As one might expect, I figured this place was just another “in name only” joint that really had nothing to do with Paris at all (not that I’m an authority on the city). I was right, well, almost. When we walked in we were met with the croonings of a geeky jazz quartet—and for a brief moment it did indeed feel like a Paris cafe in the fifties. Or it at least felt like I’ve seen them portrayed in the movies. This was a nice surprise, and Bot1 approved so we decided to stay.
I’d love to describe in vivid detail the décor of Buchanan’s Coffee Pub, but my initial impression was only of stale incense swirling amongst a wall of undergrads. Fortunately, Bot1 tends to swear in binary, or I’m certain we would have been kicked out before paying for our coffee…
A friend mentioned a place in uptown Denver that was attempting to re-define the coffee shop experience. “Redefine, eh?”. This is a place I had to visit. “Redefine(ing)” can be dangerous. Bot1 once tried to redefine rock. That’s how the world got prog-rock. Hopefully the coffee shop ‘redefinement’ turns out a bit better. Bot1 was also excited to visit since there were computers he could use instead of relying on his 28k on-board modem to download 25 minute drum solos. So, we headed for the shop and arrived barely out of the shadows of downtown’s skyscrapers in an uncomfortably sterile neighborhood of condos and street shops.
True to the culture of the area, all the coffee served and roasted is fair trade and organic, caters to hippies and yuppies alike, has a very friendly staff, and owns its fair share of potted plants. Paul’s is definitely a place worth stopping in, and the added incentive for me is the fact they roast their own coffee.
I recently discovered Google’s Ngram Viewer and found it really fascinating. For those of you who haven’t experienced the sheer excitement of this sort of thing, I’ll briefly explain: Google has digitized millions of books and made every word of them search-able, so when you type in a certain word, you can see how often that word has shown up in literature through the course of history. Of course, after punching in all the usual suspects: war, peace; male, female; Coke, Pepsi; I punched in coffee and tea.
When Bot1 discovered an entire coffee shop named after this beauty, it was a no-brainer, or in Bot1′s case, a no-CPUer that we check it out. Everything this shop does, it does well. The website, branding, interior design and ultimately, the coffee are nothing short of stellar. Bot1 is programmed to respond to excellence by demanding we go back again, and again, and again since it triggers an infinite system loop. Right off the bat, I’d recommend you do the same.
