Verve Coffee Roasters

Ryan O'Donovan and Colby Barr founded Verve in Santa Cruz in 2007, blocks from the Pleasure Point surf breaks, and built it into one of California's most recognisable specialty brands without losing the beach-town ease. The buying philosophy is branded Farmlevel and means what it says: Barr, who grew up on a farm, built long-running relationships at origin, and the program's top selections ship as Farmlevel Reserve lots. Cafés run down the California coast and — unusually for an American roaster — across Japan, where Verve became part of Tokyo's specialty landscape. The roasts stay bright and modern, the blends (Streetlevel, Sermon and friends) hold down the café menu, and this index tracks the single-origin list and its Reserve releases.