Bonfire Coffee opens larger Glenwood Springs roastery and retail hub

Bonfire Coffee’s new Glenwood Springs roastery is less a bigger address than a bigger engine for the company’s coffee. The 2,250-square-foot facility nearly doubles roasting capacity, adds a Loring S15 Falcon, and gives the Western Slope roaster room to train staff, cup coffees, store green beans, and sell gear in the same building.

The new shop opened to the public earlier this month at 304 Center Drive #106 in Glenwood Springs, about 25 miles north of Bonfire’s flagship cafe in Carbondale. Bonfire’s website says the retail side officially opened June 1, and the grand opening celebration was held Thursday, June 11, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the new site, with food, drinks, roastery tours, giveaways, and discounts on coffee and home brewing equipment.

That mix matters because Bonfire is not trying to turn the Glenwood Springs site into a second full cafe. Founder Charlie Chacos has framed it as a destination for coffee people and home brewers, with public tours, educational events, tastings, and cuppings built into the plan. The retail assortment reflects that angle: drippers, kettles, scales, and home espresso machines sit alongside the roasting operation, making the space feel closer to a working lab and showroom than a standard grab-and-go counter.

The upgrade also sharpens Bonfire’s production side. The company had relied on a Diedrich IR12 before moving into the larger space, and Bonfire says the new facility was designed for greater efficiency and sustainability. The address is listed as 304 Center Dr Unit 106, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601, and Bonfire says visits should be scheduled ahead of time because hours vary.

The opening fits a longer Bonfire pattern that goes back to the company’s roots in Glenwood Springs and Carbondale. In 2013, Bonfire and Defiant Coffee merged, keeping roasting in Glenwood and the cafe in Carbondale, a split that has defined the company ever since. Earlier reporting on that merger quoted Chacos praising Jeff Hollenbaugh’s roasts in side-by-side tastings, a detail that still hangs over this expansion: Bonfire has spent more than a decade building a local coffee identity around who roasts the coffee, where it is roasted, and how close customers can get to the process.