Quince Essential is required dining

COFFEE HOUSE MAKES NAME FOR ITSELF IN DENVER

In the middle of a row of rather usual looking houses on Quince St., one stands out from the rest—not because it is designed differently or is nicer than the others, but because of the crowd it attracts. Michelle Jeannerett has turned what was once just a residential home into a thriving business that not only serves some of the best coffee around Denver, but is a breeding ground for unique relationships.

Quince Essential Coffee House is exactly the type of place someone would expect it to be just by hearing its name. Inside, the works of local artists abound, a community bulletin board takes up an entire wall, pictures of friends and family serve as decoration, and every customer has a smile on their face. It’s crowded, consisting of six small rooms and a wraparound porch, but none of the patrons seem to mind the crampedness of the popular locale.

“About three years ago [Quince Essential] started,” Jeannerett said, in the brief moments between assisting customers. “I retired from public education. I saw that this [house] was for lease, and my intentions when I retired [were to be] part of the community. I wanted to help build relationships and foster the whole person, and this kind of serendipitously came about.”

Jeannerett has succeeded, as building relationships and fostering people are indeed the primary function of Quince Essential. Aside from serving powerful coffee and tea, delicious burritos and empanadas, and scrumptious bakery items (all of which are locally sourced in Denver), Quince Essential employees take the time to get to know their customers. Jeannerett greets almost every customer by name and even takes the time to have conversations, getting to know not only them, but their families, as well as personal preferences when it comes to food and drink.

Quince Essential offers the kind of personalized service and intimacy that places like Starbucks and Caribou Coffee fail to provide. Part of the reason for this atmosphere of familiarity and comfortability is because at Quince Essential, everyone is part of the family.

“It’s pretty much a family-owned business. My two daughters, my daughter’s boyfriend, [my daughter’s] best friend from middle school, and a couple of family friends [all work here],” said Jeannerett. “We know a fair portion of our customers and when we don’t know them, we try to make sure that we remember names and say hello again when you walk in.”

Quince Essential is also active in the community through hosting open mic nights the first Saturday of every month and has hopes of starting a monthly trivia night as well. The coffee house also frequently has local visual artists display their work, serves as a meeting space for various businesses, and even has a printer for customer use.

From the taste of the delicious refreshments to the eclectic atmosphere, it’s not hard to see why so many cars line Quince Street everyday. Quince Essential is not just about coffee and baked goods—it’s about quality and personalized service that is sure to make it a staple of the dining community in Denver for years to come.