11th Hour Coffee expands time and space in Roast Magazine’s Santa CruzDaily Coffee News

After an extensive three-month renovation, 11th Hour Coffee’s flagship cafe in downtown Santa Cruz is now open with longer hours and more space.

With a wall removed, the brighter and airier coffee bar, cocktail bar restaurant and plant shop are now better integrated into a spacious whole. It also features new floors, a larger dining room and a fresh menu from the renovated kitchen.

“I always felt like our store, and a coffee shop in general, should be a gathering place for the community,” Brayden Estby, who co-founded 11th Hour with his brother Joel Estby, told DCN. “And since we have such a large area, we’re really trying to capitalize on it and bring the local community together.”

The redesigned menu features a selection of egg dishes, sandwiches and stews, including a shakshuka, a croque madame and a grilled cheese with bechamel. Focaccia, pastries, cheesecakes and other items are made in-house under the direction of head baker Talia Damon, whose team is working to add more vegan items and other options based on customer feedback. A brunch program will follow soon.

After 5 p.m., the 11th Hour space transforms into sister brand After Hours, a cocktail lounge now under the direction of Allen Bjur. Evening food comes from Chubbs Chicken Sandwiches and Full Steam Dumpling, separate businesses that operate out of a 2,000-square-foot shared kitchen in the back of the 7,000-square-foot complex.

The café space takes up a whopping 4,800 square meters. To meet predicted higher service volumes, 11th Hour has replaced its old Bezzera 3-group hand lever espresso machine with a pair of SanRemo Cafe Racer machines with five combined groups.

“It was about efficiency and staff training. We just had to upgrade because we were so busy,” Brayden Estby said. “But it really bothers me. I miss the lever.”

The cafe’s commitment to the coffee craft is highlighted by a new wooden coffee bar, cabinets and other original wooden details, designed primarily by Joel Estby and completed by the brothers.

“Our intention with 11th Hour from the beginning was to be an ode to craft and raw materials, rather than relying on a more synthetic aesthetic,” said Brayden Estby. “We stayed true to the use of lots of plants, metal, stonework and woodwork. All tables are made of redwood. All of this is really our brand. I think we were successful because we were a place that felt so handmade, personal and individual.”

The Estbys opened 11th Hour’s original downtown location in 2018 as part of a shared “food lounge” multi-business hub. They opened a second location in the Westside neighborhood in 2021 and then took over the entire downtown building in 2022.

In the meantime, the company upgraded to a Diedrich IR-12 roaster, which was moved last year from the Westside workshop to a dedicated production warehouse about a block away.

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11th Hour Coffee is located at 1001 Center St #1 in Santa Cruz. Tell the DCN editors about your new cafe or roastery here.

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