Stein's Coffee Bar

Espresso first, in a room with a couch

Espresso is the spine of this Park City coffee bar, and everything else is arranged around it. Stein's is independent and small, closer to a neighbourhood counter than a café with a kitchen behind it: espresso drinks, a rotating set of house signatures, pour-over for anyone who wants the coffee unaccompanied, and soda water when caffeine is not the point. The signature drinks are the part worth paying attention to, since they are where the bar shows its own thinking rather than repeating a standard menu. Regulars talk about the coffee before anything else, which is the right order for a place with no interest in being a brunch room.

A counter, not a kitchen

Food is deliberately light and practical. Dried mango, bags of beef jerky and hard-boiled eggs turn up on the counter, the sort of thing that goes into a pocket before a trail or a lift rather than onto a plate. That is worth knowing before arriving hungry: this is a coffee bar with grab-and-go support, not a café that will feed a table. The room does the rest of the work. There is a couch, the feel is comfortable and familiar, and people treat the place as a gathering spot rather than a transaction with a chain behind it.

Ask what is being pulled

Start by asking what espresso is on the machine, what signature drinks are on the board and which pour-over is being brewed that day, because the line-up moves. Black coffee drinkers should lead with the pour-over; anyone who wants milk should start with an espresso drink and then work through the signatures. For food, ask what is on the counter instead of expecting a menu. The whole visit is best used as a morning coffee run or a stop before something outdoors: a drink made properly, a snack if one is there, and a room that does not hurry you out of it.