Park City Coffee Review

• John Vandivier

This article comparatively reviews some spots in Park City, Utah. Why not just google and check the ratings? I recommend you do check with Google, but I have particular requirements which the average reviewer may not have, and I will be able to give ratings along various metrics instead of just one overall score.

I'm a programmer and I love coffee. I looked specifically for coffee shop aspects which would welcome a digital nomad, and equally for quality coffee shop offerings. Here's the overall rubric:

  1. Quality Food and Beverage
    1. Quality black coffee
    2. Quality specialty drinks
    3. Food offering
  2. Nomad-friendly
    1. WiFi and outlets
    2. Seating
    3. Music and ambiance

I reviewed primarily the coffee shops in the Main Street area in the south of Park City. Specifically, I looked at:

  1. Stoked Roasters
  2. Atticus Coffee, Books & Teahouse
  3. The Pink Elephant
  4. Riverhorse Provisions
  5. Java Cow Coffee & Ice Cream

They are listed in order of overall preference. I preferred Stoked Roasters overall, but each location had at least one interesting thing about it. I had at least three drinks at each of these locations.

Stoked Roasters had the best cold brew. It's a medium-dark roast called blueberry, although it doesn't taste much like a blueberry to me. It tastes like a chewy brownie. They also had my favorite seasonal drink. The seasonal drink was a spiced cold brew with a vanilla cream.

In addition to having the best plain coffee, Stoked Roasters was the most nomad-friendly. It adjoins an art showroom and you can sit either in the coffee shop proper or in the adjoining art room. Between the two there is plenty of seating and a wonderful ambiance. The chill instrumental beats channel on Spotify plays in the background, and I would be hard-pressed to find a better channel if I had full reign. Stoked Roasters also has a delicious blueberry muffin, but that's about all they offer in terms of food. They have an extremely small food menu of pastries and quiche. They do also offer some decent smoothies.

Atticus has a medium-sized food menu which includes pastries, salads, and breakfast burritos. I ordered a breakfast burrito with sausage, but it was decidedly mediocre. Atticus has free wifi and some seating, but it was quite packed so that I could not obtain a seat with an outlet at first, but I was eventually able to shift over. The coffee was also mediocre. Better than Folgers, but tied with Java Cow for the worst among the competition. Atticus theoretically is also a book store, but it's an exceedingly scamp one. Overall, Atticus struck me as a well-rounded but mediocre joint. The term joint is apropos as the music was unapologetically stoner-themed as were some of the non-book items for sale. One thing which Atticus excelled at was that it has a better tea selection than the competition.

The Pink Elephant had the second-best cold brew and the best cold-pressed juice. The cold brew tasted light and fruity, in contrast to the dark, chocolate of Stoked Roasters. It lost only by a small margin, and arguably due to my personal preference. The musical ambiance was a chilled kind of pop which included tracks like Tenderness by Jay Som and Swimming by Kero Kero Bonito. The location was extremely small, with only two tables. The tables did have outlets but there was no free wifi and no bathroom. You would be hard-pressed to hang here for more than a few hours. The food selection basically consisted of a few cookies.

A mocha I bought there didn't impress me at all. While the cold brew grounds were delicious, the espresso roast tasted a bit like bran cereal. I tried to confirm which grounds had been used for the cold brew, but the barista wasn't sure. After determining that it had a fruity flavor, I discovered one Pink Elephant roast is called Nomad Coffee, and describes itself as tasting like chocolate and strawberry jam. I can't confirm but that one might be the cold brew roast.

Riverhorse Provisions had the best food by far, and a solid chai latte which was tied for the best. The black coffee was right in the middle compared to the competition. The ambiance was nice for a quick-stop restaurant, but not great for a digital nomad. One obtained the impression that they should eat and leave, not hang out all day.

Java Cow was a fun spot, but it didn't have really great coffee and it wasn't very nomad friendly. The coffee wasn't bad it was just average. While there was a good amount of seating, the seats didn't have any outlets. Java Cow also sold some merchandise and, like Atticus, it had a mild stoner vibe which reminded me of Austin. To a lesser degree this vibe permeated the town. At the risk of confirming stereotypes, it seems an intuitive fit as this town is the seat of the Sundance Film Festival.

Their sugary specialty drinks were good, but that's on account of the syrups and not the coffee itself. They also had my favorite non-coffee drink which was a rose lemonade. While it may be at the bottom of my nomad-centric list, if you are in the mood for quick coffee with ice cream it would certainly top your list.