We just got word that Communication Arts named Verve (and Chen Design) for having the best brand identity for their 2011 Typography awards!  We are really excited and honored to be a part of this.   You can see all the award winners here.

Sprudge.com is the place people go for news in the specialty coffee industry, so we are completely humbled and excited to be named as the Sprudgie 2011 Notable Roaster.  You can check out all the 2011 awards here.  They followed up our Sprudgie with a great article on the new happenings here at VCR.  It's a great article, and we're really proud to be a part of it.  Thanks Sprudge!

Colby did an interview with SF Weekly last week talking about the importance of great customer service to go along with a superior product.  You can find it here.

Be sure to pick up a copy of Sunset Magazine this month.  They wrote a great piece on Santa Cruz, and they were nice enough to include us in it.  It's on the shelves right now.

 

VCR was featured today in an article by Oliver Strand of the NY Times.  He writes about our awesome new wholesale account in Long Island City, NY -- Sweetleaf Coffee.  Check out the article here.

The Los Angeles Times Food Blog covered this year's South West Regional Barista Competition.  Verve was mentioned as Chris Baca placed 1st in the Brewer's Cup competition, and Jared Truby placed 3rd in the Barista Competition.  Sara Peterson and Ian Levine also placed 4th and 7th respectively in the Barista Competition, which held a field of over 35 competitors from Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, California, Utah, New Mexico and Hawaii.  Check out the write up on the LA Times Food Blog.

Esquire Magazine names Verve one of the top roasters in the country.  Check it out here: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/green-coffee-beans-010311

Men's Health magazine put out an article in the December 2010 issue that included Verve's 1950 blend as "Best Medium Bodied Blend".  Check out the article here.  

Well, our new 12oz packaging has finally landed and is ready to hit the streets.  Somehow, it already made it to thedieline.com (I think with a little help from our friends at CDA ).  Our 5lb bags are following suit and should be available fairly soon.  

Check out the feature.

Verve's Chris Baca takes 2nd place in United States Barista Championship, while Sara Peterson takes 4th.  

Baca used the dry-processed Panama Elida Espresso and finished a close second to Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea's Mike Phillips.  Sara used a washed Ethiopian Yirga Cheffe we named "Lomi" (which means lemon in Amharic).  

This year's competition was deep with all the heavyweights from across the nation and we were proud to share the stage with them.  

 

View all of the scores here.

Read a New York Times article.

Check out coverage of the Finals.

 

A couple of pics:

Baca in the zone.

The Finalists.

 

 

In the April issue of Imbibe magazine, Verve Coffee Roasters is featured as one of “Ten Tiny Coffee Roasters That Are Making A Big Splash”. We like this magazine a lot and think they’re doing a great job. We’re glad they think the same.

Click here to read about it.

UPDATE!!! THREE IN THE FINALS!!!

Watch the archived footage here.

Find out what it’s all about, who’s competing when, and what that even means.

We have 3 of our own baristas, Jared Truby, Chris Baca, and Sara Peterson in the event as well as two of our good friends, Andrew Lopez of Bloom Coffee & Tea in Roseville, and Julia Mayer of The French Press in Santa Barbara.

Check out their performances Friday and Saturday as well as the event’s finals on Sunday. It’s essentially Food Network TV for coffeegeeks. Something like that.

Fri:
Jared Truby – 3:03pm
Andrew Lopez – 3:22pm

Sat:
Sara Peterson – 11:34pm
Chris Baca – 2:06pm
Julia Mayer – 3:41pm

Sun FINALS:
Sara Peterson – 10:45pm
Jared Truby – 11:39
Chris Baca – 1:00pm

We are fortunate enough to have truly great people working here with us at Verve. Two of them, Chris Baca and Jared Truby, have been working on a few videos in the off-time for a little show and tell. They’re pretty classic.

PS the curtain scene in the Chemex video is a homage to an 80s skate video (I forget which one they said it was).

Join Jared Truby and Chris Baca this Saturday, February 6th at 10:00 a.m. for a cupping and Chemex-brewed coffee tasting at Sweet Shop Los Altos. While you’re there you can take care of your Valentine’s Day shopping too. Congratulations to the Sweet Shop for the fantastic write up in Sunset Magazine’s February issue. Sweet!

Just wanted to give a shout out to all of you who are living the dream, writing business plans, and stretching to pull off your own coffeehouse. It is always more work than you imagined, takes more money than you thought, and yet there is nothing like it. On that note….

CONGRATULATIONS TO BLOOM COFFEE, FRENCH PRESS, MODERN COFFEE, FARM:TABLE, TAZZA D’ORO, SWEET SHOP, DELMARETTE, SIGHTGLASS, MATCHING HALF, TIN ROOF, BARISTA, CAFE GRUMPY AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO STUCK IT OUT THERE AND OPENED THIS LAST YEAR.

A lot of hard work by passionate people that really make it their own.

(PS the Bloom Brothers celebrated their 1-year on January 2nd. We were there for what turned out to be quite an opening. Hats are off to you!)

-Verve Circa 2007