Shrine Coffee

What a delightful surprise! I’ve lived in Santa Cruz county for over 30 years and explored this area extensively, but it wasn’t until my devoutly Catholic friend and I were walking West Cliff & she said “let’s get coffee at St Joseph’s!” And I thought maybe they served free coffee and donuts in the back of the chapel or something. Tucked in the back of the parking lot is a lovely space with an outdoor patio and a full service coffeehouse. The people working there are friendly and warm and the coffee is outstanding. There are other great specialty beverages and various pastries and snacks. We got our beverages and split an absolutely divine (see what I did there?) banana butter cake. On a cold day, one can inside on a big velvet sofa in front of a fireplace. Wonderful! I love that - so far - only locals know about it. For the merchant’s sake, however, I hope they can stay in business because I will be a regular guest!