Aspen Coffee Shops Set an Avant-Ski Scene

The historic mining town of Aspen is having a coffee boom, with a motherlode of stylish cafés serving morning menus to power a day of adventure. While the après-ski scene may be sunset-glamorous, the daybreak avant-ski experience sets the stage with a mood that can be warm and comforting, energizing, or inspiring. Here are some top places to wrap your frosty fingers around a steaming mug before you hit the slopes.

Meadows Café

Tucked into the Aspen Meadows Resort, designed by Bauhaus legend Herbert Bayer, the Meadows Café is a laid-back West End getaway. With an outdoor patio and indoor spaces showcasing Bayer artwork and pops of primary colors, “It’s a tranquil spot for grabbing a bite, holding a coffee meeting, or getting a bit of work done between ski laps,” says Aspen Meadows Resort General Manager Carrie Williams. The menu features La Colombe coffee and sweet and savory baked goods by Executive Pastry Chef Sara Figueiredo. Local favorites include flaky-gooey Caramel Crownies, Shakshuka Scones, Mushroom Polenta Quiches, and Matcha Snickerdoodle Cookies. For those on the go, picnic packs, complete with a blanket, are available year-round.

Sant Ambroeus Coffee Bar Aspen 

The Italian-accented Sant Ambroeus Coffee Bar Aspen brings Milanese sophistication to the snowy streets of the mountain town. Sumptuous Alpine-Modern interiors, designed by Giampiero Tagliaferri Studio, combine walnut wood, Verdi Alpi marble, faux Mongolian lamb fur, corduroy banquettes, and vintage Italian furniture to create a welcoming refuge on a brisk mountain morning. The coffee program includes specialty drinks such as the Montecarlo (espresso, thick hot chocolate, milk foam and cocoa powder), and Shakerato (shaken espresso strained in a martini cup), with pastries ranging from sugar-dusted or chocolate-filled cornetti to Panettone French Toast with fresh berries, maple syrup, and Chantilly cream, and Smoked Salmon Avocado Toast on sunflower bread. 

Swedish Hill

Perched atop the Aspen Art Museum with eye-popping views of Ajax Mountain, light and bright Swedish Hill offers a menu that includes Intelligentsia Coffee’s Sublunar Blend and house-baked breads, Nutella morning buns, cinnamon rolls, croissants (including chocolate, pistachio, or ham and cheese), Danishes, muffins, bagels, and kouign amann, plus breakfast tacos and breakfast sandwiches. The café’s special draft latte is a Swedish Iced Coffee, concocted with cold brew concentrate, oat milk, and coconut cream. The award-winning Shigeru Ban building features a wooden lattice that envelopes the space and gives the impression that you’re dining in an open-air work of art with a relaxed mountain-town vibe.

Aspen Collection Café

Guests of the Aspen Collection Café, with a convenient liftside location in Lower Gondola Plaza, can sip Italian espresso while they coordinate their ski rentals for the day’s activities, organize a private gear fitting, or peruse ski wear from the Aspen Collection line. Mountain-minimalist interiors create a lounge atmosphere, blending wood and leather furnishings, and there’s outdoor seating as well. The morning menu includes Lavazza coffee and baked goods from The Little Nell’s talented pastry chef, Barbara Marcos, including housemade hand pies — with a changing lineup of seasonal flavors including chocolate, raspberry, apple, and maple — to stow in your pocket for a mid-day pick-me-up.

Felix Roasting Co.

With lavish interiors designed by Ken Fulk, Felix Roasting Co., at the Hotel Jerome, has the warmth and jewel-box charm of a vintage European coffeehouse. Velvet-textured furniture, floral wall coverings, and Murano glass light fixtures create a rosy glow, and the coffee program here is serious. “Felix sources all of our coffee from our hand-selected list of purveyors, small independent farms from a half dozen or so countries that we collaborate with,” explains Matt Moinian, Felix CEO and founder. The café features housemade syrups, nut milks, oat milks, and tonics. One extravagant Felix specialty is the Hickory Smoked S’mores Latte, a double espresso with graham-infused milk, presented in a Martini glass with a dark chocolate and graham crumbed rim, and topped with a housemade marshmallow, finished under a glass cloche swirling with hickory smoke.

Explore Books and Coffee

Start your day in a sunny Victorian cottage at Explore Books and Coffee, where the café menu celebrates local products, including Bonfire Coffee, roasted in nearby Glenwood Springs, and features a selection of croissants, cinnamon rolls, and quiches baked at Aspen’s French Pastry Cafe. The friendly staff encourages customers to wander with their cups of coffee into the bookshop and settle into a plush armchair among the shelves, sit at a flowered table in the solarium, venture onto the backyard patio with mountain views, or make themselves comfortable by the firepit on the front porch and watch the Main Street world go by.