Verve Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Do you want MAGIC? This is the place. Fresh brews every day? Smell of gently roasted caffeine wafting pleasantly through your olfactory nodes? That's level 1 stuff. Verve is LEVEL 10. Bags of coffee in ROYGBIV order? They got that. Live plants? There's enough chlorophyll to make your thumb green. Benches? Check. Big tables? Check. Feeling quiet? They got solo tables, too. Wifi? It's Lightning McQueen-fast. Friendly staff? LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE STAFF: Hard working professionalism doesn't even begin to describe it. The teams are prompt, coordinated, and keep the place running like a well-oiled machine. They are an unstoppable flurry of activity, taking orders, making brews, and bellowing names to make sure your half-attention paying pre-caffeine state gets your coffee. There are some wizards WHO CAN MAKE BEARS OUT OF MILK. Talented, hard-working - these are adjectives for the uninitiated. No, the staff at Verve are nothing short of miraculous, tactfully weaving customer service and espresso-slinging to an art form. Go to this location. Order the JAM BISCUITS. Get your favorite coffee or tea, and cozy up to a steaming up of joy filled by experts in the business of transforming your morning from survivable to thrive-able.

Note to corporate: I encourage work on your logo design, especially for the swag. Cat & Cloud blows logo design and marketing out of the water. Lulu Carpenter's used to have patches with a classy logo, 11th hour uses WAX SEALS, and the Abbey's logo synergies with their location in the church. I would love to rock some Verve swag, but the current logo is pretty mid.

I started drinking Verve coffee at their Bronson location, and they are quick (5 minutes if they are slow, never been more than 10 minutes on a busy day). They set the bar high for the downtown location, and this location blew it. More than once.

Verve Coffee is 5/5. I love it. However, the morning staff is incredibly poor, and my rating here reflects that.

I have, on 3 different occasions in the last 6 weeks, missed or nearly missed my bus less than a block away waiting for a drink I ordered 15 minutes prior to arrival, and this has always been a product of employees fooling around, not paying attention, or socializing amongst themselves. I get wanting to take your job easy - I do too! But once the customer is involved, I have an expected level of engagement that is not found here.

I was waiting for an add shot to my drink while 2 employees poured themselves one, sipped away, and talked amongst themselves on the first occasion - in a nearly empty shop.

This place is great if you want to stop for 30 minutes and wait to get your coffee before heading in to work. Alternatively, you could go up to Bronson and get yourself a quick cup of coffee - the staff there behave like they love their customers and their jobs, and are wonderful people to talk to. Pretty sure I could order downtown, bike the mile to Bronson, get coffee, ride the mile back, and my drink here might be ready.

I would say sorry for the roast, but that's what these people are supposed to be doing anyway. Sucks having to do...

5 stars for outstanding service! Seriously, this place is super inviting with friendly baristas and plenty of seating.

I came here to work on a Friday, as I was staying in Santa Cruz over the weekend for the Monterey Car Week, and I was lucky to snag a parking spot right in front of the cafe. Once inside, the line moved pretty fast, and I ordered a chai latte with oat milk. I must note, the guys helping me at the counter were some of the nicest baristas I've ever encountered. After leaving the line, I checked out more of the spacious café and got my computer set up for work. It had been a while, so I went over to the pick up area and waited a bit longer. After 25 minutes of waiting for my drink, I asked one of the baristas making the drinks for an update on the status of my order. I want to caveat that I wasn't upset at all and I was fully aware it was busy mid-morning; I merely wanted to check on my drink to see if I should keep waiting or do some work first. The barista I asked went completely above and beyond, said they'd make my drink right away, told me my drink was on the house, and gave me a voucher for a free drink my next visit!

This was my first time visiting Verve, but I'm certain it won't be my last. I really appreciate their outstanding customer service, and it's a great spot conveniently...