These are my NEW FAVORITE DOUGHNUTS IN ALL OF DENVER. I’m sorry, other donuts.

Being a coffee blogger comes with certain privileges and obligations. One such obligation is the necessity of paying at least a little attention to what is going on in the coffee scene around me. It was with this understanding that I recently became aware of a new donut shop having their soft launch opening. Here I was, an innocent bystander, scrolling through Facebook, and an event had been created for the soft launch the next day. Now, I love trying new things, and I am always excited to check out new places - hence the blog - so you might ask, why am I presenting this event as an obligation rather than a privilege?

Well, you know how when you get invited to something, you might feel pretty good about it? You might even be looking forward to it, but then the day arrives, and staying home just sounds so appealing. I know I’m not the only one. In fact, I think there are many more of us now that we’ve experienced the peacefulness that quarantine sometimes provides. It’s just so easy to stay home. I reached out to a few people, no one wanted to join me last-minute, and I had a bunch of things to do… I thought, “it’s a doughnut shop - not a coffee shop. I’ll probably be wasting my time.”

Boy, was I wrong.

Parlor Doughnuts filled an empty building where the bones of another oh-I-meant-to-go-try-that-place once stood on the corner of Lincoln and 1st near Wash Park - one of my favorite neighborhoods in Denver. Being a soft launch, there was not a huge amount of hoopla going on outside. On the other side of the door however, the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement. People in Parlor Doughnuts shirts were chatting with people in cozy sweaters and denim, standing in the sunlight streaming through a huge skylight above. Cheery merch, stacked neatly on white shelves against white walls, lent a happy modern vibe to the room, which featured a glorious assortment of doughnuts behind glass.

I picked out three of the most scrumptious looking, and proceeded around to the coffee and checkout station. I asked Ryan, who came up from the Florida location to help with the opening, what he would recommend in the coffee department. It was with his next words that I realized this was not one of those doughnut shops that forgets the beans. This is a coffee shop by a doughnut name. Ryan recommended the cold brew, because it has a stronger coffee flavor, and more caffeine. They had a couple of options, but he recommended the single-origin from El Salvador with rich and fruity tones.

I have a confession to make. I don’t like cold coffee. Coffee is bad enough on its own, and when it starts to cool, I find it becomes particularly nasty. Therefore, I have never, ever ordered a cold brew. Not in 10 years of blogging. My brother Tom lives by them, I think, but that was not enough to convince me. I’ve tried frozen froo-froo drinks, but they can barely be considered coffee at all. So, with this first cold-brew, I had a new challenge before me. I love a new challenge.

The ice-cold-ness actually made it a bit easier to consume - much like iced tea or water (I can’t stand lukewarm versions of either). Since I don’t have experience trying to taste cold coffee, I found it more difficult to explore the nuances. One thing I can say, is that it is definitely a bolder, stronger flavor of coffee - as Ryan had promised. The problem with that, for me, is that I don’t like coffee. You know this. I live for the exhilaration of exploring the undertones, but not the coffee flavor itself. This roast was thankfully very well-roasted, not burnt, and came in on my just-now-devised acidity scale at a 7 out of 10. I continued to sip it, trying to understand it more fully, and I detected a full fruity body, but could not define the fruit itself. For a moment, I thought of apples and cinnamon, but the next sip brought tones of watermelon. After a while, I even detected a peppery-type taste. Thinking back on it now, I recall that the pepperiness actually reminded me of a fragrant field of coffee plants. That’s a blog for another day… but if you like cold-brew, I think you’ll find this quite delightful.

Now for doughnuts. I was expecting to have a pleasant afternoon with average coffee and maybe better-than-average donuts, doing what coffee bloggers are supposed to do. Fun day. But listen to me. Are you listening? These are my NEW FAVORITE DOUGHNUTS IN ALL OF DENVER. I’m sorry, other donuts. I didn’t want to love them so much! I promise!! But I do. Oh, I do. If you don’t agree with me, that’s ok. Many people have been wrong before. You can join their club.

These doughnuts are similar to cronuts. Cronuts are made of layered, flaky pastry - like a croissant - often square shaped, but with a round hole cut out of the middle like a regular donut. I very much enjoy cronuts. However, they do have one fault, in that they remove the center, which is generally the softest part of a croissant. So you are left with a flaky donut that can sometimes be a bit dry, but still enjoyable. THESE doughnuts are NOT dry. They are all of the yummy scrumptiousness of a croissant and a donut, with the softest chewiest layers of round, flaky goodness. I got a Strawberry Shortcake, a Creamsicle, and a Blueberry Something-Or-Other (no, that’s not its real name)… and all were amazing - even the one I saved for two days.

If you’re in the Denver Metro, and you like doughnuts or you like coffee, or both, do yourself a favor. Go take in the cool-vibin’, city-chic atmosphere and yumminess that is Parlor Doughnuts. You won’t be disappointed!