A Tour of the Cafes of Santa Cruz/Santa Clara

[Beezer]

I've pretty much despaired of ever finding a decent shot in my adopted hometown of Fresno. There's very little of interest here for coffee lovers, so the only place I can count on a decent espresso or cappuccino is my own kitchen. Recently, however, I took a couple of trips over to the coast and decided to sampe what Santa Cruz and Santa Clara have to offer in the way of fine coffee shops.

Thanks to some pointers on the regional forum of Coffeegeek, I was able to locate three fine cafes in the area: Verve, Fins, and Barefoot.

Verve is located in downtown Santa Cruz on Portola Street. You can tell they're serious when you see they have a whole separate building for their roaster, and several nice lever and pump machines for sampling their blends as they roast them. The cafe itself is clean and modern, with a nice LM machine and three big Mazzers behind the counter.





Latte art is standard on the milk drinks (including macchiatos), and the espresso was strong and dark, like unsweetened chocolate. Very good stuff. I bought a couple of pounds of their streetlevel blend for home use, and I've been enjoying it very much. I was also gratified to see that their baristas are very serious about their coffee; not only serving it in the cafe, but explaining in detail how to brew it at home. The barista told me it should be pulled for 42 seconds (!) at 202 degrees. I was impressed at their attention to detail.

Next up, my experiences at Barefoot Coffee Roasters.

[Beezer]

This weekend, my wife and I went to Santa Clara and Santa Cruz for a short weekend trip. I was looking forward to trying some of the better coffee shops in the area. We stayed at the Hilton near Great America, which surprisingly had an Elektra espresso machine in the lobby area.



Then I saw this sign, and decided I'd pass on the hotel's espresso:



We went to Barefoot Coffee Roasters for some real espresso. It's located on Steven's Creek, just off the Lawrence Expressway. The shop is funky but charming, cluttered with old books and slightly beat up furniture, but very comfortable. The roaster is in the back, not far from the counter. The baristas work behind a Nuova Simonelli machine with a thermocouple and Fluke meter attached.



They were brewing a Panamanian single origin coffee that was tangy and a bit sweet, but not as chocolatey as I'm used to. It worked nicely as a cappuccino. Then I tried their Vista Hermosa single origin espresso as a straight shot. Again, it was tangy and bright, maybe a bit too bold for a straight shot, at least for me. But still much better than anything I've had at most other cafes.

Next, my journey ends at Fins in Santa Cruz.

[Beezer]

Finally, we hit Fins Cafe in Santa Cruz, which is on Ocean Boulevard near Highway 17. It's very modern, bright and colorful inside. They use two LM machines, both with two groups.



They were serving Paradise Roasters beans, though I'm not sure which blend. It's a bit darker and more intense than the beans I'm used to having, but still tasted very good both as a cappuccino and a straight shot.



I was somewhat surpised to see the barista using a spoon to put the foamed milk in the cappuccinos. They didn't make true microfoam. It was more of a meringue, so latte art was out of the question. The taste was still good, but I think proper microfoam would have been preferable. My wife felt that her double cap was too strong, but I suspect she would have liked it more if the milk had been creamier. Still, the overall experience was positive, and I'd definitely recommend Fins to a friend.

[DigMe]

Wow..sounds like Santa Cruz has gotten their coffee act together since the summer I spent there in '98! If I visit again I will surely hit up Verve.

brad

[Beezer]

Verve is very good. I also wanted to try Lulu's, which is supposed to be excellent, but I didn't get a chance to go over there. Maybe next time I'm out there...

[HB]

Thanks Eli for posting your reviews, I enjoyed reading them.

[Abe Carmeli]

The barista told me it should be pulled for 42 seconds (!) at 202 degrees. I was impressed at their attention to detail.

Thanks for the lovely report Eli. What dosage did they use at Verve for that pull? Different dosage may require different temps with same coffee (lower dosage lower temp). I love the fresh flowers on the counter.

[zin1953]

Wow..sounds like Santa Cruz has gotten their coffee act together since the summer I spent there in '98! If I visit again I will surely hit up Verve.

How do you think I feel? I went to college there, and ended up living in Santa Cruz for 14 years! At that time, the best espresso/cappuccino I could find was in the Stevenson College coffee house on the campus of UC Santa Cruz! (Heck, I used to spend so much time there that the people sorting the campus mail used to just bring it to my table rather than put it in my mailbox!)

Long before Peet's and Starbucks opened in Santa Cruz, there was the Caffé Pergolesi, Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co., and Café Zinho (which died an inglorious death in the 1989 quake). Of course this was back when Lulu Carpenter's was a bar, so . . . .

Thanks, Eli. Clearly, a trip back is overdue!

Cheers,
Jason

[Beezer]

What dosage did they use at Verve for that pull? Different dosage may require different temps with same coffee (lower dosage lower temp).

I'm sorry to say I didn't ask him about the recommended dosage. It looked like the baristas were overfilling the baskets and using a Stockfleth's move to level/distribute the grounds, so I assume the dosage was around 18 - 20 grams. I've been dosing around 18 grams for the shots I've been pulling at home with their Streetlevel blend, and it seems to be working pretty well. I still haven't gotten the same intense, dark chocolatey flavor they produced at the shop, though.

[DavidMLewis]

Thanks for the lovely report Eli. What dosage did they use at Verve for that pull? Different dosage may require different temps with same coffee (lower dosage lower temp). I love the fresh flowers on the counter.

They heavily updose the Streetlevel. I was told 23 grams, so it's exactly the sort of thing that turns up the P-stat on Ken Fox's blood pressure. They pulled the S.O. Yirg they had the last time I was in at 19 grams.

Best,
David