Unpacking Coffee with Kandace and Ray: Recreational Coffee

Photo by Needmore Designs/Unpacking Coffee

On this week’s episode of Unpacking Coffee, Kandace and Ray get to know Long Beach, California-based roaster/retailer Recreational Coffee, created by the married team of Bobby and Correne Hernandez.

To answer your first question: No, Recreational Coffee does not have weed in it. The name references Bobby Hernandez’s past life as a recreational therapist, as well as the fact that the seeds for the business stem back to a passion for great coffee at home. (No, not those seeds and stems; just the regular, metaphorical kind.)

Photo by Needmore Designs/Unpacking Coffee

The pair opened their Long Beach coffee shop first as a multiroaster cafe before transitioning to roasting their own about two years ago. The Recreational heartbeat still lives in the cafe, which added to an already vital specialty coffee scene in Long Beach.

“Coffee culture in Long Beach is sick. It is pretty cool; there is a lot of good coffee, even before we were here,” Bobby told K-Ray. “We do our thing, our shop is different than a lot of other shops. Our music is louder at our shop — because I like live music and I grew up with punk rock and hip hop.”

“It’s a really lively shop,” added Corrine. “I’m proud of it.”

Without further ado, let’s get down to the business of Recreational:

Unpacking Coffee is a show discovering new coffee roasters one episode at a time led by Kandace and Ray of the Portland-based studio Needmore Designs, which specializes in coffee, wine and lifestyle brands.