Nowhere Coffee Has Become a Cole Neighborhood Favorite

Denver has a thriving coffee scene, and along with our favorite brick-and-mortar spots, there are some creative coffee pop-ups to look out for. One is nestled in a quiet corner, tucked behind the Denver Rock Drill, where an orange and tan van is brewing coffee and curating a community any person (and their dog) would want to be a part of.

Nowhere Coffee owner Brandon Painter and his pup, Glenn, pop up in the courtyard of the old Porta Power building off the 39th Avenue Greenway from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, weather permitting. The old vine-covered brick courtyard is set up with chairs and tables where patrons congregate and catch up.

Offering a selection of hot teas, espresso drinks and iced drinks, one of the many special things about Nowhere is that it carries a rotating selection of coffee beans from businesses such as New York-based Touchy Coffee; Underwood out of Duluth, Minnesota; Rollie Pollie from Bozeman, Montana; Vibrant out of Philadelphia; and local favorite Middle State.

The pop-up doesn't make any food, but it does offer pastelitos made by Painter's close friend Mike Solis, owner of Café Tres. Other than the City Park Farmers Market, this is the only place to get a taste of these Cuban pastries made with a family recipe that is over fifty years old. "I live about a mile from here, so it's easy,“ Solis says of providing the treats as a favor to his friend. "It’s only me, so wholesale is too much. Sometimes I only bake ten, sometimes I bake twenty, all the same flavor, and bring them over to Brandon. It's nothing formal."
Both Painter and Solis say that community is the motivation for what they do. Painter, who moved to Denver in 2006 from Texas, used to work in advertising and bought his 1973 Argosy Airbus, dubbed Ramblin' Rose, in 2013 with the intention of using it as a mobile design studio.

Around the same time, he began volunteering at a nonprofit coffeehouse in Philadelphia and found that he really enjoyed connecting with the customers. Friends and family encouraged him to turn the van into a mobile cafe, a project that took a year and a half to complete.

Fellow local entrepreneurs connected Painter with Byron Weiss, owner of Denver Rock Drill, who agreed to let him cut the fence on the courtyard to be able to pull the van in and serve coffee. May 21 marks Nowhere Coffee's three-year anniversary at the location, which Brandon says he has stuck with because of the greenway and the lack of coffee shops nearby — but mainly because of the people.

“It’s always been about building community through coffee," he says. "I have always had better luck over here than at a business park or anything like that."

The importance of community at Nowhere Coffee is clear as Painter greets nearly every customer by name and knows their usual drink order — and the names of their dogs. “People come here for the coffee, but they also come to see each other — and for their dogs to hang with Glenn," Painter says. "It has been very special seeing a community form over here."

Because Nowhere Coffee is open weather permitting, Painter posts an Instagram update every morning. Follow @nowherecoffee.co for more information and updates.