Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris O’Brien.
Coffee Cycle got started as a way to bring the best possible coffee to people, using a bicycle. After a lot of improvised engineering and a long custom home fabrication process, the City of San Diego permitted the Coffee Cycle to start making drinks for customers. Due to various logistics, Chris and his Coffee Cycle set up on a stretch of road no one would ever think as a likely location. But people saw it, were intrigued, and (after tasting some amazing coffee and tea drinks!) supported the business until it was able to move to a permanent spot in Pacific Beach.
Now, the Coffee Cycle is a cozy little coffee shop in the heart of a special beach community, and the opportunities to craft amazing drinks keep on growing!
Featuring: local Bird Rock Coffee Roasters coffee (with some nationally and internationally acclaimed coffee roasters having guest appearances), locally imported and roasted Nibble chocolate (with only 2 ingredients – just cacao and organic cane sugar), local honey from 5 different farms in San Diego County, and a great selection of other flavors and preparations all done in-house.
Chris made the Coffee Cycle to combine his two great passions: coffee and cycling. But it’s become so much more with the support of the local community around it- allowing new, creative expressions of traditional cafe drinks that keep expectations high and growing!
Has it been a smooth road?
Building the Coffee Cycle took years of work and the creative and practical contributions of a host of friends. Many times, the systems we were designing and building just didn’t work out or required a whole new approach. The worst was when the axle broke. It was like the old computer game, Oregon Trail. Except real life.
I had been up and running for a while, things were going well, I was pedaling home at the end of a solid day of making drinks, and the wheel just folded into the frame. The whole 1200 lbs. tricycle came to a jarring halt, and years of work were just stuck on the road. I probably had a bit of an anxiety attack. Mid-panic, I tried to come up with a solution, running to my workshop and clobbering a makeshift rig together (injuring myself in the process of using power tools during a panic attack), which didn’t work anyway. Long story short, I got bailed out in a few different ways by a few Very nice people, and I got back out there. Then it happened again six months later! Suffice it to say, it is Really great to now be in a permanent brick-and-mortar location in such a great neighborhood!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Coffee Cycle story. Tell us more about the business.
Coffee Cycle serves some really special drinks and snacks. Customers come back for a variety of reasons, because I really feel that all parts of my cafe experience deserve equal passion and care.
If you like black coffee, great: we don’t leave any pots of coffee sitting around getting old – everything is brewed to order.
If you like iced coffee, great: we don’t leave a jug of cold brew sitting in the fridge developing that mucky pondwater taste. We brew your iced coffee to order, flash-chilled right in front of you from any of our roasters’ offerings.
If you like tea, great: we get the best Chinese teas from Mad Monk Tea in Ocean Beach. Mad Monk travels to remote regions of China frequently to gain access to incredibly rare and complex teas of a quality you just can’t find anywhere else.
If you like espresso, great: we serve almost any of our roasters’ coffees as espresso, and pull them on a traditional Italian lever machine – it’s a spectacle to watch and makes the best, most unique espressos possible.
If you like flavored espresso drinks, great: we make syrups in-house from organic cane sugar, local honey, and fresh ground spices. If you think you know a spot with a great vanilla latte or mocha or whatever, try ours. Real actual vanilla beans and cacao. It makes a difference.
And if you can’t do dairy, or are vegan, great: we offer the best vegan pastries possible, made by local Unison Baking Co (you’d never know it was vegan if I didn’t tell you!), and our non-dairy options are varied, but my favorite is the almond/macadamia blend. 🙂
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Coffee is in an exciting place right now. There’s a lot to figure out as the specialty market grows and figures out what to do with itself. San Diego has an incredible emerging coffee culture, and Coffee Cycle is excited to be a part of it. I just want every coffee drinker out there to have the opportunities to try some of the incredible things that are happening in coffee right now. It’s very gratifying to have someone taste a coffee and say, “I’ve never tasted coffee like that before!” Or, “you Really didn’t add anything to that coffee? It just tastes like that?” I know that our industry has the potential and power to create more and more of those moments. I just want to be there to see them happen!
Contact Info:
- Address: 1632 Grand Ave
San Diego, CA 92109 - Website: http://www.coffee-cycle.com
- Phone: 9513633066
- Email: chris@coffee-cycle.com
- Instagram: @coffee_cycle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coffee.cycle/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/coffee-cycle-san-diego
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
