Verve Coffee Roasters: A Hipster Caffeine Culture
Santa Cruz is known for its chill-out, laid-back vibes, from street musicians in dreadlocks tuning their dusty guitars for a mid-day jam session in hopes of earning some cash, to a group of UCSC students reading books on a spread out blanket on Starbright beach while shielding their eyes from the sun.
Here also lies a charming coffee shop with an earthy interior and a bold name: Verve Coffee Roasters.
When it comes to the coffee, in fact, the earthy qualities of the cafe aren't misleading at all. While the in-shop menu is small in comparison to many other coffee shops even in the same town, the take-home menu includes coffee flavors from around the world, including Africa, Latin America, and Asia and Pacific, which you can purchase by the pound in store. These roasts come in accents of caramel, cherry, nectar, fig, ginger snap, stone fruit, and many others, catering to the special tastes of coffee aficionados everywhere.
Unlike many coffee shops, Verve also sells a wide array of merchandise, including clothing, coffeemakers, and even skateboard boards with the Verve logo stamped on the back! With affordable pricing and unique taste, the shop offers something for everybody who's willing to give both new and familiar things a try.
I first walked into Verve with a group of friends as we wrapped up a retreat at a church in the town, about 3 days ago. It was the day before the first day of classes for our spring semester at San Jose State, and we decided to kick start the day with some fine smelling organic java and to relax in the haven of a building made almost entirely out of polished wood, modern paintings on the walls, and with a relaxed atmosphere of hipsters sitting on comfortable chairs and clicking their keyboards or bumping heads to music in their headphones.
Happy to say that I walked out with a super cute cafe au lait with a frothy heart design on top and a carefully tied napkin around the cup.
Extra props to the smiling barista!
The cafe currently has three locations in Santa Cruz:
1540 Pacific Avenue Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(open daily 6:30 am to 9 pm)
816 41st Avenue Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(open Monday through Friday 6 am - 7:30 pm, Saturday 7 am to 8:30 pm, Sunday 7 am to 7:30 pm)
104 Bronson Street, Suite 19 Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(open daily 6 am to 6 pm)