Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/300684
52 Fresh Cup Magazine | freshcup.com N orthern California's Central Coast— home to popular tourist destinations Big Sur, Monterey, and Santa Cruz— is prone to thick, early morning and late evening fog. The mists that roll in regularly from the Pacific Ocean are part of what gives this region its charm. It makes for excellent wine growing, enchanting redwood groves, and breathtaking photography. It also makes for chilly, wet winters. Wetsuits are a hot commodity in these parts. In contrast, this part of California also enjoys plenty of the sunny summer days that the state is known for. Beach towns turn into paradises once all that morning fog burns off. In Santa Cruz, summer life is what fuels the town, economically and spiritually. For Santa Cruz' beachfront Verve Coffee Roasters, the region's changeable weather means two things: winter and misty early mornings are gangbusters, but when things warm up its time to get creative. Head of product development Jesse Crouse knew that Verve's summer menu needed a facelift. The company's identity is just as much Santa Cruz-centric as it is coffee-centric, but Verve's cold-brewed coffee, brewed in-house at each of their three locations, was prone to oxi- dization that affected flavor and freshness. It wasn't doing the season justice. May14_magazine.indd 52 4/18/14 10:45 AM