41 
 
 2851 Larimer St 
 
 Denver , CO 80205 
 
 
 
 (303) 292-7369 
 
 Went to this cafe originally for my bf to use their WiFi to get some work done. Really cute, but small coffee shop. The employees were very friendly and helpful by giving me some suggestions of things to do in Denver! I ordered an iced chai tea latte and bagel with cream cheese. It was on the pricier side though.. My total for my drink & bagel was $10 and some change, but I wanted to get something since we were using their WiFi. 
 
 My first time trying ink! coffee and I'd save overall it was nice. This location on Larimer has a cool space. They've put in glass to see into their roasting area, which is always cool to see how the process goes down. I'm not sure if it is vintage, but looks they have equipment from the San Francisco Roasting Company. Another cool feature to see is their training room. It wasn't in use when I was there, but it looked like a mini store. It is nice to know that a company puts time and effort into properly training employees. I ended up getting a latte. The quality was overall okay. Pretty smooth with some tints of acidity, but I enjoyed it. I'd say the main reason to check this place out is for the quality service and ambiance. 
 
 Rude staff Overpriced beverages Incosiderate patronage Dirty bathrooms Sticky doors & floors Bar area out of creamer, napkins & sugars, when I asked for help I was treated like a idiot 
 
 Not into this place at all. My friend has bought me coffee from here as a thanks for giving her a ride to work a few times, but it's not even good coffee. 
 
 Gone in a few times, but ranking this location even lower because it's so close to other AMAZING coffee shops and it refuses to up its game. I enjoy Crema, which is across the street. I'm not sure what motivated ink! to open across the street from them, but they definitely can't compete. Crema has stellar coffee and food, and the atmosphere is great. There are a handful of other cafes all along Larimer that also provide a delicious experience. Sadly, this business isn't one of them. Generally, their coffee is what you think of when you imagine Starbucks: overpriced, over-roasted, and poorly brewed, with supplemental food that's dropped off rather than made in-house. If you want an elaborate, overwhelmingly saccharine beverage that constitutes your ENTIRE caloric intake for two days, then these guys are it. Honestly, though, I can't even finish their chai beverages, and I have a major sweet tooth. If you're looking for flavourful coffee or delicious food, head elsewhere. There are too many fantastic places nearby for this business not to do better. And it's a little offensive that they think the bare minimum is acceptable with the prices they charge. But hey, fair market will work itself out, right? 
 
 I used to get cafe au laits at ink! Coffee because they had it at my workplace. It was ok at best, and overpriced. I made a commitment not to support this place since they were insensitive and out of touch enough to place that tasteless ad re: gentrification "happily gentrifying your neighborhood since 2015". Honestly, with all the amazing locally owned coffee shops in Denver, each with its own unique character, there is no reason to continue to patronize this corporate, cookie cutter, and ignorant establishment. I recommend Crema across the street or Call (new and beautiful, and friendly and local) right next door. Yay local! 
 
 I have gone here a few times and always had good coffee and nice service. The folks know their coffee and I have never had to wait in line more than like 5 minutes. 
 
 Great coffee selection. And great food options! Some of the breakfast burritos, while not made in house, are super delicious. I wish they had more seating. Would be a nice place to sit for a while and work. 
 
 Love this place. I'm so grateful they put an Ink Coffee in this neighborhood. Very tasty and not over priced. Thank you Ink Coffee. Oh yea and the customer service here is impeccable! 
 
 My best friend was going to treat me to something to drink today but the lady at the counter didn't know how to make a vanilla steamer so therefore they lost business today. 
 
 Coffee tastes like the beans have been recycled. I'm not a coffee snob, all I ask for is for a coffee with a shot of expresso to get my day started. I don't understand how you can mess that up, it's a simple request. And when I ask for your workers to fix it, they say no. I will explore other coffee options in the neighborhood. 
 
 Wow! The best coffee in town without a doubt! They actually have a great selection of gourmet creamers, like the French vanilla which is my favorite! The staff is very friendly and down to earth 
 
 Awesome people. Awesome coffee. Awesome real-fruit smoothies. Awesome bagels. Fair prices. Quick internet. Really cool atmosphere and you get to see the manufacturing process behind coffee/roasting/packaging etc! 
 
 Coffee is not very good. Strong does not equal good. Had a ham & cheese croissant as well. Croissant was fair, still looking for ham and cheese. Chocolate croissant from last visit was about the same - not really any chocolate. Staff at NJH location aren't rude, but they aren't friendly or helpful either. Prices for all this are very high. Example - coffee is 1.5 times that at Starbucks. 
 
 Some of the best coffee I've tried and would have given five stars if not for the poor customer service. When I asked the lady at the counter about what an avalanche was she looked so annoyed that I would ask a question about coffee ...crazy right. Well it was clear she was having a bad day. Other than that the coffee was smooth and strong and I thoroughly enjoyed my avalanche elsewhere. 
 
 Worst cuppa coffee I've had in a long time service was terrible coffee is overpriced the owner is extremely rude I would recommend finding another coffee shop I will never go there again I am quite the coffee connoisseur I don't know where they buy their coffee but it's very low-quality to me 7-Eleven has terrible coffee and there is is worse 
 
 I like this place because it's not hipster and over-priced like Crema across the street and their coffee is less nutty and more balanced to my palate. Also don't typically have a wait. A little loud to take calls in if you're looking for a place to work. Breakfast burritos are solid. 
 
 Stopped in for a couple of coffees. The young man behind the counter was super friendly, offered us tastes of a couple different products, and we landed on a couple of great choices - under $8 total very reasonable! 
 
 Love the vibe of this cool little coffee shop. I had a Black and White mocha which was amazing. My breakfast burrito took a little longer than expected, so the barista gave me a coupon for a free drink! Great service, great coffee! ||||| Someone spray painted “white coffee” on the wall at ink! Coffee in Five Points and broke a window there in what appears to have been retaliation for a sign the business placed out front this week that read, “Happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014.” 
 
 The sandwich board sign sparked outrage — and drew national attention — when local writer and event organizer Ru Johnson shared a picture of it on her Twitter account Wednesday afternoon. Johnson, who has contributed to The Denver Post’s Reverb and The Know sections, added the caption “yo @inkcoffee we are not cool with this sign on 29th and Larimer. Bad decision. Bad design. BAD. W.T.F.” 
 
 The sign went viral on social media, motivating so many one-star reviews and angry posts on ink’s Facebook page Wednesday night that the coffee-shop chain shut down the review function. 
 
 The Aspen-born company apologized for the sign Wednesday, first with a short message on Twitter and Facebook and later with a longer statement from founder and CEO Keith Herbert. But many people made it clear they did not feel the responses, some of which cast the sign as a joke, were enough. 
 
 Really apologize by…..closing down ur store — Zolee (@ZoleeAKG) November 23, 2017 
 
 The vandalism to the shop, located at 2851 Larimer St., appears to have taken place over night. In addition to the “white coffee” tag and set of larger characters on the front of the building, there was a smaller, more profane message written on the store’s main sign. An object appears to have been thrown through one of the windows. 
 
 The gentrification sign itself, a manufactured, metal sandwich board that on the back side read “Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a cortado,” was stolen by a man on a skateboard Wednesday evening, according to Johnson. The Post has not confirmed the theft. 
 
 Denver Police spokesman John White said Thursday he could not confirm a police report had been filed in connection to the vandalism or the alleged sign theft. With the holiday and weekend to follow, White said it was unlikely any information would be available before Monday. 
 
 Herbert issued a third statement Thursday afternoon via ink’s Twitter account. He made no mention of the vandalism but pledged to better educate himself and his staff about the effects of gentrification in Five Points, one of Denver’s most storied black neighborhoods, and take steps to support the residents there. 
 
 “When our advertising firm presented this campaign to us, I interpreted it as taking pride in being part of a dynamic, evolving community that is inclusive of people of all races, ethnicity, religions and gender identities,” Herbert said the statement. “I recognize now that we had a blind spot to other legitimate interpretations.” 
 
 We have been following your comments on social media and listening to our customers, and we want you to know that we hear you. Included here is the full apology from our founder. pic.twitter.com/un7S3GYzwf — ink! Coffee (@inkcoffee) November 23, 2017 
 
 Herbert did not name the ad agency behind the sign, but Twitter users quickly identified Five Points-based Cultivator Advertising & Design. The firm took to its Facebook page Thursday to own up to its own “blind spot” when it comes to effects of gentrification. 
 
 “In hindsight, our campaign was callous, naive and uninformed to the true character of the neighborhood and to those who have long called it home,” the post reads. “We assure those within the local community and throughout Denver that the literal contents of the sign do not represent the values we hold as an agency or as individuals.” 
 
 Ink representatives did not immediately return calls or emails Thursday seeking comment about the vandalism. It is unclear if the Five Points location will be open its usual 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. hours on Friday. 
 
 A public demonstration will be held outside the store from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Dubbed, “We Don’t Drink Ink,” the event is intended to highlight the negative impacts of recent redevelopment of Five Points has had on the many black and Latino families who lived there for years, organizer Tay Anderson said. More than 440 people had confirmed they plan to attend the event by Thursday afternoon. 
 
 “They need to know that their actions speak very loudly,” Anderson said of ink. “And it hurt a lot of us African-Americans who grew up in the community to see a sign that said, ‘Hey, we’ve been taking over your community since 2014.” 
 
 Anderson, who recently graduated from Manual High School and lost a race to represent Five Points and other portions of north Denver on the Denver Public Schools board, said he has heard widespread outcry across the Front Range about the impact the region’s recent growth has had on minority communities, citing plans to widen Interstate 70 in northeast Denver as an example of harmful growth. 
 
 He said ink’s apologies have not passed muster yet and he hopes their CEO and the managers of the Five Points store will sit down with him and community leaders to talk about the thought process behind the sign. 
 
 “This is going to be a peaceful gathering,” Anderson said of Saturday’s demonstration. “I want this to be the beginning of a dialogue on how gentrification negatively impacts African-American and Latino communities.” 
 
 Anderson also has a message for local politicians who may attend the event: It’s not a photo opportunity. If you don’t mean to get involved in addressing the problem, don’t come, he said. 
 
 “Our city council and mayor are responsible for a lot of the gentrification that has happened and pushed African-Americans out of the community,” he said. ||||| Audio: Terry Nelson speaks with Chloe Veltman 
 
 2013 Five Points Jazz Festival (Photo: Courtesy of Denver Arts & Venues) Once known as the Harlem of the West, the Five Points neighborhood in Denver has a history rich in the melodic scats and smooth harmonies of jazz. 
 
 Dating back to the 1930s, the area was home to several famous jazz clubs, like the Rossonian Hotel and the Rainbow Ballroom. These venues hosted performances by local artists and famous touring musicians like Ray Charles, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. 
 
 Eleven years ago, a small group of Five Points community members organized a free performance with a handful of local bands outside the Blair-Caldwell African American Resource Library to highlight the neighborhood’s cultural past. 
 
 This was the birth of the Five Points Jazz Festival, which returns this year on Saturday, May 17. 
 
 Since its inception in 2004, the festival has grown from its original roster of five or six bands to more than 30 local and national bands. They perform on nine different stages around the Welton Street corridor, the main thoroughfare through the neighborhood. 
 
 Terry Nelson, the senior special collection and community resource manager at the Blair-Caldwell Library, helped to spearhead the festival and has a deep knowledge of the Five Points neighborhood and its cultural legacy. 
 
 She joined Colorado Public Radio arts editor and host Chloe Veltman in the studio earlier this week to talk about the origins and growth of the Five Points Jazz Festival and why Denver’s jazz heritage matters. 
 
 Here’s a preview of her interview, which can be heard in full on The Colorado Art Report this Friday at 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.: 
 
 CPR: The first Five Points Jazz Festival occurred in April 2004. Who was involved in the launch and why did you launch it? 
 
 Terry Nelson: It was organized by the City and County of Denver’s Art, Culture and Film – now known as Denver Arts & Venues. That organization wanted to talk about the distinguished jazz history of Five Points. The neighborhood is actually the first and only cultural district in the City of Denver. So the festival aimed to really honor the people who have performed at the neighborhood’s famous Rossonian Hotel and Casino. Five Points was actually once called the Harlem of the West because entertainers came from the east, New York, etc. They would came as far as Denver, perform and make enough money to then go to the West Coast. So we were right in the middle of the sandwich. 
 
 CPR: Take us back to the first year. How many bands did you have? What were some of the initial obstacles? 
 
 Terry Nelson: We had about five or six bands perform in the parking lot of the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. It was the end of April, which was jazz month, and it snowed. We thought that was the end of the concert because we didn’t think anyone would show up. But all of the bands showed up and people came to Five Points to hear jazz in the terrible weather without any coverage. We went on with the show and everyone had a wonderful time. 
 
 CPR: How would you compare this festival to other jazz events around Colorado such as the Telluride Jazz Festival, Jazz Aspen Snowmass Festival or Vail Jazz Festival? 
 
 Terry Nelson: We have very highly skilled, well-known musicians as well as those that are growing. That would be the difference – those festivals would not have as many new bands that are starting to become famous as the Five Points Jazz Festival does. 
 
 For the full interview, tune into CPR’s weekly arts show, The Colorado Art Report, on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. For more information about the Five Points Jazz Festival or to see a lineup of the performers, visit ArtsandVenuesDenver.com. ||||| Five Points ink! store jokes about transformation of area home to artists and people of color, leading to social media outrage and anger on the sidewalk 
 
 The Colorado coffeehouse chain ink! became a lightning rod for economic ire on Wednesday, after one of its Denver stores displayed a message on its sidewalk sandwich-board that read: “Happily Gentrifying The Neighborhood Since 2014.” 
 
 On the back, the sign said: “Nothing Says Gentrification Like Being Able To Order A Cortado.” 
 
 Photos spread on social media, sparking outrage. While ink! has 15 locations in Denver, the store in question is located in the Five Points neighborhood, an area traditionally known as a home for artists and people of color that has been steadily becoming more white and middle-to-upper-class, due to gentrification. 
 
 By Wednesday afternoon, the ink! store had closed, citing the Thanksgiving holiday. A small crowd of people were nonetheless in attendance, hoping to find answers. 
 
 “At first I thought, ‘No way that’s real,’” said Ru Johnson, an event producer who works in the hip-hop industry. “And when I found out it was I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ To make wanton jokes about gentrification is just totally uncalled for and disrespectful to the people who still live here. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The front of the sign in full. Photograph: Odie Anaya 
 
 “This city, and particularly this neighborhood, was made cool by the artists. Before that, this wasn’t a place that people could hang out, and certainly not a place where a coffeeshop chain would move in.” 
 
 Musa Bailey is co-owner of the hip-hop club Cold Crush, which was a few blocks away from ink! until a few weeks ago when its lease expired. 
 
 “Gentrification has totally affected me,” Bailey said. “It made it harder for us to operate our business. The rent is too expensive in this neighborhood. This historically was the neighborhood where graffiti artists would practice. [The ink! sign] is saying that gentrification is a joke. 
 
 “I came down here to talk to someone, but there’s no one here to talk to. I saw it on my Facebook this morning and wondered if it was for real, if it was photoshopped. I don’t think anyone found it funny, or knew what the point of it was.” 
 
 Katie Leonard, a Denver native just returned after graduating from Harvard with a degree in African-American studies, said the sign “really felt like a fork in my side. This is a historically black neighborhood. Five Points was known as the Harlem of the West. 
 
 “Coming home after four years of being in college, it’s unreal to see the changes that have happened in a short time.” 
 
 ink! did not respond to requests for comment but the company did post a statement on its Facebook page. It read: “Hmmm. We clearly drank too much of our own product and lost sight of what makes our community great. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The ink! sign from the back. Photograph: Odie Anaya 
 
 “We sincerely apologize for our street sign. Our (bad) joke was never meant to offend our vibrant and diverse community. We should know better. We hope you will forgive us.” 
 
 In recent years the location of the ink! shop has been renamed RiNo (River North Arts District). The neighborhood was once known for rundown warehouses that were home to art collectives like Glob, Rhinoceropolis and Monkey Mania. Steady economic growth has forced much of the arts community out of their venues and studios and, in many cases, their homes. 
 
 Efforts by the city to remake the area to appeal to more mainstream audiences have only fueled anger in Denver’s DIY artist community. 
 
 “For a company to think ‘happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014’ is funny clearly means it has decided who is welcome in its establishment – white people,” said Bree Davies, a community organizer working on housing issues. 
 
 “This is a coffee shop that took a marketing opportunity to brag about displacement. The sign was not taken as a joke because it felt intentionally dismissive in an area of Denver where neighborhoods are being re-named and land is being sold out from under long-time residents.” 
 
 On Wednesday night the ink! Facebook page had disabled its reviews section, but at 5pm 9News reported that its rating fell to 1.6 stars after hundreds of one-star reviews were posted. The Yelp page for the Five Points location was down to 1.5 stars. Other locations showed three or four.
– A Denver neighborhood known as "the Harlem of the West" isn't taking too kindly to a local coffeehouse's recent sidewalk signage. The Five Points community has long been known as an artists' enclave and home to many black and Latino families, but economic growth and an attempt by the city to bring it into the "mainstream" has forced many people out of their homes and started to change the culture, the Guardian reports. Which is why it didn't go over well when ink! put up a sandwich board boasting about gentrification and it caught the eye of local writer Ru Johnson and others Wednesday, per the Denver Post. "Happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014," the sign's front read; the back noted: "Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a Cortado" (a coffee drink with warm milk). "yo @inkcoffee we are not cool with this sign ... Bad decision. Bad design. BAD. W.T.F.," Johnson posted on Twitter, along with a photo. 9NEWS notes the ire of others, who commented about "white privilege" on social media and posted bad reviews on Yelp. The outside of the coffeehouse was even sprayed with "White Coffee" graffiti Wednesday night. "Hmmm. We clearly drank too much of our own product and lost sight of what makes our community great," ink! wrote on Twitter Wednesday evening, followed by a longer apology from founder Keith Herbert Thursday. "I am embarrassed to say that I did not fully appreciate the very real and troubling aspect of gentrification," he wrote. He promised to keep on top of the issue, educate himself and his staff, and "demonstrate the depths of our contrition."