Compact Coffee Gets Roomy with New Cafe in Salida, Colorado

Inside Compact Coffee in Salida, Colorado. Photo by Chelsea Tuttle Photography, courtesy of Compact Coffee.

Handy with wrenches and portafilters alike, coffee and equipment service company Compact Coffee has opened its first brick-and-mortar coffee shop in Salida, Colorado.

“Our space isn’t designed to be a traditional high-volume cafe,” Compact Coffee Co-Owner Seth Shank told Daily Coffee News. “Our motto is ‘slow down,’ and we call it a ‘Slow Bar,’ as most drinks are hand-poured.”

The shop provides a platform for numerous roasters, with a regularly changing selection of coffees and styles.

Coffee flights include three different coffees brewed the same way or one coffee brewed three different ways. Brewing methods include the Filter 3.0 drip basket for the Decent machine and the Solo Brewer used in competition this year by 2025 World Brewers Cup Champion George Jinyang Peng. A Fetco batch brewer accommodates guests grabbing coffee on-the-go.

Photo by Chelsea Tuttle Photography, courtesy of Compact Coffee.

The shop welcomes guests with a live-edge wooden bar Shank built himself, a flock of bird-like kites hanging from the ceiling, comfy furniture, vintage speakers and warm Edison bulbs that light the industrial space.

“Because our entrance is tucked down an alley, I leaned into a speakeasy feel. I aimed to create the kind of place a barista would visit on their day off,” Shank said. “The design is deeply personal to me. Kite flying is a fading art, and I sew and fly them myself.”

In the winter, Shank plans to add a ski and snowboard waxing station for a “Wax & Brew” event, adding a touch more mountain culture to downtown Salida.

Shank and his wife and business partner, Claire Shank, founded Compact Coffee as a mobile cart in 2018, catering weddings, events and one movie set.

“When the pandemic hit, our entire business model disappeared overnight,” Claire Shank told DCN. “At the same time, our roaster friends were struggling because their cafes had closed.”

Compact continued ordering coffee in bulk in support of local roasters, launching a quality-focused coffee subscription and delivery program that continues to this day.

This past spring, Compact began offering equipment services, leaning on Seth Shank’s Specialty Coffee Association-sanctioned coffee technician training through Workbench Coffee Labs in Kansas City, Missouri. Compact now offers on-site repair and maintenance work to cafes and roasters within 100 miles of Salida, which is nestled at more than 7,000 feet above sea level in central Colorado.

Photo by Chelsea Tuttle Photography, courtesy of Compact Coffee.

“I pursued coffee tech training because of where we live,” Seth Shank said. “Rural Colorado is beautiful, but when Denver is three hours away, local cafes and restaurants are left scrambling when their machines go down. In tourist-dependent mountain towns, a broken machine can close a business for days and we watched that happen repeatedly. Getting certified felt like the most tangible way to help.”

After soft-launching the cafe on Nov. 7, Compact Coffee is preparing to host local coffee competitions and educational events, building on lessons the team has offered home baristas and cafe crews over the years.

“Having my own dedicated space for coffee education is incredibly exciting. Watching someone pour their first heart never gets old,” Seth Shank said. “Elevating the coffee community is core to our mission. Whether I’m fixing a broken machine or helping someone brew better coffee, we’re here to support the coffee people around us.”

Compact Coffee is located through the alley at 129 W 3rd St. in Salida, Colorado. 

Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.