Once bustling with businesses and nightlife, Colfax Avenue has endured the post-Covid struggles with many establishments closing on what was once a historic highway passing through Denver’s heart. Now, it’s a shadow of its former self. In this 303 Magazine series, we spotlight new and independently owned food and beverage businesses on Colfax Avenue in Denver, intending to revitalize the street by showcasing these businesses to the communities they serve. The first of these introductions is Colfax’s newest drive-through coffee shop–Lilac Coffee Express.
Everyone Deserves Good Coffee
To start our series, 303 Magazine visited Lilac Coffee Express – a vibrant, drive-through cafe that opened in the South Park Hill neighborhood in April. Located off Dahlia Street, residents formerly knew the location as Hot-Chik-A-Latte, but like many other businesses, it didn’t make it through the peak Covid lockdown. The building needed a new business, so Josiah Kim stepped in.
The coffee shop stands out with its purple-based, single-tone paint covering the entire building and the bricks surrounding it, but it’s far from obnoxious. The tone is inviting, cool, and calm – much like the staff and its owner.
Although he strayed from his original pursuit in college, the hobby that ignited Kim’s entrepreneurial fire was always present. Any college student could tell you about their sleepless nights, but not many will tell you about their coffee rituals to get them through the next day – some more intricate than others.
Josiah Kim: My sophomore year in the dorms, I was always that guy who’s hand-grinding his beans in a community room and making coffee every single morning. It’s just always been a part of my life. Whether it’s the greatest times of my life or times where I struggled most.
After graduating from Penn State in 2021, Kim returned home to Aurora and entered the corporate world as a data scientist. After two years, Kim had the career and foundation for a secure future but still felt like something was missing.
JK: Something just wasn’t being fulfilled and I think it’s part of the fact that I love helping people while serving others in the community and being an entrepreneur. I started looking for other opportunities and saw this coffee shop go up for sale on Colfax. I thought, oh Colfax—growing up in Aurora, I think Colfax always had a bad rep’ and visiting the place, spending some more time on Colfax—I think there’s a charm to it and I think people are misunderstood. It’s a long street and there’s so much going on everywhere. I took it upon myself to be a part of this community and try to lift it up in a sense.
303 Magazine: What sets Lilac Coffee Express apart from other coffee shops in the area?
JK: I love our concept so much because I think it’s unique in the fact that we are serving specialty coffee in a drive-through setting. You don’t see that very often and think we have been able to get it down because we have efficient processes. We have baristas who can make specialty coffee drinks at high-speed because of the equipment we have and the process we have in place. I think that’s what sets us apart. It’s also affordable. Our margins are super thin and my goal was to make—especially coffee—available for everyone. Our tagline is, “Everyone deserves good coffee,” and it’s true. A lot of people are stuck with 7-Eleven or bad quality coffee and that’s what they’re used to.
303: Was the business always going to be in coffee or was it just trying to help your community and coffee was the way to get there after your career shift?
JK: I always thought about consulting, that was an easy way out from coming from corporate. It hasn’t always been coffee—it was anything that I could do to help the community while being an entrepreneur. As I thought about it more—I love coffee. I love the process of making it–the taste of it, the fact that it’s so ingrained into our society. It’s a thing that brings people together. I just thought why not just bring those two together and be that person that opens a coffee shop (…) Everything in my life has somehow been connected to coffee. A bunch of friendships, my closest friends started around a coffee table, drinking coffee, or going to our local coffee shops.
One can sense how much pride Kim takes in his work ethic and the business, as an owner and operator but also as a manager and fellow barista working behind the counter alongside the rest of his employees.
JK: At the end of the day, nobody is going to care about this place more than me, but if you’re able to inspire people with your story and treat people well I think that’ll help you a lot because then your baristas are happy or your workers are happy or you have a good work environment. I think that’s the most important thing in any business—is making sure that the people who you’re entrusting your vision and your image of the business are happy.
Judging from their social media ads widely seen on their Instagram (with over 2 million views from 14 videos) it’s safe to say the employees enjoy their work and their manager’s vision. Focusing heavily on social media marketing before its opening helped gain the attention and attraction of Denver residents.
303: What role has social media played in Lilac Coffee Express and what platforms have been most effective for you?
JK: It’s absolutely insane how much attraction we’ve gotten from social media and if I were to give any new business owner or any other coffee shop owner advice it’s: don’t be afraid to post embarrassing videos. Don’t be afraid to get out there on social media because at the end of the day, the only people who are going to know about you are the people online and the people driving passed. It’s been important and played a huge role in bringing customers to us.
It’s easy to tell how important these customer-facing interactions are to Kim and his business, as he approaches every new encounter as a personal interaction first. While his career pursuits led him to entrepreneurship and a coffee shop, it’s his principles that have left their imprint. The Penn State graduate acknowledged the responsibilities of owning a local business, highlighting the importance of community with his new residential neighbors and the vendors he worked with.
303: Who do you source your coffee beans from?
JK: We source all of our beans currently from Corvus Coffee Roasters. They roast here in Denver and I think Corvus is so great because they’ve been such a staple in Denver’s coffee culture. Working with them even more you can tell that they love the craft—they view it as an art. Their whole thing is that espresso—what we think of as a base of a drink, is a drink itself…The other thing about Corvus is that they have these personal relationships with these farmers and they invest in them very heavily.
The relationships built and cultivated by Kim will last in the long run, but like any new business owner, Kim is still overseeing every detail and reviewing every error to be corrected while still in the first year. If you’ve gone to Lilac Coffee Express, you’ve probably already met Kim as he is ever-present working alongside his staff. Whether at the pull-up or walk-up window, he’s there with a smile—the easiest investment anyone can make.
303: How has the community responded to Lilac Coffee Express since its opening?
JK: The community has been awesome. The neighborhood of South Park Hill has been so happy that we’re around, that we’re making really good coffee and being a partner to them. We’ve got reviews saying, “I hope this becomes a neighborhood staple” and things like that, and that makes me super happy. Some people is asking, “Where’s Hot-Chik-A-Latte? Where’d they go? Where are my smoothies?” and other people go, “I’m glad another coffee shop took over.” It’s been pretty mixed. For the most part, everyone has been super supportive, especially on social media too.
303: What are your most popular menu items or special recommendations?
JK: Our most popular menu items, would be the honey lilac latte. That’s been in our old seasonal menu and we just brought it onto our new seasonal menu too because people like it so much. From our old menu, it’s our cinnamon latte(…) The cinnamon roll latte is really good from our old menu—which we can still make and will still make. From our new menu, if you want to venture out into the more unknown world of coffee, we have an espresso lemonade. Which is just lemonade and espresso. We’ve got a lot of controversy. We also have in that same realm an orange espresso tonic, which is popular. It’s a sparkling refreshing coffee drink which, doesn’t sound like it goes together. If you like a gin and tonic and you like coffee you’ll probably like the espresso tonic.
Personal relationships have been the key to Kim’s success, whether it’s his neighbors, coffee enthusiasts, or staff. His dedication to the community and commitment to quality coffee have made Lilac Coffee Express a new staple on Colfax Avenue. Be sure to stop by the next time you find yourself driving in the South Park Hill neighborhood.
Lilac Coffee Express is located at 4736 East Colfax Ave., Denver, and is open Monday- Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is closed on Sunday. Follow its Instagram and stay tuned for the business’s first, pop-up market they’ll be hosting in August.
All photography courtesy of Annie French-Mack.