Sabbath Coffee Tour, Part IV: Huckleberry Roasters (Pecos Street)

For Part IV of my Denver Sabbath Coffee Tour I visited Huckleberry Roasters. This local roaster has a roasting room and a cafe on Pecos and 43rd (in the Highlands neighborhood) and a cafe on Larimer and 25th street near downtown.

This part of Denver is mostly older residential homes and this coffee shop occupies a corner of the block. There is a shaded patio, and a big front window open to the outdoors. There a few big tables (encouraging patrons to share), a couple small tables, and a bar. The space is open, minimally decorated, and seems to draw a large number of people from the neighborhood.  There is wifi and plenty of room for enjoying coffee and pastries while you work. Donuts appeared to be a big hit with everyone who was coming in.  Parking is available on the street, and is ample.

I was greeted warmly by the two baristas working when I arrived. The warmth exuded by these two made the experience truly wonderful.  I ordered a pour over, today's brew was the Rwandan Kibuye Gitesi, a bright and sweet roast. I just needed a little bit of cream. Once the coffee cooled a bit, it mellowed into a rich and full blend.

I mentioned to one of the baristas that I was engaging in this coffee tour, and he suggested several other coffee shops to visit. He also suggested some roasters in Minneapolis/St Paul to check out while I am there.

Huckleberry Roasters has been my favorite experience so far on this coffee tour.  The coffee was delicious and the warmth and community created by the baristas and patrons made this an excellent stop on the coffee tour. I will definitely be making my way back to Huckleberry Roasters.

Sabbath Coffee Tour: Part III, Amethyst Coffee (11th and Broadway)

 For the third stop on my Denver Sabbath Coffee Tour, I checked out Amethyst Coffee at 11th and Broadway. This light and airy coffee shop (with a Scandinavian style, mid-century modern vibe) serves coffee from Commonwealth Coffee Roasters. I cajoled my friend Vince into joining me, as he is also a big fan of coffee.

This coffee shop is in the remodeled/reclaimed Broadway Plaza motel building which is now called the Metlo. It is a haven of shops and artistic spaces. The coffee shop is in the former front desk space. There is a small parking lot in front, metered parking available on Broadway and non-metered parking on the side streets.  Parking tickets are given in abundance along Broadway, so make sure you feed your meter or watch the street parking limits (usually two hours on side streets). The atmosphere is quiet and open.  There are plenty of tables, a couch, some armchairs, and a shaded patio. It would be a great place for writing or working.  There was no music playing, just the doors open to the patio, with ambient street noise, which I find preferable to loud music in coffee shops. The barista working was friendly and helpful, and patrons were hanging out on the patio with their dogs.

I ordered a cold brew coffee over ice.  Today's roast was the Ethiopian, a light and fruity roast. The coffee was smooth enough that I drank it without cream or sugar. Usually coffee is too bitter for me to enjoy without doctoring it up. There is a pastry case, but by the time we arrived (around 11:30) there were no pastries left.

This was delicious coffee!  I highly recommend this coffee shop both for its delicious coffee and for its comfortable atmosphere.

Gratitude

I spent Thanksgiving this year doing something just a little bit different.  My church puts on a big Thanksgiving spectacular called "Operation Turkey Sandwich."  This is my third year participating.  The theory behind it is that many people have to work on the holiday and are not able to be with their own families, or they might not have families to spend the holiday with, and could use a little kindness on a sometimes lonely day.  We make sack lunches that consist of turkey sandwiches, stuffing muffins and pumpkin cookies.  Our church made and distributed 1,045 lunches to people working at 7-11's/other gas stations, hospitals, police stations, fire departments, etc.  It was a good time.  There was even a spontaneous dance party in the middle of the sandwich-crafting.

Buying bread for 1,000 sandwiches at Costco

I went to work in the afternoon at the women's homeless shelter where I work part-time.  I have some amazing coworkers, and along with a family of fantastic volunteers, we  pulled off dinner for 60 women.  Some of the food was cooked in advance, most of it was not. We had five turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, salad, pies, dinner rolls, and sparkling cider.  And in a nod to so many Thanksgivings spent at my Grandma Amy's house in Montana, I even put wooden bowls of olives and mixed nuts on every table.  I worked again last night, and the ladies were still raving about the holiday.  I really truly love these women at the shelter and it was a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving.  Because I really think that is what it is about.  Surrounding yourself with wonderful people, stripping away extraneous stuff that doesn't really matter, laughing, and enjoying community.  So it wasn't a holiday in Montana with my family of origin, but it was with a family of my own creation.

With my friend Amy S, getting ready to make sandwiches

End of the line

I noticed an interesting phenomenon several years ago, the last time I worked in social services, and have noticed it again this year.  Most of us in this field are in it because we genuinely care about other people and want to be of service.  Along with that comes an unwillingness to be at the "end of the line."  Let me explain what this means...

When someone is seeking services (rent assistance, food, gas vouchers, etc), and visits a specific agency, no social worker at that agency wants to ultimately deny services and be at the "end of the line."  The thinking goes, if my agency doesn't have that service and/or funding, I will just give you the name of another agency, and they might have it.  Because I want to give you something.  It feels really awful to say to someone, "I really can't help you, and unfortunately, no one else can either."  My agency is often the "end of the line" for a lot of services.  We are the largest provider of energy assistance in the state of Colorado, provide a substantial amount of rental assistance, as well as we are one of the only agencies left in Denver that provides assistance with bus tokens.  So, we find ourselves in that position a lot.  If we can't help you, there is no other agency that is going to be able to help you either. 

When I worked at the agency serving homeless women several years ago, I will admit that I was one of those people who pushed clients onto other agencies and let that other organization do the unpleasant work of telling someone that they could just not be helped.  Somehow it felt better to be able to offer my clients something, even if that was just a phone number to another agency.  However, now being on the receiving end of many of those "referrals", I have a different view.  Not only does it put the case manager in a terrible position, but it ultimately does not serve the client either. 

On Monday, I had a client that sat all the way through job services orientation, and waited 45 minutes to talk to me afterwards, just to ask if we would pay her car insurance and provide gas vouchers.  When I said that our agency did not provide that assistance, and furthermore, no agency in Denver provided those services, she came unglued.  Some case workers might attempt to pass this client off to another organization or a church, but that is only wasting the client's time and remaining resources.  It is far more compassionate to  be honest.  This woman was furious with me, and said that because I could not help her, she was going to become homeless.  Which is entirely not true, but it doesn't always feel so great. 

I have to remember that there are many, many clients every day that I can help.  My inability to provide a service in the moment is not going to make someone homeless (they played a role in that themselves a long time ago), and I am called to do the most good for the most people.  Pragmatism is a pretty important skill to have in this field.  Fortunately, after my difficult conversation with that client on Monday, I had a wonderful client that needed  a variety of services that I could actually provide and he was grateful.  And that is the way that things usually go.  The good and the bad, all mixed together.