Inside the new Coffee Cycle coffee shop and roastery in Ocean Beach, San Diego. All images courtesy of Coffee Cycle.
Among the eclectic mom-and-pop shops, the farmers market, ocean breezes mixed with patchouli, surf-loving dogs and other delights of Ocean Beach in San Diego is the newest, biggest outpost of Coffee Cycle.
The San Diego-born independent roasting and retail company late last year branched out from its single location in Pacific Beach into a 1,600-square-foot roastery and cafe, plus large back patio, on OB’s Voltaire Street.
Chris O’Brien, who founded Coffee Cycle with a single pedal-driven coffee cart nearly a decade ago, told DCN that the company plans to maintain its fiercely local focus, adding high-quality brews and fresh roasts to the neighborhood.
“As we worked toward opening the new shop, a lot of regulars expressed worry about losing their favorite local spot (in PB),” O’Brien said. “But we love our little community there too much to leave. So now we have two locations.”
The new shop is also the production home of another San Diego specialty coffee business, Chuck’s Roast. Prior to striking out on his own, O’Brien was a longtime employee at the original location of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, founded by Chuck’s Roast creator Chuck Patton. While neither of the coffee pros are affiliated with Bird Rock today, they are occasionally working side by side, with Patton occupying about 100-square-feet inside Coffee Cycle with a Giesen W1S machine standing alongside O’Brien’s 5-kilo Mill City Roasters machine.
Chuck Patton spotted at Coffee Cycle.
“The original Bird Rock shop was so influential in my life and business choices — there’s a really good feeling having Chuck here roasting coffee and hosting cuppings,” O’Brien said. “I hope plenty of folks get to come in and see our operation, and order great coffees from both of us.”
The menu at the OB Coffee Cycle will be largely familiar to patrons of the PB location, including many of the same house-made syrups, traditional espresso-based drinks and a flash-chilled, natural-process Ethiopian coffee named “Natty Ice” that’s now offered on tap.
The shop offers a small panini selection, including several vegetarian options, and will soon be rolling out an expanded menu of mocktails.
“The mocktail menu is designed to be a nice buying option for customers that want to spend more time in our space without going crazy on caffeine,” O’Brien said. “Since that includes a lot of remote workers [and] digital nomads, we’re offering the option to upgrade the drinks with various nootropics, from lion’s mane and ashwagandha to ginkgo biloba and even kava.”
Helping bring many of the shop’s drinks to life are Mahlkönig EK43 and E65 grinders, plus lighter-duty Baratza Forte and an Urbanic 070 grinders, as well as a Londinium II spring lever espresso machine.
Said O’Brien, “We’ve been pulling lever shots since day one at Coffee Cycle, and we think there’s nothing quite like it.”
For greens heading into the Mill City machine, Coffee Cycle has routinely turned to Red Fox Coffee Merchants for standby offerings, while many of the current seasonal greens come from Monterey, California-based La Baia Coffee Supply.
“There’s a great feeling to working with importers that really seem to have a connection to the suppliers beyond just the transaction,” O’Brien said. “To that end we do try to connect directly with farmers when possible, and there’s no relationship like the one we have with Juan Urquia from Finca Las Marias in Marcala, Honduras. Not only does Juan supply us directly with his washed and natural coffees — he’s got his own importer’s license — but he helped build our new shop. He’s just as much a wizard with a nail gun and some two by fours as he is with some land and coffee seeds.”
Luckily for the Coffee Cycle crew, parts of the shop — previously a multipurpose event venue — were already nicely built-out, including a cozy back patio where many guests like to take their drinks.
O’Brien described the coffee scene in Ocean Beach as “truly special” with a range of independent shops offering different styles and vibes.
“OB is a community that prides itself on staying local and independent, and the local businesses reflect that, including the coffee shops,” O’Brien said. “We wanted to be a part of this, and the awesome community and sharing of art, that coffee shops have been doing for so long — while also having exceptional beans and drinks.”
Coffee Cycle Roasting OB is located at 4856 Voltaire St in San Diego. Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
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