Denver's Only Horror Coffee Shop Is Built for Summerween

Leatherface is holding a sign that says "Welcome to Texas." Ghostface is standing right there when you walk in. Art the Clown too, life-sized, watching you decide whether you want a latte or a body count.

This is the front door at Horrid, 1974 South Acoma Street, in Overland. And tucked inside that horror oddity shop is Scr3am & Sugar, which bills itself as Denver's only horror-themed coffee shop. So yes. You can get a white chocolate latte and a set of actual bones in the same trip.

Here is the timing part, because timing is the whole reason we are talking about this right now.

Summerween is a real thing and this place was made for it

If you have not heard the word, Summerween goes back to a 2012 episode of "Gravity Falls" where the characters just decide to celebrate Halloween in the middle of summer. That bit caught on. Now it is a whole late-summer mood, and City Cast Denver leaned all the way in. Their August 2026 guide, published August 4, named Scr3am & Sugar a Summerween destination and gave a shout to the creative drinks and the friendly staff.

That is the part people miss about this spot. It is not a pop-up October thing. It is horror year round. So while everybody else is waiting for pumpkin season, this place has been doing spooky-in-July the entire time. This week. Open. You can actually go.

The drinks are the bit, and the bit is good

The names alone are worth the drive. There is the Tiffany Valentine white chocolate latte, a nod to Chucky's bride, if you know you know. Orlock's Obsession cold brew for the "Nosferatu" crowd. The Samoa Kooky Latte. The Somethin Wicked iced latte. The Cinnabite Latte, which honestly I could talk myself into every single morning, which is dangerous for me.

And the sourcing is not a gimmick. The coffee comes from Queen City Collective Coffee, a legit Denver roaster. Tea is from Two Leaves and a Bud, and the chai is Sherpa Chai. So the horror is the theme, but the cup is the real deal. That combo is exactly why it works.

Pastries too. A Lemon Poppyseed Scone and a Candied Cheese Bun, so you are not just drinking your calories, you are committing.

Who built this

The founder is Nic Johnson. And the origin story is very 2020 in the best way. She came up with the whole idea during COVID quarantine, sitting there watching scary movies and rethinking what she actually wanted to do with her career. Started as an outdoor pop-up. Now it lives inside a full brick-and-mortar horror shop with 4.9 stars and around 12,000 followers on Instagram at @scr3amnsugar.

I mean, that is a Colorado story. Locked inside, watching "Terrifier," and instead of losing your mind you build a coffee brand out of it.

The shop around the drinks

Horrid is not just a lobby you walk through to get caffeine. The place is stocked with locally made horror art, candles, bones, patches, pins, and vinyl. And they have kept expanding. Back in March 2024, on March 1 specifically, they added an event space and opened a tattoo parlor on the same South Acoma footprint.

So think about what that actually means. One address where you can get a Cinnabite Latte, buy a hand-poured candle, sit at a puzzle table, flip through an adult coloring book, watch a horror movie on the TV they keep running, and get tattooed. That is a whole afternoon. That is a plan.

And it is low-key, which is the point. This is not a reservation situation. It is a stumble-in, stay-a-while kind of place.

Why Overland, and why this matters

Overland is one of those South Denver pockets that people drive past on their way to somewhere else. South Broadway is a block over doing its thing. But Acoma is quieter, more industrial-turned-interesting, and rents down here have historically run softer than the Baker and Wash Park corridors that flank it. That is exactly the kind of street where a horror oddity shop plus a tattoo parlor plus a coffee bar can actually take root without getting priced out on day one. Small operators need cheap-ish square footage and foot traffic they can build themselves. Overland gives you the first part. Nic and Horrid built the second.

Here is the real story on this. Scr3am & Sugar expanded its hours, and that tells you everything. It used to run Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now it is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every single day. You do not stretch to a seven-day, early-morning schedule unless people keep showing up. That is a business finding its footing in a neighborhood that had room for it.

So this week, while the Summerween thing is peaking and the rest of the city is pretending it is not thinking about fall yet, go get an Orlock's Obsession. Sit under Ghostface. Tell Hayley I said the Candied Cheese Bun made me do it.

1974 South Acoma Street. Eight to five, daily. Leatherface will be waiting.