Stir Coffee & Cocktails is a welcoming and cheerful neighborhood coffee and cocktail bar located about seven minutes from the UCCS campus.
The restaurant opened in 2017, under Amber Stull and Joe Campana. Their goal was to create a space where people felt safe to come in alone or with friends. Here, they would be able to have quality coffee or cocktails, while grabbing a bite to eat and having good and meaningful conversations.
Success arrived quickly, and Stir attracts many local residents and university students to get work done or cozy up with a book in the lively space.
The coffee and cocktail bar features aesthetically pleasing decor, including beautifully displayed books on shelves, retro mini-televisions and an array of thriving green plants. Stull opted not to have televisions in the restaurant as a way of encouraging conversation and human interaction.
Stull believes that giving a person a great experience is of the utmost importance. “You can change a person’s whole week by just being kind,” she said.
Stir’s intended market is anyone and everyone, including UCCS students looking for a comfortable and friendly place to work, eat and/or enjoy time with friends.
The carefully curated menu is strongly inspired by literature, so all of the cocktails follow a literary theme.
Stull addressed the reasoning behind names such as “The Lion, The Witch and the Vodka,” which consists of Lee Spirits Vodka, lavender and lemonade ($8). “I’m a pretty big reader so the library vibe and cocktail names came from that,” she said.
Stull said her favorite drink on the menu is “The Dude,” a boozy cold brew with hand-whipped Licor 43 whipped cream ($9). Stull cited the rotating soups ($4 / $7) and frittatas ($9) as her food favorites.
The drink and food menu usually changes about twice a year, but a few customer favorites always remain on the list. When they do change the menu, the entire staff pitches ideas for food, coffee and cocktails.
The menu changes are just one example of how Stir’s staff works cooperatively, from the front to the back of the house.
“We all care about each other and understand that the reason things work here is because everyone is important. It takes us all to make this place function well. I learned from my business partner, Joe Campana, that you should never ask your staff to do something you wouldn’t do yourself and I think that’s why everyone is happy here,” Stull said.
Stull remembers the day when Stir first opened its doors, her friend and former boss Campana grabbing her hand and taking her to the end of the parking lot. From there, they could see their new business, lit up and full of people. She remembers Campana saying, “Look, you did that.” Stull had been in the industry from age 15, and Stir was her first business.
She said she considers herself incredibly lucky to have worked and currently work with some of the best people in the service industry, and to get to meet all the dogs on the patio at Stir.
Stir Coffee & Cocktails is open for dine-in and take-out seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and is located on North Wahsatch Avenue in the Bon Shopping Center.
Those with dogs are welcome to bring them to hang out on the patio. Marrow Treats and Suzie’s CBD Treats are available to purchase for dogs as well.
According to Stull, the bar is looking to hire a cook. For more information, interested applicants can call 719-418-6188 or email [email protected].
