WATSONVILLE — Vanessa Perdomo remembers the very first drink she ever had from Coffeeville: a refreshing cold brew iced coffee.
At that time, Coffeeville was located in Santa Cruz, and Perdomo and her husband Paul Fernandez were living just behind the building when Paul stumbled upon Coffeeville owner Kendra McQueen handing out samples.
“Paul came back and was like, ‘You’ve got to check this place out,’” Perdomo said.
Now, Perdomo and Fernandez work alongside McQueen and her husband Mike Goble at Coffeeville’s new location in Watsonville.
Since first opening in a temporary space in the East Lake Village Shopping Center a little more than a year ago, Coffeeville has earned a loyal following of customers and garnered extremely positive reviews from sites such as Yelp! and Google.
“From the very beginning, Mike was talking about moving to Watsonville,” said McQueen, who grew up in midtown Santa Cruz and admits she wasn’t very familiar with South County.
“By day three of opening last year, I was thinking, ‘wow, this community is unlike any other.’ They’re tight-knit but have big networks so word of mouth travels fast, and they are really passionate about supporting small businesses. They like what they buy to be made just down the street.”
ABOVE: A line of cold coffee brewers welcome guests to Coffeeville’s newly opened location in Watsonville. (Johanna Miller/Pajaronian)
Goble is Coffeeville’s roaster, bringing nearly 15 years of experience to the business, which opened its expanded location (right next door to its temporary one) on Friday.
“I’ve had a decade or so to prepare for this,” Goble said. “I’ve learned from my successes and failures. The most important thing is never forgetting that I work for you guys — the customer. That’s why we’re here.”
In addition to its larger space, Coffeeville will be offering an expanded menu, with everything from eggs and organic salads, panini sandwiches and homemade ice cream.
“We’ve got a lot planned,” Goble said.
Despite the expansion taking a while, dealing with a number of permit and construction issues, McQueen said that the actual opening snuck up on them. It really sunk in for McQueen when she was able to tear down the paper that had covered the new location’s windows for the past year.
“I was here working alone and a guy suddenly showed up to clean the windows,” McQueen said. “I didn’t know I was going to be the one to tear that paper down. It was so exciting.”
Coffeeville is located at 948 East Lake Ave. and is open seven days a week; Monday-Friday, 5 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 6 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday 6 a.m.-5 p.m. For information call 713-7437 or email [email protected]. Online, the business is mostly active on their Instagram, “coffeevillewatsonville”.
“This is really happening,” Perdomo said. “All our hard work, our blood, sweat and tears — it’s finally coming together.”
