Bellwether is a specialty coffee shop, whiskey club, men’s boutique and a members-only co-working space for creative entrepreneurs in Denver. For all the things Bellwether offers, slow-brewed, quality coffee tops the list. The shop works with local roasters (including Boxcar, Corvus Coffee Co, Method Coffee and MiddleState) to create the perfect cup of coffee.
We asked co-owner Rustin Coburn to discuss Bellwether’s finely-tuned approach to coffee.
Paste:Why does Bellwether focus on manual brewing processes?
Rustin Coburn: For our house coffee, we do French Press. We have a few different single origins that we serve through pour over, and then we have all of the espresso drinks that we have chosen to do on an old-school manual machine (Rancilio Classe 6). Our baristas love this machine because they have a lot more control, and they can pull better shots.
With the way we were designing everything for it to be a very simple, and a very curated space, we wanted to focus on a small selection of things that were high quality, and create a good experience for everybody.
If you want an ice coffee, you could quickly get it off the tap. That is all on nitrogen, which is really cool. The nitrogen aerates the coffee and almost has this cascading effect when it’s first poured. We use Method Coffee, a small local roaster, and they’ve dedicated more time than most people to perfecting the cold brew.
Paste: What is Bellwether’s coffee philosophy?
