COFFEE LAB
**CLOSED**
30 2000 E #110 Salt Lake City, UT
Contact: 801-585-5702
IG @coffeelabslc
Facebook
Date Visited: October 28, 2019
I have to start out by saying Coffee Lab has since closed. I had such a great experience visiting that I have decided to still write a review of the shop. I hope you will take the time to read and appreciate my adventure. Coffee Lab closed on March 16th, 2020, saying goodbye to hundreds of coffee friends they made over the past four years. They wrote on Instagram, “It has been such a gratifying pleasure to make you all coffee. We will be back one day to make you coffee again. Love, Simon, Joey, and Coffee Lab.” Please enjoy my review below.
—One of my most interesting and fun experiences involved a college, coffee, and pharmacy school. When Iinterview coffee shops I’ll ask them for recommendations for other coffee shops that I should check out. Ienjoy doing this because small coffee shops and the baristas are such a tight-knit community that mostbaristas have worked in multiple coffee shops. While I was in Salt Lake City I kept writing Coffee Labdown in my notes and heard from other shops that Simon is an awesome guy. I planned a trip there firstthing on Monday, October 28, 2020.
University of Utah Pharmacy
Believe it or not, this coffee shop is located in the pharmacy building of The University of Utah – howfreaking cool! Although I’d been to 50 coffee shops, I had no idea what one in a pharmacy school wouldlook like. With tons of permit-only parking spots, as typical of college campuses, I had an issue finding aplace to park; especially with my massive van that couldn’t fit in the low-roofed parking garage. About amile and a half away on a side street, I found a place that I think was allowed. I grabbed my skateboardand skated to the pharmacy building, just like I did in undergrad. Dodging students, sticks, rocks,sidewalks, and cars – this was a lot to deal with before having a coffee!
After getting quite a workout in, I found little cute signs that read “Need Coffee?” pointing me to CoffeeLab. I can’t imagine what students wouldn’t! I headed inside and was immediately greeted by two girls,Christina and Makensi, asking me if I would like to purchase spaghetti and meatballs to help support theMaliheh Free Clinic. After having lived in a van for months, spaghetti and meatballs sounded great. Theywere made even better as they helped a good cause. I found out that the Maliheh Free Clinic is reversingthe cycle of poverty and suffering created by poor health, by providing free quality medical care to lowincome and uninsured Utah families. If you’re reading this and would like to support, here’s the link.
The Lab
I headed upstairs to the right and experienced one of the neatest coffee shops, Coffee Lab. Simon greetedme; we immediately began discussing travel, coffee, photography, and van life. We had so much incommon, we were going a mile a minute comparing stories. But I’ll tell you more about that later in thearticle. Simon was the co-owner of Coffee Lab. He ran the coffee side of things while his partner, JoeyMantia, ran the business side. Coffee Lab was three-and-a-half years old back when I was visiting.
The story goes, the pharmacy building coffee shop was previously owned by La Barba and Simon ran it.When La Barba decided to close, Simon seized the opportunity to open his own shop in this spot, howcool! It was perfect for a coffee shop; there are tons of restrooms in this building, WIFI, and wonderfulplaces to sit and study.
Coffee
Simon lit up when we started discussing coffee. You could tell it was something he was extremelypassionate about. He had all sorts of coffee drinks I had never heard of; for example, alado, mixto, and theconfrio. He laughed when I made a confused look. I chuckled and said, “I’ll have an espresso please.” Iknew it was a safe answer. But after I saw what the girl next to me ordered, I should’ve gone with that.Her drink was called the Confrio, a mixture of cold milk and espresso in a double-walled, hourglasslooking cup. The milk is poured in, then the fresh espresso is carefully pulled on top of the milk, causing abalancing act. Watching the espresso fall down and mix into the milk was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.The drink allows you to taste the full flavor of espresso and as you are drinking, the cold milk will burstthrough the crema causing the most delightful sip of coffee you’ll ever have. One of the most uniquedrinks I’ve seen yet.
Simon changed up the roasters occasionally; he was big on supporting coffee roasters in two aspects. Hechose one in-state brand, Blue Copper Salt Lake City, and one out-of-state brand, Campos CoffeeAustralia. The espresso I had was from Blue Copper, their Ethiopian roast and it was tasty.
Innovative
Simon was super creative and just smart. He never came out and said it or even hinted at this but I couldtell. I walked around Coffee Lab taking pictures of everything I could and asking questions about thethings that stood out to me. I’m going to tell you a few. First, there is a PlayStation One on the shelf. Iwondered why – kind of random for a coffee shop in today’s time. He told me, “It makes a great CDplayer, hooked up to some speakers, and it’s super clear.” Second, he took his time making every drink.You could tell how much effort he put into everything he did. Third, although the coffee shop was veryminimal, he had great touches, like the caution tape on the floor, a handwritten menu that looked likesomeone’s notes, and industrial lighting. It all helped tie into the fact that we were standing in the U of Upharmacy building without going overboard. Lastly, he asked me and some friends I had met during theinterview if we liked ice cream, to which we all replied, “Of course!” He walked into the freezer andpulled out a Tupperware and three spoons. Here’s the picture… now guess what this ice cream could be.
If you guessed Bayleaf bitters ice cream with pomegranate molasses and olive oil on top, you are correct.Sounds crazy but he told us he’d been experimenting with the flavor contrasts and I have to say… Henailed it! I know he made it just for fun, but I would buy a gallon of this if he sold them! It was freakingdelicious. Not in a million years could I ever be as innovative as Simon. Great job man, I really enjoyedmy visit.
Really Cool Guy
He told me that he too had done van life for two-and-a-half years in a 2001 Chevy Astro. He topped mytraveling adventures when he pulled out a book and said, “Here, look at some of my photography.” Iimmediately responded that these were images of the Pacific Coast Trail as if he didn’t know. He told mehe solo-hiked it in 2017 with a camera and his one rule: No cellphone. DAMN! The PCT has been on mybucket list for years, but I cannot even imagine going on a four-month hike with no cellphone. Duringhis hike, he encountered that massive snowstorm we had in 2017; from the energy in his voice, it must’vebeen crazy! I could’ve stayed there all day and talked adventure with him. He is a genuinely nice guy andI’m really glad I stopped in.
Friends
It’s always fun meeting people that are getting coffee at the coffee shops I visit. Sometimes they’ll smile ortell me that they would love to travel and visit coffee shops like me. But during my visit to Coffee Lab Imade friends. Meet Emi and Carissa. Emi is in pharmacy school here at the University of Utah and she isextremely smart and talented. She is the class representative and helped organize the fundraising effortsof the Maliheh Free Clinic I discussed earlier. She frequented Coffee Lab often for her delicious energyboost. Carissa is also at school here, studying to be a mechanical engineer with awesome art skills. Shedesigned me an awesome sticker collaboration of Find that Coffee and Salt Lake City. We talked for awhile about coffee, travels, and van life. They were really cool people and we are still friends today. I saidgoodbye to them and skated to the bookstore to get a U of U sticker to remember the awesome time I hadat the University of Utah!
The Bathroom
The bathrooms were owned and managed by the University of Utah. This makes it difficult to rate themtowards Coffee Lab, but they were immaculately clean. I’m sure the design and materials cost more thansome of the coffee shops I’ve been in. For this, I’m going to rate the bathrooms separately, I will give theman 8/10 for being “too clean.”
