The Laughing Goat coffee shop in the new Learning Commons in Norlin Library. (CU Independent/ Lee Pruitt)
The café is bustling with activity, even in the mid afternoon. The grinding of coffee is heard every few seconds, baristas call out drink titles and hand cups out to waiting patrons. Anyone would think that this is a typical coffee shop- except that it stands inside Norlin Library.
“It [The Laughing Goat]’s a 100 times better,” said Chelsey Jennings, a junior studio art major. “[The Norlin Underground] used to only really sell Red Bulls and stuff, and it was too expensive.”
Deborah Fink, the planning and promotions librarian at Norlin Library said the pervious café, which closed last year, was linked to the campus’ housing and dining meal plan and continued to run several years prior to the new construction of the library.
Fink also said that although the Laughing Goat has been a huge success, comparing the two cafés would be similar to comparing apples to oranges.
“The Norlin Underground was a very successful center,” Fink said. “But because it was experimental, they weren’t able to have the variety that a hot coffee bar would have.”
The new commons area at Norlin Library, Fink said, now provides services not only for students’ research necessities, but also for their technological, and nutritional needs.
Although both the library and the downtown Boulder Laughing Goat locations are run by the same management and feature the same drink menu, the cafés differ greatly in their atmosphere, and events.
The café on Pearl Street, with its darker setting and older audiences, starkly differs from its newer counterpart in the library, which is characterized by its bright setting and tables and chairs that provide for a more educational setting, according to the Laughing Goat Web site.
“We have regulars up there, and it’s really cool that we are beginning to see some regulars here, too,” said Mike Roberts, an employee of the Laughing Goat who has worked in both locations.
The new Laughing Goat adds CU Boulder to the list of universities that have taken on the trend of coffee shops on their campuses, though the new café in Norlin is certainly not its first.
Pekoe Sip House, located a few feet away in the Atlas building was also built in recent years, targeting the same demographic of student customers, said Nicole Meyer, a senior art history major and manager of Pekoe Sip House’s café.
Meyer also said that there were certain elements in their coffee shop that made it more accessible to students. These include the unique organic Conscious Coffee that Pekoe Sip House roasts is one of the reasons for their continued success, even in light of the new Laughing Goat.
“Our speed [of service] helps, too,” Meyer said. “And it also helps that we have our tax included, and have rounded prices.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sushupta Srinidhi at Sushupta.srinidhi@colorado.edu.
