Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Full-bodied coffee, nice gathering place or study space (4/5 green stars) I bought their Sweet Italian blend (certified Fair Trade and organic) at Whole Foods and loved it, so I was excited to try them out. First impression – the woman at the counter was ice-cold, almost hostile. But the barista and everyone else were friendly enough so I got over it! They have coffee priced individually per cup and categorized as Dark Roast, Medium-Light Roast, and Direct-Trade Micro Lot. I tried a small pour over of their Finca Santa Rosa (just over $3) and was surprised at how much body it had – a bit like many of Peet’s coffees. It was also very strong – quite a change from the usual light-roast or light-bodied coffees. The place is relaxed (depending on who wanders in off the street), there’s quiet music and an even quieter internal study room!

I’m also giving Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co. 4/5 “green stars” for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: • They are pretty good at clarifying (in store and online) which coffee is fair trade, organic, or direct trade. • Colleen Crosby, who founded the Santa Cruz Roasting Co., played an important role in the rise of Fair Trade coffee in the US, starting back in 2000. • Colleen was also involved in founding the International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA) • Dairy milk is from Clover – not organic, as far as I remember. • They had some local organic vegan cookies for sale. • Would be nice to more use of compostable materials. They do have lots of ceramic cups for...

We had our first visit to SCCR the morning of 6/19. Guilherme was very helpful at the counter and recommended a few dark roasts for me to try. My wife and I sat in the quiet study area since we like to read while at cafes and it was a little warmer in there too. Because of the sign on the wall, we kept our talking to a minimum and at whisper level. When the other person in the room needed to talk with her #2, they left the room altogether. Unfortunately, this room is connected to the manager's office and we could hear their ongoing phone call. Because their door was open, I popped my head in and gestured closing the door. The immediate response was very rude, explaining that it would be too hot if the door were closed, that the quiet area is not a silent area, and that if I want quiet, I should go down the street to the library. Needless to say, this ruined the experience and we chugged our drinks and packed up. I confirmed with the baristas that my experience had indeed been with the manager and they apologized for the manager's behavior. The manager came out as we were leaving to apologize, but it was half-hearted, continuing to blame the heat issue, that they were already an hour behind and had to make business calls, etc. My suggestion was that they take the sign down if management wasn't going to respect their own quiet zone....

While the coffee was great, we unfortunately encountered terrible service this morning from an employee named Jermey. He was incredibly rude and condescending as we tried to place our order. We entered the café and ordered drinks for our family of four. With no one in line behind us, I’m unsure whether we were taking too long or if he was simply inconvenienced by my three-year-old changing his mind while he was still ringing us up. Jermey hadn’t moved from behind the register, so adjusting the order on the screen should not have been a hassle. He hadn’t made any drinks or picked anything out of the pastry case yet.

To add to the discomfort, we overheard him mumbling about us to his coworker during our order. At the very least, he could have waited until we left the counter to insult us! When my toddler attempted to wave and say hello as we waited for our drinks, Jermey blatantly ignored him. He was cleaning the display case less than a yard from where we sat. He definitely heard my son.

During our entire stay in Santa Cruz, we have experienced nothing but kindness from the people here, making this experience particularly shocking and disappointing. It’s unfortunate that our last interaction in this wonderful town was with Jermey, who seemed intent on treating us as if we...