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Verve Coffee Roasters
Verve: “the spirit and enthusiasm surrounding the creation of art”. Verve came to be through the serendipitous union of surf, sweat and a love of life and living. In 2007, founders Ryan and Colby built and opened the first Verve cafe on 41st Ave in Santa Cruz, California. Today, Verve has locations in cities from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Japan, but their roots remain planted in Santa Cruz, where they roast thier coffee on vintage roasters and enjoy the endless surf of the rugged California coast. The company’s story? While exploring the coffee scene in Seattle and Portland, Ryan O’Donovan honed his knowledge of the coffee process and his tasting palate by roasting and cupping new coffees as frequently as possible. Like a true aspiring craftsman, he purchased a sample roaster for his home. After tasting the best coffees in the region, he’d return to his workshop to try and replicate the flavor profiles. Before long, he was creating his own roasting profiles and sharing his home concoctions with friends and family. When his college buddy, Colby Barr, called him out of the blue with the wild idea to start a coffee roasting operation together, O’Donovan was all-in without a second thought. Colby Barr grew up farming pears and wine grapes with his family in Northern California. From an early age, Barr was immersed in the family business where he learned first hand about soil, responsible growing, and the relationship between farmers, processors, buyers, and ultimately, consumers. While in college, Barr developed a passion for coffee, and he often found himself visiting his favorite local coffee shop daily. When the opportunity to buy said shop arose, Barr could not deny his entrepreneurial spirit. As a newfound coffee shop owner, he quickly fell in love with the intricacies of coffee and the incredible process from green bean to brewed beverage. After a year successfully growing this business, Barr called his college pal and fellow coffee aficionado, Ryan O’Donovan, with the hare-brained idea to start their own specialty coffee roasting company. The rest is history...