Verve Coffee Roasters

Verve Coffee Roasters is the Santa Cruz roaster that brought a full ceremonial matcha program to four Los Angeles cafes, from an Arts District roastery to a beachfront counter in Manhattan Beach. Ryan O'Donovan and Colby Barr founded it in 2007 on the Santa Cruz coast, and it is still independently owned and still roasts its coffee by hand. The matcha is the part we keep coming back to. Verve launched its own ceremonial grade matcha in 2025, after running a roastery in Kita-Kamakura and a cafe in Roppongi since 2020 gave the team a close view of how matcha is made and served in Japan. The cafe menu treats the tea with the same fuss as the coffee. Usucha is matcha and hot water, hand whisked. The Matcha 1 and 1 pairs a concentrated serving with a matcha macchiato so you taste the same tea two ways. Matcha Cortado, Matcha Cappuccino, Matcha Latte and Matcha Americano round out the core list; the current seasonal menu adds hot and iced Pumpkin Matcha Lattes. Sourcing is the other half of the story. The Farmlevel Initiative is Verve's direct trade program, paying quality premiums and investing in the communities that grow its coffee, and the West Third cafe was built around the first Farmlevel Bar, a counter of its own where a barista talks through origins and sells beans by the ounce. All four Los Angeles cafes open at 7am daily.