Filled with the hip of all ages, Café Europa’s patrons are the prototypical Colorado hipsters, in their simultaneous glow of outdoorsy wellbeing and brooding, cavernous intellectualism. It wouldn’t be atypical to see a toned and tanned hipster wearing mud-splattered hiking boots paired with impeccably fitted dark denim jeans. And they’d likely be sporting all the latest and greatest of Denver’s Topo Designs.
Located at 76 S. Pennsylvania St. in Southwest Denver, the café exudes coolness without exerting effort. In a quiet neighborhood near the Art Student’s League of Denver, it has all the trappings of an urban creative hub.
The interior is spacious, with high dark ceilings that preserve the space’s coziness and counteract the bright sunlight that comes flooding in through spacious windows in the afternoons. The air is infused with a hint of patchouli that mingles with the subtle coffee and breakfast aromas. Grey walls make up the majority, although Café Europa couldn’t resist asserting their hipster demeanor with one exposed brick wall. All of the walls are freckled with bizarre artwork and currently sport a selection of ironic pop-culture portraits that rely solely on shameless wordplay, yet somehow manage to simultaneously uphold an appealing visual (and equally ironic) aesthetic.
A wide outdoor patio offers the perfect place to sit and ruminate on the fluctuations of neighborhood foliage and admire the occasional chubby baby cooing at its tortoise-shell glasses-wearing mod-momma. The neighborhood provides a sweet lull from the bustle of city life, with a soundtrack of passing bicycles and muffled neighborhood hums.
Café Europa, as the name implies, offers a selection of coffees, alternative beverages and pastries such as bagels, muffins and a particularly notable raisin-topped cinnamon roll.
The café is set apart from others, however, by a petite selection of breakfast and lunch options, which might easily be overlooked by patrons in the typical café routine. To neglect these options would be a shame, especially the substantial chicken curry sandwich that might capture even the hearts of habitual curry snubbers. With breakfast options galore, the café is arguably the perfect place to spend a studious Saturday morning or even nurse a Friday-induced hangover—which might help contribute to a refined illusion of mysterious contemplation, as exhaustion often does.
With food prices ranging from $5 – 10 as well as typical cafe pricing for beverages, Café Europa offers options for the thrifty as well as those inclined to splurge on satisfying provisions.
Remarkably, Café Europa is one coffee shop that maintains a hushed quiet at all times, but doesn’t make one feel like the slightest movement or accidental clamor will upset the entire sonic ecosystem. The mellow soundtrack is an intermingling of off-the-beaten-path up-and-comers and teenage angst-ridden inspired grunge-ballads.
Café Europa patrons are in a perpetual state of tremendous introspection. Though it’s possible the balding guy in the leather jacket and remarkably eye-catching patent shoes is simply purchasing equally ostentatious socks on eBay, if that is the case, he has mastered the pensive façade to a tee.
With a recently updated logo that is totally on-point in its geometric panache, Café Europa upped its ante from quaint neighborhood café to clandestine salient gem. They even offer geometric swag like t-shirts to advertise cultural capital in the literal sense of the phrase.
After leaving Café Europa, the easily-swayed hipster might be tempted to run out and acquire a tribal neck tattoo in the fashion of the barista’s, but it’s likely that she’ll be so lulled into contentment that sudden whims will be deemed extraneous.
