Novo Caffe, Arvada Co.
The coffee shop is located in an open air mall, not far from a McDonald's, and as I've often found it to be true elsewhere, no matter how hard they try, the place itself will never feel like a coffee shop in its natural setting.
There is poetic injustice in the fact that most places that do have such great coffee shop ambiance, and are architecturally designed and located in the perfect setting, sell the worst coffee. And to wit, check the image below of a coffee shop in Leadville, an old west mining town 35 minutes from Vail.
The Coffee House in Leadville Colorado. Notice the tall vaulted ceiling, the beautiful red brick wall, and the crappy coffee...
When I entered Novo's, the first thing that caught my eye, and dropped my jaw was this:
A three Group Rancilio Lever! I haven't seen any of those in a coffee shop outside Italy
You gotta give those guys credit for bucking the Synesso & LM trend and going old school. After further inquiry I was told that they wanted to get greater control over the pull. I assume the control they were talking about was more pressure than temperature.
They serve three single origin espressos, and no blends. Again, I'm smiling with appreciation. I get the feeling that I am dealing with real espresso heads here. Nothing wrong with blends, I love them, but to say "it's all single origin dude," and get away with it, is just... wonderful. I understand that they plan to add some blends to their roster soon.
A lever pull. For Clover fans, notice the machine at the edge of the picture.
There was nice color on that single origin Harar, and the shot was sweet, though faded. Sadly, the coffee was about 10 days old.
Novo sells their coffee in New York City as well, and Grumpy serves many of their single origins, including an espresso blend labeled Heartbreaker designed specifically for the NY shop. I've been drinking it for a few days, it is sweet, with a noticeable harrar signature, and light to medium body.
