasters has opened its second retail shop, inside a funky RiNo development at 25th and Larimer.

Huckleberry joins immediate restaurant success Work & Class and the forthcoming pizzeria Cart-Driver among the tenants at the Gravitas Development Group’s 25th and Larimer project, which includes the repurposing of 29 sea shipping containers into mixed-use commercial units. (Eater Denver has a really nice visual tour of the new space.)

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Huckleberry is occupying 700 square feet in the development, plus a patio, offering two espressos, five “Espresso with Milk Drinks,” and a rotating coffee menus with individual pricing for Aeropress, V60, Chemex and batch brews.

Huckleberry Coffee

“Drink-wise we like to keep things rather simple,” Huckleberry co-founder Mark Mann tells Daily Coffee News. “We start with whether people want espresso-based drinks or brewed black coffee and go from there. Add milk to the espresso? Well, how much? We label things by size and only have cups big enough for a 12-ounce latte. We do offer some syrups and sugar, but really try to encourage people to try before adding any of those.”

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The new spot also includes pastries from local Wooden Spoon and a toast program, with breads from Golden’s Grateful Bread, almond butter, sea salt and locally made jams.

Toast! Photo by Natalie Roth.

Huckleberry has been roasting for three years, adding a 15-kilo Giesen unit last fall, but its retail efforts have been fast and furious since opening on Pecos. 

“The first few months after 4301 Pecos opened was heavy on staffing, cash flow and service,” Mann says. “We’ve been working on applying what we learned from that to 2500 Larimer. It’s not a perfect science by any means, and we appreciate helpful feedback to continue to make our customers’ experience at either store outstanding.”

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The move to the upper Larimer neighborhood was kind of a no-brainer for Huckleberry, considering it started roasting nearby in 2011, and the ease of the buildout, which Mann described as “a breeze” compared to the 4301 Pecos location.

“4301 was pretty much a total gut and rebuild including some pretty major updates to things like electrical, mechanical, and plumbing,” Mann said. “At 2500, we picked up with that space after it was a vanilla shell, so we really only had to do the finishing work for the most part.”