from 5280 and Callie Sumlin | January 26, 2023

For serious coffee connoisseurs, a visit to Sweet Bloom should be at the top of the list. Founder and championship-winning barista Andy Sprenger’s socially conscious approach to coffee buying and roasting takes the direct-trade-sourcing model even further. Whereas third-wave roasters visiting coffee farms isn’t unusual, it’s not as common for the coffee farmers to visit the U.S. shops where their specialty coffees are prepared and served. Sprenger regularly brings representatives of the farms it purchases from to its Lakewood roasting facility, where they can meet the consumers at the end of the supply chain and share the story of their farm.

If you’re not usually a black coffee drinker, you might be a convert after one of the pro baristas prepares you the perfect pour over. After merging with Two Rivers Coffee in 2019, Sweet Bloom gained a super-stylish cafe in Westminster, giving folks on the west side of the city three outposts to choose from.

Drink: The honey-processed (a type of processing that involves stripping the skin off of the fresh coffee cherry, but leaving fruit on the seed while drying.) José Hernández coffee from Antigua, Guatemala, a supremely balanced cup with berry and chocolate notes
Eat: Pastries are baked daily for all three Sweet Blooms. Mark your calendar and set your alarm for the first Saturday of each month, when the Arvada location serves seasonal doughnuts that sell out by 10 a.m.

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