Verve Coffee Roasters, which began in Santa Cruz, California, has spread out along the Pacific Coast, with locations in nearby San Francisco to the north and Los Angeles to the south. It’s also crossed the ocean to Japan, where it has coffee shops in Tokyo and Kamakura. Although I haven’t been to all the Verves, I decided that I would visit at least one coffee shop in each city, crossing off Kamakura, the last on my list, when visiting Japan last year. Which was where the staff told me about the new Palo Alto coffee shop. I swear they’re doing this deliberately! So, when I was in the Bay Area for work at the start of this month, I popped up to Palo Alto on the Caltrain to tick that one off my list.

Verve occupies a corner spot a block from the station, with a large outdoor seating area right on the corner, backed up by a bright, spacious interior with plenty more seating. The coffee offering will be familiar to anyone who has been to a Verve before, as will the twin Kees van der Westen Spirit espresso machines. There’s also food until 2pm and cakes all day.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Verve Coffee Roasters is on University Avenue, Palo Alto’s central artery, on the corner with High Street. A block from the Caltrain station, it’s easy to access by public transport. The coffee shop is rectangular, the short side facing University Avenue. About twice as deep as it is wide, it’s almost as high, which results in a wonderful sense of space, helped by the all-white décor, the light wood flooring/furniture and the generous windows, which run floor-to-ceiling on both sides, although the right-hand windows (which face southwest) often have their blinds down to prevent it being blindingly bright.

To the right, on the corner with High Street, is a large outside seating area, an eclectic mix of wooden benches, square, four-person tables and smaller, round tables, plus several long, thin bars. About one third of the way down Verve’s right-hand side, a pair of tall glass doors gives direct access to the counter, where you approach from the side. These are matched by a similar pair of doors at the front. On the left-hand side, these lead you past retail shelves to the front of the L-shaped counter, which is offset at an angle of about 20° to the rest of Verve.

You’ll find the till, cakes and menu here, while the right-hand side is the domain of the twin Kees van der Westen Spirit espresso machines, each with three Mahlkönig Peak grinders (Streetlevel blend, single-origin and decaf). You need to come down here to collect your coffee from between a pair of standing bars (one for each espresso machine), which you then take to your table.

The seating is arranged along the right-hand side of Verve, split into two distinct areas. At the front, there’s a small bay, separated from the door by a wall and a set of open shelves, stacked with merchandising. An L-shaped bench runs along this wall and the window at the front, lined with four, round tables. There’s also a low, five-person window-bar along the right-hand side. Next are the doors to the outdoor seating, followed by a tall, four-person window-bar. Finally, there are two communal tables at right-angles to the windows. The first is a low, eight-person table, while the second is twice the height and also seats eight.

Anyone familiar with Verve will not be surprised by the coffee offering. The Streetlevel house-blend is ever-present on espresso, where it’s joined by the Vancouver decaf and (typically) a single-origin. This was the Ethiopian Gugu Abalelesa during my visit, which had just replaced Verve’s seasonal holiday blend, one of the few times Verve has a blend on the second grinder.

There are also three options on pour-over, which change monthly. While I was there, they were from Costa Rica, Kenya and Panama, but they will have changed by the time you read this. The pour-overs are made using Kalita Wave filters on the Modbar automated system. If you can’t wait, then there’s also a batch brew option.

I visited on two consecutive evenings, having a one-and-one (split shot espresso and macchiato) both times. On my first visit, I had the Vancouver decaf, which was very good as an espresso, nicely balanced, with good body and a pleasing smoothness. In milk, it was just as good, the two going very well together, resulting in a smooth, sweet drink. On my return, I had the Ethiopian Gugu Abalelesa. The espresso was pulled even shorter, with a lovely, satisfying sharpness to it. The milk in the macchiato toned things down a bit, its sweetness taking the edge off of the espresso, resulting in a very smooth drink.

You can also see what I made of all the other Verve Coffee Roasters locations that I’ve visited.

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