neighborhood coffee — Restaurant in Castro Valley

The coffee is from Verve, which in my experience is as much about surfing and Santa Cruz as it is also quietly about Jesus and more vocally about good coffee. There are a handful of quietly faithful based roasters like Verve, Temple, Land and Water, and Devout. All them follow in the evangelical tradition of taking counter cultural trends and converting them into deeply religiously tied expressions of that thing while simultaneously becoming done of the best versions of that thing; think hippie congregations in the 60's and 70's, hard-core bands in the 2000's, and coffee houses in the twenty-aughts. The coffee is great, and the people are kind. There's a beautiful view. The only caveat I would add is that your purchases are likely feeding into a mega church that may have differing values or beliefs from yours. At this point in late stage capitalism, you are likely better giving a group of religious folks your dollar that you don't agree with than a large corporate chain who supposedly support the same humanist values you do because ultimately these films give back to their local communities, and the corporations only give to their shareholders.

The only true downside is the atmosphere: it is akin to a lunch hall cafe on a large college campus. There is plenty of room, lots of tables, but if you are not part of the campus or community, it can feel alien and isolating.

Really cool...

I found this place on Yelp and I'm glad I did. This place is kind of hidden and if you don't know it's here then you'll never see it. Once my girl parked the car and started walking up I felt like this place is not your average coffee shop. Once inside you start to feel small with all the big windows and the super high ceiling. They have tons of tables and chairs to sit and relax or study. Everything is spaced out, you don't feel crammed in next to everyone like at a Starbucks. They have free WiFi and lots of outlets to plug into. The views from this place are very relaxing. Up above the freeway and the hustle and bustle on the hill things just feel more calm. We both ordered an americano as I usually do at a coffee shop. The guys behind the counter were very friendly and full of smiles. Once our drinks were ready we grabbed them and found a table to sit at. I started to look around the place and noticed that the decor was minimal but suitable. Lots of college students studying in groups and enjoying themselves. The noise level wasn't too bad and the background music was just that, background music. As far as my americano went, very delicious. I felt very relaxed while I sat there and looked out the window and drank my coffee. The vibe here is unlike any other coffee shop I've tried. This is a must try, wether you are coming here to study or to just relax and enjoy a...

Cafe in a giant church. I guess I didn’t read enough reviews because it’s was a surprise to us.

Coffee was good and lots of space to work.

Came on a Sunday and they were playing the sermon on the speakers. I truly tried to keep an open mind as I listened and sipped my coffee but within 5 minutes I was being told the only way to heaven is through belief in Jesus Christ. Seems to leave a few billion good people out don’t you think? Yikes, haven’t we moved past this yet. Hard to separate the cafe review from the sermon playing overhead.

I’ll give it another try but just not on a Sunday. Hopefully I can just get a good cup of coffee and not be told I’m damned for eternity because I don’t believe there is only 1 conveniently narrow path to salvation …

Update, 2 years later: I’ve been here many times since my original review, and while my first impressions weren’t great, my overall opinion has shifted.

The people working at the cafe are genuinely kind and friendly humans. There has been zero attempts to convert, preach or push an agenda on me. I am simply served surprisingly great coffee by kind people and you cannot argue with that.

The atmosphere feels kind of college campus-like, with groups of people playing cards, some heads down in their laptops and some just hanging out reading a book. It's now one of my...