Kangaroo Coffee launched in the Springs 11 years ago (under prior owners), and added two new locations late in 2021. A Phil Long Ford Café in Motor City in November — not far from its Eighth Street spot — and this small Hillside Coffee House on Hancock Avenue, a hop away from the entrance to Prospect Lake in Memorial Park (and not too far a jump from Switchback Coffee Roasters’ Hillside hub).
319 S. Hancock Ave., kangaroocoffeellc.com
That makes five total Kangaroo spots to get your sip on, with uniform menus, save for a small difference of a Spanish Peaks-roasted Hillside blend bean on drip here, as well as Olde World bagels served. We grab a 16-ounce cup of said Hillside Brew for under $3 and the 16-ounce signature latte named Mountain Bliss for under $5.
The latter is a salted caramel and coconut latte, which we order half sweet, with an oat milk sub. It’s well prepared, not cloying at this potency but laced with ample syrup to deliver the expected flavor notes, and the oat sub doesn’t feel at all out of place, barely perceptible under the flavorings. The baristas aren’t able to tell us more about the Hillside Brew’s coffee origins, but they say it’s a lighter-medium roast. The taste, with just a splash of cream, seems to confirm that, as there’s no big toasty (dark roast) element and it sips pretty smooth and rich, easygoing.
We also grab a dragon fruit-lychee Roofresher, a diluted juice essentially, from concentrate, with green coffee extract added for a mild caffeine hit. The finish flavor reminds me a bit of a Bai drink, with its coffeefruit extract, which is to say atop the semi-synthetic fruit notes there’s a little tannic-tart conclusion; like the sour note that ends a lemonade sip, in its own way.
One barista says it reminds her of the pink Vitaminwater. Either way, it’s refreshing. For some companion bites, we nab a carrot nut bread from Boulder’s Organic Bliss, a dense, moist bite with generous bits of soft nut segments and shaved carrot threads, with a nice baking spice finish. And, more locally, we get a bacon breakfast burrito prepared by chef Brent Beavers from Immerse Cuisine at The Carter Payne. It looks small for just over $5 but packs in some calories, between the flour tortilla wrap, fluffy eggs, home-fry-like potatoes, talkative onions and bell peppers and starring crispy bacon pieces. It tastes homemade and definitely bests any commercial, microwave-ready munchy. It’s good to see a local support a local
Matthew Schniper is the Food and Drink Editor at the Colorado Springs Indy. He began freelancing with the Indy in mid-2004 and joined full-time in early 2006, contributing arts, food, environmental and feature writing.
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