Verve Coffee Roasters

Verve was founded by two coffee innovators, who helped lead the "third-wave" coffee movement. Verve firmly believes that it is important to forge genuine connections to place: their beachfront neighborhood, where roasting and cupping have joined surfing as daily communal rituals. San Francisco and the greater Bay Area, where coffee culture has come barreling into its own. Places further a field, like Brooklyn, Pittsburgh and Manhattan that have tasted Verve Coffee and come back for more. And of course, coffee farms in remote villages from Costa Rica to Kenya.

Wherever a farmer is bent on growing the best green coffee ever, that’s where Verve Coffee comes from. Everything Vervee does—sourcing, roasting, brewing, educating—is about bringing you that place in a cup. They source from regions such as Latin America, Asia Pacific, and East Africa, spending as much time as possible with the producers who supply the green coffee. Through their Farmlevel Initiative, they pay premiums through direct trade, support sustainable and ethical farming practices, and investing in coffee growing communities. Give and take at the source is what ultimately leads to a richer, headier experience for people who love Verve Coffee.

Before buying green beans, they run sample roasts through several cupping sessions, where the roast profile refinement begins. They work a 1965 German-made Probat UG 15 roaster at the Seabright roastery, keeping the roasting close to the café to monitor how the coffees perform for their baristas, who help hone taste profiles and calibrate brewing parameters. Verve's regular customers know the café is also a lab, and they line up for the experiment. Headquartered in Santa Cruz, they have 18 retail locations through America and Japan, remaining an independent coffee company using solar powdered roasters for their small-batch premium coffees.